I'm a native Floridian and currently live in St. Pete, on the central west coast. I've been through many a tropical storm and hurricane. Not one of them ever spawned as many tornadoes as Tropical Storm Debby has. I've never seen anything like it.

At one point, there were five tornadoes on the ground here at once. Reports of new ones as well as new warning areas were coming in so fast that a frustrated local weather person said that wherever you are, just go into a interior room, cover your head and wait.

I was going to post some pictures but the system won't let me do it. So just imagine tornadoes and streets that resemble rivers.
   

The storm has been stationary out in the Gulf since yesterday. Talk about irritating! It could stay parked out there until Wednesday or Thursday and continue to dump rain on us. Perhaps I will float away. Glug.

Forecasters are unable to agree where cute little Debby might go once it starts moving again. I just love it when that happens.

BTW, I have a feeling that gas prices in the US will be going up again soon. 

I'm sorry to read it, Karla!  I do hope that little or no further ill comes of the weather! :/

It appears as though the storm has split with one section literally crawling towards the NE and the other continuing to spin relentlessly over the Tallahassee area and going nowhere. I have read some reports indicating rainfall in the amounts of 20-25 inches in some areas. By my own calculations it would seem imminent that such areas would simply literally wash away into the Gulf of Mexico.

This all sounds absolutely ghastly Karla.  Stay safe and everyone, hold onto your gardens!

Images are finally working for me again...

Here is the latest graphic from the National Weather Service. It's all theirs except the "Me" notation. It covers today through Wednesday:

We're under an indefinite Tropical Storm Warning. Earlier, the thing had been moving toward the NE at 5 mph, but it's stalled again.

They're still not sure where it will go. Here's the latest spaghetti map:

And here are some images:

We had 9 inches of rain yesterday. Other local areas had even more. A lot of rainfall records were set.

@Caroline

Hold onto your gardens!!

Sheesh!  I hope you ride it out safely, Karla!  Those tornados are scary.

Yea hope everything goes ok for you Karla. That spaghetti map had me cracking up.

St. Petersburg is really nice area of Florida to visit, especially if you enjoy the beaches/fishing. I  usually go to Clearwater myself every year or two in the summer time for vacation with family.

I've neer seen a spaghetti map before.  Is it like snail trails - it shows you where the storm has been?

Isn't DisneyWorld in Florida?  How does this weather affect them?  I've never seen damage photos of their place on the news.

Thanks for the good wishes, y'all. Things are better tonight than they were last night, that's for sure. It hasn't rained nearly as much and we haven't had any tornadoes that I know of for several hours. The wind is still whipping things around, but my roof if still attached and I haven't blown down the street yet.

I've never seen a storm hang around as long as this one has. After listening to info about it since Saturday, I'm starting to hear only "Blahblahblahblahblahblahblah." I think I might have a case of tropical storm burnout.

@Stiler
Ah, so you're the one who vacations here in the summertime! Everyone else comes in the wintertime. As they say: leaves don't change color in Florida; license plates do.

@Caroline
Disney World is in Orlando, which is east-northeast of here and takes about an hour-and-a-half to get to by car. I know Orlando is getting weather from Debby, but I don't know how much. I have no idea what Disney World does during severe weather.

A spaghetti map is a graphical representation of paths a tropical system might take. If computer models are widely divergent, a spaghetti map can appear rather chaotic. Of course, the one I made is highly exaggerated.

Thanks for the info Karla.   Meanwhile I think you should wrap up warmly and get outside .... like this man, take advantage of the weather.  http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/8490219/kite-surfer-uses-tropical-storm-to-jump-pier 

Originally Posted By Caroline (26 JUN 2012 5:51pm)

Thanks for the info Karla.   Meanwhile I think you should wrap up warmly and get outside .... like this man, take advantage of the weather.  http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/8490219/kite-surfer-uses-tropical-storm-to-jump-pier 

Oh maaaaaan...that guy is nuts. I'll bet he had a good time, though.

Redington Beach is maybe a 15-minute drive from here. I've been there many times, but never during a tropical storm.

Interesting that an Australian site has that story and I've heard nothing about it locally. I guess everyone has been too busy carrying on about the storm itself, which is finally going away and leaving a great big freakin' mess.

All things considered, though, I did pretty well. A lot of folks around here have ended up in worse shape.

Originally Posted By karla (26 JUN 2012 11:46pm)
Oh maaaaaan...that guy is nuts. I'll bet he had a good time, though.

Yes, I thought I heard the wind whistling through the holes in his head. 

I'm glad the storm is finally passing out of your area, Karla, and that you got through it without any major mishaps.

I take it you didn't lose power or internet. THAT is a bummer.

Saw this on my homepage:

Now that's funny, CB!

Ironically, we were in the midst of a major drought before Debby came along. Now, even though it's stopped raining, we're in the midst of continuing floods.

Before, there were big brown patches in the grass. Now, you either can't see the grass at all or your feet become submerged, accompanied by lovely squishing sounds, when you try to walk on it.

Before, foliage was withering up. Now, it's somewhere on the other side of town.

I was very lucky, power-wise. I lost it three times, but only for a few minutes each time. Whew.

Last night I opened a window and heard *nothing* for the first time since Sunday. No downpours, high winds or tornadoes. Just wonderful silence. Ahhhhhh.

This has definitely been an "interesting" experience. 

Hopefully the end of Debby is here Karla.  Glad you got thru it without to much trouble.

Thanks, Helen.

I heard such a sad thing earlier today. Here in St. Pete, they found the body of a 71-year-old man who had drowned inside his flooded house. That just breaks my heart.

Before, foliage was withering up. Now, it's somewhere on the other side of town.