Flood — Bulloch, Georgia

2024-08-07 · near Statesboro Muni Arpt, Bulloch, Georgia

Event narrative

The Bulloch County 911 Call Center reported several homes near Mill Creek being evacuated due to flooding. Several roads were also flooded across the county.

Wider weather episode

Debby first developed into a tropical storm about 100 miles west-southwest of Key West, Florida late afternoon on August 3rd, then gradually strengthened to a strong tropical storm while tracking north across the eastern Gulf of Mexico on August 4th. Debby then reached hurricane force strength late on August 4th about 100 miles west-northwest of Tampa, before continuing a north-northeast track across the eastern Gulf of Mexico and eventually making landfall near the Big Bend area of Florida as a Category 1 Hurricane during the morning of August 5th. Debby continued inland and weakened to a tropical storm while tracking northeast across northern Florida later on August 5th, then continued a gradual weakening trend while tracking across Southeast Georgia as a tropical storm (45 mph) before slowly emerging off the Southeast Coast at tropical storm strength (40 mph) near Tybee Island, Georgia on August 6th. A minimum surface pressure of 996.7 mb was recorded at Tybee South (XTYE) on Tybee Island, Georgia as Debby emerged back across Atlantic waters. Debby then tracked east and farther offshore early August 7th, then turned north and became a strong tropical storm (60 mph) over the Gulf Stream later that morning, before taking a more north-northwest track back toward the Southeast Coast and making landfall near Awendaw/Bulls Bay, South Carolina as a tropical storm (50 mph) around 2 AM on August 8th. After landfall, Debby continued on a north-northwest track across South Carolina as a tropical storm into mid day August 8th, before weakening to a depression later that day and continuing a north path across North Carolina and Virginia into early August 9th.

Across Southeast Georgia, the main impacts associated with Debby included flash flooding due to widespread heavy rainfall and scattered tree damage associated with near tropical storm force winds.

Prolonged heavy rainfall across Southeast Georgia brought widespread flash flooding on August 5th and 6th, additional areas of flash flooding on August 7th and 8th, along with considerable and prolonged flooding of creeks, streams and main stem rivers for several days thereafter. Numerous homes and roads were flooded, leading to rescues and/or evacuations. Storm total rainfall amounts from August 4th to August 9th generally ranged between 5 to 14 inches with highest amounts across inland areas along a stretch from Tattnall County to Screven County and into parts of Evans County and Effingham County. A peak storm total rainfall of 14.85 inches was recorded by a CoCoRaHS observer approximately 1.4 miles east-southeast of Oliver, Georgia. Despite a large amount of rain and flash flooding, storm surge/coastal flooding did not lead to mentionable impacts locally. The highest water level at the Fort Pulaski (FPKG1) tide gauge was 1.68 ft MHHW during the evening of August 5th. No injuries or fatalities occurred with flash flooding/flooding.

Tropical storm force winds/gusts produced scattered tree damage and communication/power outages across several counties, but generally had less reported impacts compared to flash flooding. Strongest winds were recorded across coastal areas and nearby coastal waters. The highest sustained tropical storm wind (39 knots) and highest tropical storm wind gust (48 knots) occurred at Tybee South (KTYE) on Tybee Island, Georgia. However, the highest tropical storm wind gust of 48 knots also occurred at the Savannah International Airport (KSAV). Across nearby Georgia coastal waters, the highest sustained tropical storm wind (38 knots) and highest tropical storm wind gust (45 knots) occurred at the Grays Reef Buoy (41008). No injuries or fatalities occurred by tropical cyclone winds.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (32.4700, -81.7500)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1214286. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.