Hurricane Debby knocks out power to over 200K Floridians

Hurricane Debby knocked out power to more than 200,000 Florida homes and businesses within an hour of touching down on Monday. 

Debby made landfall in Steinhatchee, a town in the Big Bend region of northern Florida, around 7 a.m. ET as a Category 1 storm with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC). 

By 8 a.m., more than 230,000 homes and businesses had lost power, according to Poweroutage.US. 

HURRICANE DEBBY MAKES LANDFALL IN FLORIDA WITH LIFE-THREATENING STORM SURGE, FLOODING RAIN

The storm is expected to bring a life-threatening storm surge to portions of Florida as well as major flooding in the southeastern part of the U.S. over the next few days. 

So far, residents in other states have been spared, though weather officials reported that the storm was moving northeast at 10 mph and that conditions are expected to worsen for parts of Georgia and South Carolina. 

LIVE TRACKER: HURRICANE DEBBY MAPS, FORECAST CONE, ALERTS

The NHC expects "historic heavy rainfall" across southwest Georgia and the coastal plain of South Carolina through Saturday morning, which "will likely result in areas of catastrophic flooding." 

Heavy rain is also expected to cause "considerable flooding impacts" across portions of central and northern Florida as well as portions of central and northeast North Carolina through Saturday, the NHC said. 

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The NHC also expects a dangerous storm surge and wind impacts along portions of the southeast U.S. coast from northeastern Florida to North Carolina through the middle of the week. 

Storm surge warnings as well as tropical storm watches and warnings are in effect for portions of these areas, the NHC said Monday.