North Carolina
Tropical Storm Debby makes 2nd landfall in South Carolina, heavy rain expected up the East Coast
HUGER, S.C. — HUGER, S.C. (AP) — Tropical Storm Debby has made a second landfall in South Carolina on its way up the East Coast, where residents as far north as Vermont could get several inches of rain this weekend.
The National Hurricane Center says Debby came ashore early Thursday near Bulls Bay, South Carolina. The storm is expected to keep moving inland, spreading heavy rain and possible flooding all the way up through the mid-Atlantic and the Northeast by the weekend.
Debby first made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane early Monday on the Gulf Coast of Florida. It is now a tropical storm with maximum sustained winds at 50 mph (80 kph).
Considerable flooding is expected across parts of eastern South Carolina and southeast North Carolina through Friday, with an additional 3 to 9 inches (8 to 23 centimeters) of rain forecast, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Days of rain have forced the deluge-hardened residents of a South Carolina community to begin the near-ritualistic task of assessing damage left behind by Debby, which continued spinning over the Atlantic Ocean and influencing thunderstorms from the East Coast to the Great Lakes on Wednesday. The National Weather Service’s office in Charleston also said survey teams confirmed four-Debby related tornadoes.
In Huger, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) northeast of Charleston, Gene Taylor was waiting in the afternoon for a few inches of water to drain from his house along French Quarter Creek as high tide passed.
Taylor saw the potential for flooding last week and started moving belongings out or up higher in his home. It’s a lesson learned the hard way — Taylor estimated that this is the fourth time he has had floodwater in his home in the past nine years.
“To save everything, we’ve learned from the past it’s better be prepared for the worst. And unfortunately, I think we got it,” Taylor said.
A few doors down, Charles Grainger was cleaning up after about 8 inches (20 centimeters) of water got into his home.
“Eight inches disrupts your whole life,” Grainger said. “You don’t get used to it. You just grin and bear it. It’s part of living on the creek.”
In Georgia, at least four dams were breached northwest of Savannah in Bulloch County, but no deaths had been reported, authorities said at a briefing.
More than 75 people were rescued from floodwaters in the county, said Corey Kemp, director of emergency management, and about 100 roads were closed.
“We’ve been faced with a lot of things we’ve never been faced with before,” Bulloch County Commission Chairman Roy Thompson said. “I’m 78-plus years old and have never seen anything like this before in Bulloch County. It’s amazing what has happened, and amazing what is going to continue to happen until all these waters get out of here.”
For residents on Tappan Zee Drive in suburban Pooler, west of Savannah, Georgia, the drenching that Debby delivered came with a painful dose of déjà vu. In October 2016, Hurricane Matthew overflowed a nearby canal and flooded several of the same homes.
Located roughly 30 miles (50 kilometers) inland from the Atlantic Ocean, with no creeks or rivers nearby, the neighborhood doesn’t seem like a high-risk location for tropical flooding. But residents say drainage problems have plagued their street for well over a decade, despite local government efforts to fix them.
Debby also dumped rain on communities all the way up to the Great Lakes and New York and New Jersey. Moisture from the tropical storm strengthened another system Tuesday evening, which caused strong thunderstorms, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Scott Kleebauer.
“We had a multi-round period of showers and thunderstorms that kind of scooted from Michigan eastward,” Kleebauer said.
As much as 6 inches (15 centimeters) of rain fell in parts of New Jersey in less than four hours.
Emergency officials in New York City warned of potential flash flooding, flying drones with loudspeakers in some neighborhoods to tell people in basement apartments to be ready to flee at a moment’s notice. Multiple water rescues were reported in and near the city.
Nearly 330,000 customers remained without power in Ohio as of Wednesday afternoon, according to PowerOutage.us, following severe storms including two confirmed tornadoes. Utility officials with FirstEnergy’s Illuminating Company said via social media that power restoration would take days due to the damage.
In South Carolina, Gov. Henry McMaster said his state was just entering Act 2 of a three-act play, after more than 60 homes were damaged but roads and water systems were without significant problems.
The final act may come next week if enough rain falls upstream in North Carolina to cause major flooding along rivers as they flow to the Atlantic Ocean.
A state of emergency was in effect for both North Carolina and Virginia. Maryland issued a state of preparedness declaration that coordinates preparations without declaring an emergency.
At least six people have died due to the storm, five of them in traffic accidents or from fallen trees. The sixth death involved a 48-year-old man in Gulfport, Florida, whose body was recovered after his anchored sailboat partially sank. ___ This story has been updated to remove an incorrect reference to total rainfall amounts for the Carolinas.
___
Collins reported from Columbia, South Carolina. Associated Press journalists Russ Bynum in Pooler, Georgia; Bruce Shipkowski in Toms River, New Jersey; Jeff Martin in Atlanta, and Lisa Baumann in Bellingham, Washington, contributed.
North Carolina
Police: North Carolina man charged after high-speed chase in Erie County, arrested in the Town of Perry
PERRY, N.Y. — A North Carolina man is in custody after a chase that started in Erie County and ended with an arrest in Perry.
Wyoming County Sheriff’s deputies say Ericson Vasquez-Moran, 22, rammed a Border Patrol vehicle in Erie County around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday before taking off. The suspect was spotted in Warsaw on Route 20A, but a chase was called off due to high speeds.
Then around 2:30 a.m. Wednesday, deputies say Vasquez-Moran called 911 from Perry to surrender.
He’s charged with speeding, failure to keep right, unlawful fleeing a police officer, reckless driving, and reckless endangerment in the second degree.
