Tropical storm Debby soaks northern Florida

Tropical Storm Debby drenched northern Florida on Monday and killed several people as the downgraded hurricane churned toward Georgia and the Carolinas, threatening a week of torrential downpours and flooding across the region.

The slow-moving storm plowed into Florida's Gulf Coast around 7 a.m. (1100 GMT) on Monday morning as a Category 1 hurricane, making landfall near Steinhatchee about 70 miles (115 km) southeast of Tallahassee, the National Hurricane Center said.

The storm carried hurricane-force winds of up to 80 mph (130 kph) when it struck in the Big Bend region - where the state's Panhandle meets its main north-south Peninsula - but speeds ebbed as Debby pushed over land.

Trees felled in the storm killed a 12-year-old girl and a 13-year-old boy in Levy County, officials and law enforcement said. A 19-year-old man was killed near Valdosta, Georgia when a tree fell onto a porch, police said.

Others killed in the storm included a truck driver who lost control of an 18-wheeler on Interstate 75 and went into the Tampa Bypass Canal and a 38-year-old woman and her 12-year-old son whose SUV crashed in Dixie County north of Tampa in stormy weather, according to law enforcement.

Roughly 150,000 customers were without power on Monday night in Florida, down from a peak of 350,000, according to Poweroutage.us, and flight trackers showed hundreds of flights originating from and heading to Florida airports were canceled on Monday.

Vice President Kamala Harris postponed a campaign stop scheduled this week in Savannah, Georgia, the Savannah Morning News reported.

More than 500 people were rescued from flood waters from homes and vehicles in Sarasota, Florida, on Monday, police said, and about 180 people were rescued in Manatee County, officials said.

The hurricane center said Debby would cross Georgia and move offshore into the Atlantic Ocean by Tuesday night, then re-strengthen and make a second landfall, probably in South Carolina near Charleston.

The storm was near the Florida-Georgia border late on Monday, about 35 miles (60 km) west of Brunswick, Georgia, and crawling at 7 mph (11 kph) northeast with sustained winds of 45 mph (75 kph) and higher gusts, the hurricane center said.

The center forecast "catastrophic flooding," with some areas along the Atlantic coast receiving 20 to 30 inches (76 cm) of rain by Friday morning. The governors of Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina declared states of emergency in anticipation of Debby's damage.

Reuters