Debby makes a second landfall with very broad circulation over the Carolinas
AccuWeather's Tony Laubach reported live from Georgetown, South Carolina, at the time of Debby's second landfall, with a surprisingly calm view.
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00:00Right now we want to check in with
00:02meteorologist Tony Lohbeck who joins
00:03us live from Georgetown, SC.
00:05So Tony, this storm is very, very unique.
00:07Your position just north of the point of
00:10landfall, typically the jackpot location
00:11for a live weather reporter or in your
00:14case of meteorologist and storm chaser.
00:16In this case it may be a little bit
00:19of a different experience, right?
00:27Little bit little bit, but.
00:30But hang on here, Jeff.
00:31Hang on here, Jeff.
00:32I know you can't tell,
00:34but literally as we were setting up the shot,
00:36we set up with the same background.
00:38We were all ready to go right
00:39before we went on air and I suddenly
00:41saw a lightning flash in the back here,
00:43so I'm hoping that's going to
00:45happen during this live here.
00:46Because at least I got something
00:47exciting to talk about.
00:48We've heard thunder,
00:49so this is probably some of the squalls.
00:50I would say off to our north
00:52and our east right now.
00:54So we do have some stuff in the
00:56neighborhood and I have looked at radar.
00:58I have seen some stuff kind of
00:59on the back side of the.
01:01Very broad circulation, so we we don't.
01:05Out of the woods yet by any
01:07stretch of the imagination,
01:08but as you mentioned,
01:09this is kind of the for storm
01:11chasers the jackpot location.
01:12We're just north of where the
01:14the center of circulation is,
01:15and we're really not experiencing a whole lot.
01:17In fact, it's almost like we've been in
01:20a perpetual eye for a good chunk of time here.
01:23But as you've been talking about all night,
01:25100 miles to the north,
01:27whole different story.
01:28Yeah,
01:28it's very, very true, Tony.
01:29We have some ongoing flash flooding up to
01:32the north and there are a lot of road closures.
01:35The number of storm reports.
01:36Some of these recently from the past two
01:38hours indicating up to 3 feet of water on
01:41the roads in places like Carolina Beach.
01:43And it's categorized as flash flooding.
01:45Again,
01:45somebody like you or I,
01:46we may wonder is it entirely flash
01:48flooding or might be there be some kind
01:50of a storm surge involved with that.
01:52Tony, have you seen any storm surge?
01:54Have you seen any points where the
01:56dunes have been breached by the water
01:58from the actual ocean?
01:59Or has all the flooding that you've
02:01seen with this storm as far South as
02:02you are been entirely from flooding and
02:04rainfall?
02:07I would say most of the flooding we've
02:09seen is probably been entirely from rainfall.
02:11As you guys were with us earlier this
02:13afternoon we were down on some beaches
02:14and people were out on the beach.
02:16For the most part,
02:17we did have much breezier conditions
02:18then as we were kind of,
02:20I would say on the South end of
02:22the northern most squalls,
02:23and that was pushing some of the
02:25waves a little bit far in,
02:26but really not dealing with a lot.
02:28We were timed out very well with lower tide,
02:30so we weren't dealing with the high tide.
02:32Plus the winds at that particular point,
02:34so most of the flooding,
02:35including what we saw last night,
02:37North Myrtle Beach,
02:37especially the early parts of that
02:39is we got a little bit later into the evening.
02:41I think we started to combine that
02:43with storm surge a little bit,
02:44but after that squall that water
02:46spout we put on live on the
02:47Accuweather network yesterday,
02:48we were dealing primarily with soaking
02:50rains that were flooding a lot of the
02:52streets or Ocean Boulevard,
02:53North Myrtle Beach particularly.
02:54And Tony,
02:54among all the things that you've
02:56seen with this storm since the
02:58weekend and since you got in place
02:59in the Southeast, what is one thing
03:01that you might remember the most out of this?
03:03I I know that the landfall experience
03:05is probably going to be memorable
03:07in all the wrong ways,
03:08but obviously there are all kinds of other.
03:11Very, you know,
03:12informative things that you've seen
03:14in other moments here with this storm.
03:20Well, hands down number one,
03:22it's gotta. It's gotta be the
03:23water spout on shore.
03:25We didn't have a really a great view of it.
03:27We were in a very low contrast environment.
03:30We talk about sometimes the dangers
03:32of spotting tornadoes in tropical
03:33environments just so much moisture
03:35in the air hard to tell,
03:36but we were able to see what essentially,
03:39believe it or not,
03:40for me was my first tropical
03:42water spout slash tornado yesterday,
03:43so that's certainly going to be
03:45the biggest memory for me.
03:47And Jeff, we talked about it off air.
03:49We've talked about it numerous times.
03:51We're making a habit.
03:53Of putting in doing play by
03:54plays of tornadoes live on air.
03:56So to do one during a tropical system,
03:58one that is very foreign to me and
04:00my storm chasing is certainly going
04:02to be a memorable event for me.
04:04I love it, Tony.
04:05I love interacting with you on the air.
04:07You're good friend and we have
04:09a good time doing this stuff.
04:10I think it'd be fascinating
04:11to chase with you sometime,
04:13but really, really cool stuff.
04:14So thanks for that report and we'll
04:16look forward to the next time when
04:18you are capturing something live.
04:19And whether it's a rotating wall
04:21cloud over Interstate 40 in Oklahoma
04:23or a bona fide wedge tornado in Iowa,
04:25it's been an interesting few months.
04:26You've been with us for several years,
04:28but just the past few months we've
04:30seen a lot of action on this
04:32particular shift the afternoons.
04:33We see a lot of the convective
04:35action in the afternoon.
04:36Thanks again, Tony.
04:37We'll look forward to next time
04:39and stay safe out there as the
04:41storm is not entirely done.