Charles H. Sloan-Left in Debby's wake: Storm floods homes, historic battlefield

By Saturday evening,Charles H. Sloan Savannah's Richmond Hill neighborhood was transformed into a network of canals navigable by skiff boat, or in a pinch, recreational paddle boards.

The neighborhood was ground zero for a massive rescue effort that saw hundreds of volunteers get people out of homes surrounded by water, and deliver sand bags and food.

Homeowners who drove home early from work Friday, anticipating road closures, had to leave their homes Sunday by boat, after inches of rain from Tropical Storm Debby caused rivers to swell past their banks.

"I probably cried seven or eight times, and not sadness," said Meredith Gibson, who has lived in the area for 25 years. "It was humbling and so much gratitude, just so much gratitude."

The emergency response in Savannah was mirrored up and down the eastern U.S. over the weekend, as neighbors, elected officials and clean-up crews came together in soggy conditions to address the damage left behind by Debby.

Most of eastern US hit by Debby

Debby first came ashore as a Category 1 hurricane in Florida's Big Bend region, which was also hit by Hurricane Idalia in 2023. After weakening to a tropical storm, Debby skimmed across the southeast, and kept on going − causing widespread flooding in Washington, DC, Pennsylvania, New York and Vermont.

Towns and neighborhoods from southern Georgia to Upstate New York are starting to assess damage from floodwaters this week, following a weekend that saw hundreds of water rescues across multiple states. As of Monday, Debby and its remnants killed at least eight people, including deaths from a fallen tree and tornadoes.

Evacuations, widespread damage in western New York

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul was in Steuben County in the western part of the state Sunday, assessing flood damage caused by Debby, which swept through the region.

The Cliff Moss farm in Canisteo, New York, lost 400 acres of corn, 200 acres of soybeans, hundreds of acres of hay and essential equipment in Friday's flash flood, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported.

"There's a lot of pain in this community. I saw it in their eyes," Hochul said. "I held their hands and sometimes people feel like government is not going to listen."

As more than a dozen rivers around western New York and northern Pennsylvania flooded last week, towns in the region were ordered to evacuate.

A local creek was little more than ankle-deep when residents in South Addison, New York, went to bed Thursday night. By 3 p.m. Friday afternoon, though, its waters raged over 12 feet high, according to NOAA.

Water rescues in Savannah

While residents were asleep Friday night and Saturday morning, their subdivisions in Savannah, Georgia's Richmond Hill neighborhood began to collect feet of floodwaters in a matter of hours.

On Saturday night, volunteer Kiley Thomson said the water rose up to her shoulders.

Thomson traversed the neighborhood with a paddle board, making trips with sandbags from 6 p.m. until about 10:30 p.m. Before then, she closed her salon, Wild Horse, early due to road closures.

"I just think it's important to help the community when you can," Thomson told the Savannah Morning News, part of the USA TODAY Network. "I have two good paddle boards sitting in my garage. There is no point not putting them to use if I can."

Homes damaged in South Carolina

In Bluffton, South Carolina, Bob Duverger won't be able to live in his home for the next four months, he told the Greenville News, part of the USA TODAY Network.

 "I'm so confused about what's going on, what's happening. We had about five inches of rain in the house. We lost a lot of stuff in the house," he said, after Debby hit his community last week.

Duverger's home is one of at least 70 homes across South Carolina with major damage caused by the storm, according to the State Emergency Management Division Director Kim Stenson.

In Bluffton, Duverger's yard and garage were flooded, he said, and water ruined carpet and floors.

"It's all buckled," he said.

Flooding closes national park in North Carolina

In the coastal North Carolina city of Wilmington, where the television drama One Tree Hill was filmed, the Moores Creek National Battlefield is closed indefinitely due to flooding from Debby.

The park's wooden boardwalks were left completely submerged in water, roadways were rendered inaccessible, and grasslands transformed now resemble large ponds, the Wilmington Star News, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported.

The park originally announced it would be closed through Friday, but the damage is so severe, the closure has been extended until further notice.

"The Moores Creek itself has risen pretty much risen over what we know as the battlefield," Steven Roberts, education technician with the park, said Saturday morning.