Tropical storm Debby makes 2nd landfall with heavy rain expected up U.S. East Coast

Tropical storm Debby has made a second landfall in South Carolina on its way up the U.S. East Coast, where residents as far north as Vermont could get several centimetresof rain this weekend.

The National Hurricane Center says Debby came ashore early Thursday near Bulls Bay, S.C.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 80 km/h.

WhileDebbyproduced less rain on Wednesday than the previous days, Rich Bann, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service warned that Thursday would be different.

"Moisture has pulsed back intoDebby," Bann said, noting that thestormpicked up water as it spent the last day parked over the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Georgia and South Carolina. "AsDebbymakes its way inland ... the threat of heavy rains will lead to flooding concerns."

WATCH | Tropical storm Debby leaves path of destruction in South Carolina:

Tropical storm Debby brings flooding and destruction to South Carolina

24 days ago

Duration 0:33

Tropical storm Debby cut a path of destruction after making landfall in South Carolina on Thursday. Rainfall washed out roads and winds, reaching speeds of 85 km/h, felled trees and damaged buildings.

Bann said that by FridayDebbywould be dumping up to 10 centimetresof rain on Virginia up into Pennsylvania, where ground in some patches was already soaked from otherstorms this week, heightening flooding concerns there. By the weekend, thestormcould also produce rain of up to 10 centimetresin central New York state and into northern Vermont.

Debbywas located about 35 kilometresnortheast of Charleston and moving about seven km/htoward the northwest, with maximum sustained winds of 85 km/h.

Additional weakening is forecast today as thestorm's centremoves farther inland, the National Hurricane Center said.

Storm has killed at least 6

At least six people have died in Florida and Georgia in the wake of thestorm, which made landfall on Florida's Gulf Coast on Monday as a Category 1 hurricane and headed northeast.

Governors in the Carolinas, Florida and Georgia have declared states of emergency. Thestormhas already left neighbourhoods and communities underwater, washing out streets and inundating homes across the region.

Emergency management officials were keeping a close watch as the rainwater drained into the numerous river systems that snake through the Carolinas. The National Water Prediction Service forecast that seven waterways would reach major flood levels before the weather event runs its course.