Weather

A nonprofit Collier County organization dedicated to fostering community through compassion, cooperation, and connection to the land, animals, and each other, sustained significant damage when Debby transited the coastal area as a tropical storm. Empowerment Farm was impacted by storm flooding on August 4, with water levels at the Garland Road site in Naples continuing to rise on August 5, forcing the evacuation of the farm’s animals to private off-site facilities and the cancellation of all on-site programs.

Lee County Parks & Recreation is assessing sites for damage and impacts from Tropical Storm Debby, which made landfall as Hurricane Debby in Florida’s Big Bend earlier Monday. Bunche Beach Preserve, Lynn Hall Memorial Park and access No. 4 of Bonita Beach Park are currently closed. Some parking areas along Bonita Beach has also been impacted.

The City of Sarasota on Monday declared a local state of emergency, which is a procedural step to allow emergency funding for any necessary repairs.Officials in North Port and in Fort Myers Beach met Monday morning to also declare local states of emergency.

“Catastrophic rain” is what Florida officials said Sunday they expect when Tropical Storm Debby comes ashore Monday, likely as a hurricane.Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and other state officials held multiple media briefings Sunday as Debby started to move over the warm Gulf of Mexico waters and targeted the Big Bend area of the state.Florida Department of Emergency Management director Kevin Guthrie says the situation coming from Debby will change Monday.

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Excessive rainfall from the tropical storm system approaching Florida could produce flooding across the state. The National Weather Service in Miami issued a flood watch that will remain in effect now through Monday evening.

Messy tropical wave to provide an uptick in rainfall starting this weekend. What are the chances of it developing?

A tropical disturbance has a medium chance to develop once in the vicinity of the big Caribbean Islands. This is what we know now.

The heat index, also known as the apparent temperature, is what the temperature feels like to the human body when relative humidity is combined with the air temperature. There is direct relationship between the air temperature and relative humidity and the heat index, meaning as the air temperature and relative humidity increase (decrease), the heat index increases (decreases).