Debby Nears Florida, Georgia

Florida and Georgia have mobilized emergency resources and were preparing for a tropical storm forecast to hit the Gulf Coast early Monday as a hurricane. Some coastal areas could see dangerous surges of up to 10 feet, officials said, and tornadoes are possible throughout Florida in parts of southeastern Georgia. People living in low-lying areas were urged to evacuate, and temporary shelters already are open, the New York Times reports. The National Hurricane Center raised Debby, which was in the southern Gulf of Mexico on Saturday evening, to a tropical storm on Saturday evening, per WESH.

Forecasters expect the storm to strengthen quickly on its way to Florida's Big Bend region. Voluntary evacuations have begun and a shelter was set up at a school in Hernando County north of Tampa. "Take the situation seriously," urged Paul Hasenmeier, the county's fire chief. "We know the water is going to come up as the storm passes." Flooding will especially be a danger when Debby slows over land, said officials in Florida, where the ground already is saturated in many areas. Parts of the state could get six to 12 inches of rain during the week, while places in Georgia and South Carolina could be in for 10 and 20, forecasters said. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Sunday that widespread power outages are likely. (More Tropical Storm Debby stories.)