Tropical Storm Debby is targeting Savannah and Charleston

Tropical Storm Debby is expected to bring rain and flooding to historic cities in the southern US on Tuesday.

At least five people have died after it hit Florida as a first-stage hurricane before weakening into a tropical storm.

As of Tuesday morning, its center was 50 miles southwest of Savannah, Georgia, and 130 miles southwest of Charleston, South Carolina.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) has warned of the threat of “life-threatening” flooding as the slow-moving storm drenches the southeastern US.

10 to 20 inches (25cm-50cm) of rain could bring catastrophic flooding to parts of southeastern Georgia, eastern South Carolina, and southeastern North Carolina, the NHC said.

Authorities say the dead include a 13-year-old boy who died when a tree fell on a trailer in Levy County, near Gainesville.

In Hillsborough County – near Tampa – an 18-wheeler veered into a ditch during a storm. The driver was found dead.

In Dixie County, west of Gainesville, officials reported that a woman and a 12-year-old child were killed when the car they were traveling in crashed Sunday night.

In southern Georgia, another death was reported – a 19-year-old boy after a large tree fell on the porch of a home in Moultrie, local media reported.

The slow speed of the storm could bring “catastrophic flooding”, said Jamie Rhome, deputy director of the hurricane center.

Debby’s waves and strong winds helped blow 25 packages of cocaine, worth more than $1m, onto the coast of the Florida Keys, according to the US Border Patrol.

In Florida, about 150,000 homes and businesses were without power Monday night, according to PowerOutage.com. Another 36,000 residents in Georgia and South Carolina had problems.

The storm is forecast to move along the coast, drenching southeast Georgia and the Carolinas on Tuesday and Wednesday, before moving inland near the South Carolina coast on Thursday.

Before the storm hit, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency in 61 of Florida’s 67 counties.

Spyridon Aibejeris told USA Today that renovations on his Keaton Beach home had just wrapped up two weeks ago since Hurricane Idalia, a category three hit last summer.

“Man, I’ve done this many times,” said Mr Aibejeris.

Forecasters predicted that this typhoon season, which runs from June 1 to November 30, will be busy.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) said there could be up to 25 hurricanes in 2024.

Between 8 and 13 of those storms could become hurricanes.

Debby was the fourth named hurricane of the year.

It is thought that climate change may make slower storms like this one easier.

As the world warms more evenly, this causes changes in the atmospheric circulation that directs storms around the world.