Winds roar and flooding begins as Debby swirls through northern Florida

Storm chaser Leslie Hudson reported live in Jacksonville as a weakening Tropical Storm Debby continued to cause major problems.

Transcript

00:00And we want to head down to Jacksonville, Florida, because joining us right now is storm chaser

00:04Leslie Hudson. Leslie, it's good to see you. I know that you guys have had a pretty wild

00:08ride in northeast Florida with a few tornado threats of your own at times.

00:15Yeah, it's been an interesting afternoon for sure, Jeff, as we've had to weather several

00:21different scenarios here. I'm actually under an alcove because I was down at the St. Johns just

00:25now. I could not stand and it blew off the door of my car, which is now damaged from the winds.

00:31I'm going to actually try and pick up the camera so you can see it from a distance. I'm in the

00:35safety, like I said, of this awning here, so I apologize here for a second while I move this

00:40around so you guys can see. Way down there is the St. Johns and you probably can see the angriness

00:47of the wind and the waves here. I'll hold this so you can hopefully see it. But again, there has

00:54been all kinds of weather in this area. We've seen some flooding. This is an area known to flood

01:00in Jacksonville. We're in the San Marco area at the Memorial Park and that is a common place where

01:06they get a lot of flooding when a tropical system heads through here. So again, the winds down there

01:11definitely tropical storm. I could not stand. They're better here under the protection of this

01:16awning and at least from the wind. And there's also a steady flow of rain here. And Leslie,

01:22by the numbers, I'm kind of estimating just based on the radar presentation of things here,

01:27you're about 60 or 70 miles east of the true center of circulation. Being on the east side

01:33of the storm, you're on the side that's getting more wind, more rain. It's the business side of

01:37the storm. So you're still very much in it. Are people out and about or are people just

01:41basically just calling it a day and hunkering down all day long? Yeah, I think a lot of people

01:48are trying to stay in place. You know, there is a state of emergency for the multiple counties

01:53here in the state of Florida. Here in the northeast, you know, classes were canceled for

01:57the local schools. Universities, of course, had closed school for today. And as I have been out

02:03and around in this area, again, there's been a lot of or not a lot of people out. Certainly a few

02:08people that had to head to Publix to the grocery store to get some supplies. But you haven't seen

02:13a lot of people. A lot of restaurants are actually closed in this Riverside area where I am because

02:17this is an area, again, historically that floods. So the concern will be just how much they did.

02:23I've been listening to the local meteorologists here. And of course, they're anticipating another

02:28big round of rain as we head into tonight and tomorrow as Debbie pulls towards the north. And

02:33that will be the concern because the St. John's behind me is the one that laps over and floods

02:38these roads so easily. And I know when the St. John's floods, it is a long term problem. It

02:44doesn't move fast. So it becomes like a lake that floods for days upon days, sometimes weeks on end

02:49in some areas to your southwest, especially. Thank you so much there, Leslie Hudson

02:53in Jacksonville, Florida. Hopefully you get that car door repaired there without any incident.