TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — The center of Hurricane Debby is expected to reach the Big Bend coast of Florida early Monday bringing potential record-setting rains, catastrophic flooding and life-threatening storm surge as it moves slowly across the northern part of the state before stalling over the coastal regions of Georgia and South Carolina.

Debby was located about 100 miles (161 kilometers) west of Tampa, Florida, with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (120 kph). The storm was moving north at 12 mph (19 kph), the National Hurricane Center in Miami said Sunday evening.

Debby is the fourth named storm of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season after Tropical Storm Alberto, Hurricane Beryl and Tropical Storm Chris, all of which formed in June.

Forecasters warned heavy amounts of rain from Debby could spawn catastrophic flooding in Florida, South Carolina and Georgia.

The storm was expected to make landfall around midday Monday in the Big Bend area of Florida, about 16 miles (26 kilometers) south of Tampa, the hurricane center said. A tornado watch also was in effect for parts of Florida and Georgia until 6 a.m. Monday.

“Right now, we are to trying secure everything from floating away,” said Sheryl Horne, whose family owns the Shell Island Fish Camp along the Wakulla River in St. Marks, Florida, where some customers moved their boats inland.

The sparsely populated Big Bend region in the Florida Panhandle also was hit last year by Hurricane Idalia, which made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane.

“I am used to storms and I’m used to cleaning up after storms,” Horne said.

Debby was expected to move eastward over northern Florida and then stall over the coastal regions of Georgia and South Carolina, thrashing the region with potential record-setting rains totaling up to 30 inches (76 centimeters) beginning Tuesday.

Officials also warned of life-threatening storm surge along Florida’s Gulf Coast, with 6 to 10 feet (1.8 to 3 meters) of inundation expected Monday between the Ochlockonee and Suwannee rivers.

“There’s some really amazing rainfall totals being forecast and amazing in a bad way,” Michael Brennan, director of the hurricane center, said at a briefing. “That would be record-breaking rainfall associated with a tropical cyclone for both the states of Georgia and South Carolina if we got up to the 30-inch level.”

Flooding impacts could last through Friday and are expected to be especially severe in low-lying areas near the coast, including Savannah, Georgia; Hilton Head, South Carolina; and Charleston, South Carolina. North Carolina officials were monitoring the storm’s progress.

Officials in Savannah said the area could see a month’s worth of rain in four days if the system stalls over the region.

“This is going to a significant storm. The word historic cannot be underscored here,” Savannah Mayor Van. R. Johnson said during a press conference.

Debby’s outer bands grazed the west coast of Florida, flooding streets and bringing power outages. Sarasota County officials said most roadways on Siesta Key, a barrier island off the coast of Sarasota, were under water. The hurricane center had predicted the system would strengthen as it curved off the southwest Florida coast, where the water has been extremely warm.

At a briefing Sunday afternoon, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis warned the storm could lead to “really, really significant flooding that will happen in North Central Florida.”

The storm would follow a similar track to Hurricane Idalia but would “be much wetter. We are going to see much more inundation,” he said.

A hurricane warning was issued for parts of the Big Bend and Florida Panhandle areas, while tropical storm warnings were posted for Florida’s West Coast, the southern Florida Keys and Dry Tortugas. A tropical storm watch extended farther west into the Panhandle.

Tropical storms and hurricanes can trigger river flooding and overwhelm drainage systems and canals. Forecasters warned of 6 to 12 inches (15 centimeters to 30 centimeters) of rain and up to 18 inches (46 centimeters) in isolated areas of Florida.

Storm surge expected to hit Gulf Coast, including Tampa Bay

Flat Florida is prone to flooding even on sunny days and the storm was predicted to bring a surge of 2 to 4 feet (0.6 to 1.2 meters) along most of the Gulf Coast, including Tampa Bay, with a storm tide of up to 7 feet (2.1 meters) further north in the Big Bend region.

Forecasters warned of “a danger of life-threatening storm surge inundation” in a region that includes Hernando Beach, Crystal River, Steinhatchee and Cedar Key. Officials in Citrus and Levy counties ordered a mandatory evacuation of coastal areas, while those in Hernando, Manatee, Pasco and Taylor counties called for voluntary evacuations. Shelters opened in those and some other counties.

