Debby's aftermath leaves thousands in the dark; threatens more flooding in the Carolinas

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The weather system previously known as Hurricane Debby was not quite done with parts of the U.S. Sunday as flood warnings remained in effect in North Carolina and thousands were without power in New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

After hitting Florida as a hurricane Aug. 5, the storm spent nearly a week unleashing tornadoes and flooding, damaging homes and taking lives along the East Coast before moving into Canada on Saturday.

While many rivers had receded by Sunday, flood warnings remained in effect across central and eastern North Carolina, where more thunderstorms were possible over the next few days. With the ground already saturated from Debby, the National Weather Service said localized downpours could result in additional flash flooding throughout the coastal Carolinas.

Authorities in Lumberton, N.C., said in a Facebook post Saturday that one person died after driving into floodwaters on a closed road and getting swept away. Officials didn’t identify the driver, but said that what they hoped would be a post-storm rescue, quickly turned into a recovery.

“It bears repeating,” the agency said in the post. “Never drive into flooded roadways and obey road closed signage.”

In New Bern, North Carolina, business was brisk at the Halftime Pub and Grub restaurant Sunday afternoon just after a flash flood warning was issued, said server Chastity Bettis.

“Right now, it’s thundering, sprinkling and pretty dark so I’d say it’s going to start raining hard here pretty soon,” she said. “If you live here, you’re pretty used to hurricane season and it being like this, but the last week or two we’ve been getting it pretty rough.”

In South Carolina, the National Weather Service’s Charleston office warned Sunday that as much as 3 to 4 inches of additional rainfall was possible in the afternoon and evening, and could lead to flash flooding. Showers and thunderstorms could develop across Charleston County down through Chatham County and inland, the office said.

Even in drier areas, more than 35,000 homes and businesses in Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania and Vermont still had no electricity as of Sunday afternoon, according to the tracking website PowerOutage.us. Some 23,000 outages lingered in hard-hit Ohio, where Debby-related storms including tornadoes blew through the northeastern part of the state on Wednesday.

Debby’s last day and night over the U.S. inundated parts of New York, Pennsylvania and New England with rain and flash flooding on Friday, prompting evacuations and rescues.

Recovery efforts were ongoing in upstate New York’s Steuben County. Officials announced plans to distribute water bottles and clean-up kits to residents impacted by flash flooding on Sunday and Monday. The Red Cross also opened a shelter for flood victims at the Corning-Painted Post High School and planned to operate it until Monday.

The county, located along the Pennsylvania state line, declared a state of emergency Friday and ordered several towns evacuated as flood waters engulfed homes, farms and roadways. The area has been hit by devastating flash floods in prior storms, including in 2021.

“Twice in three years the Tuscarora Creek turned from a gentle stream into a raging beast,” county officials wrote in a post on the government’s Facebook page Sunday afternoon. “It’s just too much. The sun still rose Saturday. Volunteers fixed breakfast. People from all four towns rolled up their sleeves, took a deep breath.”

Officials in Tioga County in north-central Pennsylvania said Sunday morning that 10 teams of emergency service volunteers would be out surveying residents about damage as responders kept up the search for a person missing since the flooding.

“Please be kind to them, because these are volunteers … they work here in the 911 center, they’re fire, police, they’re EMS, these folks are dedicating their Sunday to help you out,” said County Commissioner Marc Rice.

Faith-based disaster relief organizations were also mobilizing to help assess damage and provide help, state Rep. Clint Owlett said. “That’s going to be a big deal.”

Meanwhile, the National Hurricane Center is tracking another potential tropical storm in the Atlantic. Officials said a tropical depression is likely to form within the next day or two and could approach portions of the Greater Antilles by the middle of the week.

Ramer reported from in Concord, New Hampshire. Philip Marcelo in New York also contributed to this report.

A person with an umbrella walks in the rain in New York, Friday, Aug. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Monday launched his family's cryptocurrency venture, World Liberty Financial, with an interview on the X social media platform in which he also gave his first public comments on the apparent assassination attempt against him a day earlier.

Trump did not discuss specifics about World Liberty Financial or how it would work, pivoting from questions about cryptocurrency to talking about artificial intelligence or other topics. Instead, he recounted his experience Sunday, saying he and a friend playing golf “heard shots being fired in the air, and I guess probably four or five.”

“I would have loved to have sank that last putt,” Trump said. He credited the Secret Service agent who spotted the barrel of a rifle and began firing toward it as well as law enforcement and a civilian who he said helped track down the suspect.

World Liberty Financial is expected to be a borrowing and lending service used to trade cryptocurrencies, which are forms of digital money that can be traded over the internet without relying on the global banking system. Exchanges often charge fees for withdrawals of Bitcoin and other currencies.

Other speakers after Trump, including his eldest son, Don Jr., talked about embracing cryptocurrency as an alternative to what they allege is a banking system tilted against conservatives.

Experts have said a presidential candidate launching a business venture in the midst of a campaign could create ethical conflicts.

“Taking a pro-crypto stance is not necessarily troubling; the troubling aspect is doing it while starting a way to personally benefit from it,” Jordan Libowitz, a spokesperson for the government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said earlier this month.

During his time in the White House, Trump said he was “not a fan” of cryptocurrency and tweeted in 2019, “Unregulated Crypto Assets can facilitate unlawful behavior, including drug trade and other illegal activity." However, during this election cycle, he has reversed himself and taken on a favorable view of cryptocurrencies.

He announced in May that his campaign would begin accepting donations in cryptocurrency as part of an effort to build what it calls a “crypto army” leading up to Election Day. He attended a bitcoin conference in Nashville this year, promising to make the U.S. the “crypto capital of the planet” and create a bitcoin “strategic reserve” using the currency that the government currently holds.

Hilary Allen, a law professor at American University who has done research on cryptocurrencies, said she was skeptical of Trump's change of heart on crypto.

“I think it’s fair to say that that reversal has been motivated in part by financial interests,” she said.

Crypto enthusiasts welcomed the shift, viewing the launch as a positive sign for investors if Trump retakes the White House.

Meanwhile, Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign has not offered policy proposals on how it would regulate digital assets like cryptocurrencies.

In an effort to appeal to crypto investors, a group of Democrats, including Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, participated in an online “Crypto 4 Harris” event in August.

Neither Harris nor members of her campaign staff attended the event.

Gomez Licon contributed from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump waves as he boards a plane at Harry Reid International Airport after a campaign trip, Saturday, Sept.14, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)