There were flood zone evacuations on Saturday in Florida's northwest central coast after Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency and mobilized the National Guard.
Citrus County Sheriff Mike Prendergast was in Lecanto, an area under a tropical storm warning that is home to the College of Central Florida. He was warning of the risks.
"We don't want them to stay in the flood zone like a lot of people did last year, and then they started calling us. They had alligators, water moccasins, and rattlesnakes trying to intrude into their homes. We had manatees going through the drive-through at the Wendy's over in Crystal River,"
A depression strengthened into Tropical Storm Debby on Saturday afternoon over the southeastern Gulf of Mexico. It was the fourth named storm of this Atlantic hurricane season.
The Gulf's heat was set to strengthen the storm into a Category 1 hurricane on Monday, so a hurricane warning was in effect for the Florida Gulf coast, from the Suwannee River to the Ochlockonee River.