Citrus County Sheriff Mike Prendergast estimated 21,000 people live in his county’s evacuation zone.

Residents, businesses prepare for flooding

Residents in Steinhatchee, Florida, which flooded during Hurricane Idalia, spent Sunday moving items to higher ground.

“I’ve been here 29 years. This isn’t the first time I’ve done it. Do you get used to it? No,” Mark Reblin said as he moved items out of the liquor store he owns.

Employees of Savannah Canoe and Kayak in Georgia said they were busy tying down their watercrafts, laying sandbags and raising equipment off the ground. Mayme Bouy, the store manager, said she wasn’t too concerned about the forecast calling for a potential historic rain event.

“But we do have some high tides this week so if the rain is happening around then, that could be bad,” Bouy added. “I’d rather play it safe than sorry.”

Governors declare emergencies ahead of landfall

DeSantis declared a state of emergency for 61 of Florida’s 67 counties, with the National Guard activating 3,000 guard members. Utility crews from in and out of state were ready to restore power after the storm, he said in a post on X.

In Tampa alone, officials gave out more than 30,000 sandbags to barricade against flooding.

“We’ve got our stormwater drains cleared out. We’ve got our generators all checked and full. We’re doing everything that we need to be prepared to face a tropical storm,” Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster made their own emergency declarations.

Northeast coast also preparing for storm conditions

Emergency managers in New England and New York were monitoring the path of the storm for the possibility of remnants striking their states. Northeast states including New York and Vermont have been hit by heavy rain and thunderstorms in recent weeks and were still coping with flooding and saturated ground.

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Chandler reported from Montgomery, Alabama. Jake Offenhartz contributed from New York.

The new landscape comes at a critical time for both campaigns in Georgia, the onetime Republican presidential stronghold that has since taken on a shade of purple after backing Biden in 2020 and electing Democrats to the Senate in both 2021 and 2022.

Whereas many Republicans were beginning to see Georgia for the taking due to Biden’s sagging numbers, Harris has given Democrats a jolt of energy in the state. And now, neither side can take this Southern battleground for granted.

Harris has strength with young voters and minorities

Biden in 2020 swept nearly every swing state, boosted by his electoral advantage with young voters and minorities.

In Georgia, Biden’s strong support among these groups, especially with Black voters, helped him win the state by less than one percentage point that year.

But more recently, Biden struggled to rally that base. He was often mired in the low-to-mid 40s in most Georgia polls.

A big part of that slippage was because Trump was winning over an atypical number of Black voters for a GOP presidential candidate, and a chunk of young voters were opting instead for third-party candidates like independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

But Harris has reversed that trend, giving her momentum that had eluded Biden in Georgia this year.

A recent Emerson College/The Hill survey showed Trump with a narrow two-point lead (48% to 46%) over Harris in the Peach State. And the latest Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll taken in Georgia showed Harris and Trump tied at 47% support each among registered voters.

Harris can expand her suburban support

Trump’s allies had long prepared for a rematch with Biden, using a playbook centered on sweeping GOP voters and winning over independents and undecided voters on the economy.

It could have been particularly effective in Atlanta’s suburbs, especially in outer suburban communities where Republicans still dominate in non-federal statewide races.

But Harris’ ascent has thrown those plans into disarray.

Even though Harris is a key part of the Biden administration, she has a chance to reintroduce herself to an electorate that didn’t want a 2020 rematch. Her focus on issues like upholding the Constitution and protecting reproductive rights puts her squarely where a lot of suburban residents are ideologically.

Trump weighed down suburban Republicans across the country in 2016, and in 2018 and 2020 his brand of Republicanism continued to push many suburbs — including those in the Atlanta area — further from their old GOP leanings.

Trump underperformed in many inner suburban Atlanta communities during the March GOP presidential primary, with former UN ambassador Nikki Haley earning thousands of votes even after she had left the race.

A sizable number of these anti-Trump GOP voters could eventually migrate to Harris and give her added support in a region where she’ll also need to perform strongly with Democrats to overcome Trump’s rural strength.

Trump still hasn’t let 2020 go

Elections are about the future. And if Trump holds on to 2020 instead of uniting Georgia Republicans, Harris will likely benefit.