Vasquez-Moran was given an appearance ticket for the Village of Warsaw Court and was released to the custody of the United States Border Patrol.
ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — After nearly two hours of public comment, the Asheville City Council unanimously denied a proposed affordable housing complex off Caribou Road—despite the city’s ongoing housing crisis.
The proposal, submitted by developer Pennrose, would have brought 100 affordable housing units to a nearly 10-acre site in the Shiloh neighborhood.
“I’m going to vote against affordable housing tonight, and that’s not a norm for me,” said Asheville City Councilmember Sage Turner.
AFFORDABLE HOUSING PROJECTS MOVE FORWARD ACROSS WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA
News 13 asked Vice Mayor Antanette Mosely why the city would deny this project amid a housing crisis in Asheville.
She said, in a statement, “I absolutely believe Asheville needs more affordable housing, and I have consistently supported housing projects across the city. But not every site is appropriate for every project.”
Residents who opposed the project said they were not against affordable housing itself, but believed the development was too large for the area.
MAY 13, 2026 – The Asheville City Council unanimously denied a proposed affordable housing complex off Caribou Road—despite the city’s ongoing housing crisis. (Photo credit: WLOS Staff)
“The access is too narrow, there was only one access point, the streets are too narrow, we’ve got a big problem with traffic here,” said Shiloh resident Scott Raines.
“Perhaps the only thing that I consider as a dead stop for affordable housing is if people are going to be injured or possibly die from the traffic that’s created,” Michael Boses, another resident, said.
ASHEVILLE PROPOSES PROPERTY TAX RATE INCREASE TO CLOSE $8.9M BUDGET GAP
The Shiloh neighborhood, established in 1870, is one of Asheville’s last historically Black communities. Several council members said preserving the area’s legacy factored into their decision.
“My vote for no is because I feel hyper protective of our legacy neighborhoods, I feel hyper protective of Shiloh,” Turner said.
Pennrose responded to the denial in a statement, saying: “While we are disappointed in the Council’s decision concerning the rezoning application at Caribou Road, we respect the community’s interest in preserving the character of legacy neighborhoods.”
Mullin visits Chimney Rock, talks immigration, recovery
Markwayne Mullin visits Chimney Rock, discusses recovery and says he does not believe sanctuary cities are legal.
ASHEVILLE – The city will consider shifting $19.2 million of its Tropical Storm Helene recovery funding to repair single-family housing after its initial plan would only repair about eight homes.
Across Western North Carolina, contracts for the repair, reconstruction or rehabilitation of single-family homes damaged by Helene have come in at an average cost of $276,285, according to slides presented to the Governor’s Advisory Committee on Western North Carolina Recovery on April 20. The repair program, managed through RenewNC, is funded by a $1.4 billion Community Development Block Grant delivered to North Carolina from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
In 2024, the North Carolina Office of Budget and Management estimated that over 70,000 homes were damaged by the storm, which caused an estimated $60 billion in damages and killed over 100 in the state.
After the city received its own $225 million grant from HUD, City Council unanimously voted to only allocated $31 million to housing for both multi-family projects and single-family home repairs. Of that $31 million pot, it only allocated $3 million to the single-family home repair program. During a May 5 Housing and Community Development Committee meeting, the city projected costs for just single-family home repairs at $30 million to $40 million.
In late 2025 and early 2026, city staff had suggested moving millions into the single-family home program to meet rising demand, the Citizen Times reported. During an April 1 Helene Housing Recovery Meeting, Director of Renew NC’s Single-Family Housing Program Maggie Battaglin estimated the $3 million in funding would only cover around eight homes.
Under the city’s agreement with the state, Asheville is not able to access the additional $807 million allocated to the single-family home repair program, meaning remaining applicants in Asheville would not be served. The agreement was first reported by Blue Ridge Public Radio.
Staff are now suggesting reallocating $19.2 million from other areas of its CDBG plan to fund the single-family repair program. The reallocation, which would require an amendment to the city’s plan, would pull $9.2 million from its multi-family housing program and $10 million from its CDBG-DR Infrastructure Program, where the city would pull from the funds from a project at the North Fork Water Treatment Plant. The reallocation would set aside $22.2 million for the program and will serve 55-65 households, according to state estimates presented by city of Asheville staff.
As of May 5, 285 applications for the program were filed in Asheville with 132 being considered “active” and eight being “under review.” Of the city’s applicants, 124 households have been deemed eligible for the RenewNC program.
The reallocation would set aside $22.2 million for the program and serve roughly 55-65 households, the city’s CDBG-DR Program Manager Elma King said during City Council’s May 7 Agenda Briefing. It’s still not enough to serve everyone, though, King said.
“Additional CDBG-DR programs, outside of infrastructure, may need to be re-evaluated to support single-family home repair,” King said.
As Western North Carolina continues to recover from Helene, lawmakers and regional leaders have pushed for more funding from the federal government. Despite high damages, Congress and FEMA have only distributed roughly $7 billion to the state, according to estimates from the Governor’s Office for Western North Carolina Recovery. Gov. Josh Stein has requested an additional $13.5 billion in federal aid, which would go through HUD’s CDBG-DR program.
Estimated damages in Asheville from Helene are far above the $225 million provided by the federal government, City Council member Kim Roney noted during the May 7 meeting.
“I keep coming back to the point that we don’t have enough funding, because $225 million sounds like a lot but it’s not $1.1 billion,” Roney said.
City Council will vote on the $19.2 million reallocation on June 23.
Will Hofmann is the Growth and Development Reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Got a tip? Email him at WHofmann@citizentimes.com or message will_hofmann.01 on Signal.
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