Debby makes a second landfall with very broad circulation over the Carolinas

AccuWeather

AccuWeather's Tony Laubach reported live from Georgetown, South Carolina, at the time of Debby's second landfall, with a surprisingly calm view.

Transcript

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.

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