During Trump’s rally on Saturday, he once again lashed out at Republican Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, leaning into the bitterness of the 2020 election that tore apart the GOP.

Trump has long argued, without evidence, that he was the true victor in Georgia that year. But neither Kemp nor Raffensperger would aid Trump in overturning the state’s presidential results, and most Republicans have sought to move beyond the ex-president’s grievances on the issue.

But not Trump.

“He’s a bad guy, he’s a disloyal guy, and he’s a very average governor,” Trump told rally attendees of Kemp on Saturday.

“In my opinion, they want us to lose,” the former president said of Kemp and Raffensperger.

After Trump in a Truth Social post mentioned Kemp’s wife, Marty, by saying he didn’t want the Georgia first lady’s endorsement, the governor told the ex-president on X to “leave my family out of it.”

In 2022, Trump tried to dispatch Kemp and Raffensperger in GOP primaries to no avail, as they defeated MAGA-aligned challengers.

This year, a divided Republican Party headed into November would seriously imperil the party’s chances at flipping the state as the Harris campaign pours time and resources into Georgia.

If Trump can’t even appear in Georgia alongside the state’s popular sitting GOP governor, it could affect organizing and turnout — as Kemp’s get-out-the-vote operation was critical in his reelection victory against Democrat Stacey Abrams in 2022.

Former President Donald Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance, on Sunday expressed confidence in Georgia’s election security, a contrast with Trump’s recent attacks against Republican state officials Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.

During an interview on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” Vance was pressed on how comfortable he is with the progress being made by the Republican National Committee and Republican-led states to ensure a fair election in November as Trump continues to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the 2020 election results.

Vance pointed to Georgia’s voter ID requirements, which he said makes the battleground state’s elections “much more secure.”

“I think that we’ve got some good court cases, some good legal changes going all across the country,” he said. “The RNC has been more aggressive about this in 2024 than they have been in 2020.”

“The basic principle here is every American citizen’s vote should count. But if you’re not an American citizen and you’re not casting a legal ballot, your vote shouldn’t count, right?” he added. “It’s sort of common sense that the Republican Party believes in.”

Vance has repeatedly echoed Trump’s baseless claims about a rigged 2020 election and has argued that lawmakers would have had legitimate reasons to fight the results. At the time, Trump and his allies filed a series of lawsuits in an effort to overturn the 2020 election results, but none succeeded due to a lack of evidence.

Ahead of the 2024 election, the Trump campaign and the RNC have pledged to enlist 100,000 volunteers and attorneys to monitor votes in battleground states.

In a post to his Truth Social platform on Saturday, Trump criticized Kemp and Raffensperger, both of whom fought against Trump’s efforts in 2020 to delegitimize the results of the presidential election. Trump wrote that Raffensperger should “do his job” and “make sure this election is not stolen,” while telling Kemp to “focus his efforts on fighting crime, not fighting Unity and the Republican party.”

“He should be seeking UNITY, not Retribution, especially against the man that got him the Nomination through Endorsement and, without whom, he could never have beaten Stacey Abrams,” Trump wrote, referring to Kemp’s Democratic rival in the 2018 and 2022 Georgia governor’s race.

In a phone call to Kemp weeks after he lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden, Trump attempted to pressure Kemp to call a special session of the state Legislature in an effort to overturn Biden’s narrow victory in the state.

On Jan. 2, 2021, Trump also called Raffensperger, a Republican, urging the top Georgia election official to “find” the votes to toss out Biden’s victory in the battleground state.

Kemp pushed back on Trump’s attacks in a post to X later Saturday, saying that he is focused on winning in November and “saving our country from Kamala Harris and the Democrats — not engaging in petty personal insults, attacking fellow Republicans, or dwelling on the past.”

“You should do the same, Mr. President, and leave my family out of it,” he wrote.

Raffensperger also refuted Trump’s attacks in another post to X saying that the state’s elections were “secure.”

“The winner here in November will reflect the will of the people. History has taught us this type of message doesn’t sell well here in Georgia, sir,” he wrote.

Trump and 18 co-defendants last year were charged with racketeering in connection with their efforts to overturn Trump’s 2020 election loss in Georgia. Trump has denied wrongdoing in the case. A Georgia appeals court has paused the case until at least October.