(Reuters) – A weakened Debby moved further north along the U.S. East Coast on Friday, spawning tornadoes and dumping heavy rain as the hurricane threatened to cause devastating flooding from Maryland to Vermont before moving out to sea.
The storm was moving northeast at 35 mph (56 kph), much faster than earlier in the week, and the National Weather Service issued flood warnings and tornado watches for areas from the Georgia coast to New England.
The storm, which weakened to a tropical depression, was centered over Northern Virginia early Friday morning.
Debby first made landfall on Florida's Gulf coast as a Category 1 hurricane on Monday and has since moved slowly north up the East Coast, flooding homes and roads and forcing evacuations and water rescues.
The National Weather Service has received reports of several tornadoes since Thursday, including one confirmed near Marshallton, Del. No deaths or damage have been reported from the incidents.
Earlier, a man died in Wilson County in eastern North Carolina after a tornado destroyed his home and damaged at least 10 homes, a church and a school.
North and South Carolina were hit hardest by Debby's extreme rainfall, with the storm expected to dump an additional 3 to 6 inches of rain in parts of southeastern North Carolina, with up to 15 inches of rain.
Some areas of eastern South Carolina are expected to get an additional 1 to 3 inches of rain, with up to 25 inches of rainfall from the storm.
Further north, about 10 inches of rain is expected to fall in Virginia by the time Debby finishes, with parts of Maryland through Vermont expected to get 2 to 4 inches.
Debby was expected to bring scorching heat to Florida and the Deep South on Friday, with temperatures expected to reach well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37 degrees Celsius) across the region.
(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Chicago; Editing by Nick Zieminski)
