The flooding from the remnants of Hurricane Debby are now considered to be in the category of historic proportion. This is the kind of rainfall that happens over many days and is certainly a long-duration event for portions of Georgia and South Carolina. The last time they had this type of flooding was in 2018 when Hurricane Florence generated between 20 to 35 inches of rain. Unfortunately, this tropical system is moving very slowly and as Debby spins (similar to a children’s toy top) it produces round after round of heavy rain.

How much rain has fallen so far? We can focus on the communities of Charleston, S.C. to Savannah, Ga., with measurements over 10 inches of rain in 24 hours — and the latest reports show a small community of Summerville, S.C., has seen over 18 Inches of rain. This is equivalent to the amount of precipitation Rochester will receive in three or four months.

Looking forward in time, the question is how much more rain is expected? In the coming days, the remnants of Debby will slowly begin to move north and will likely spread heavy rain from the mid-Atlantic region to portions of northern New England. Rochester is likely on the edge of this heavy rain for Thursday night and Friday. Some of the weather models predict the most intense rainfall to be focused on the Finger Lakes and Central New York, but other models take it into eastern New York. News10NBC has issued a Yellow Alert due to the potential ramifications. The recommendation is to check back to the News10NBC First Alert weather team for frequent updates.