New York City airports experienced ground delays and a tornado warning was issued for parts of New Jersey as remnants of Storm Debby approached the region Friday morning.
LaGuardia Airport in Queens imposed a ground stop due to thunderstorms at 7:15 a.m., which was downgraded to a ground delay at 8:21 a.m., PIX11 reported.
Travelers should still expect delays of more than an hour, the outlet said.
According to the FAA, Newark Liberty International Airport also experienced departure delays of around 45 minutes, while John F. Kennedy International Airport experienced traffic jams of around 30 minutes.
A tornado warning has been issued for 17 counties in New Jersey as Debby, which has been officially downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone by the National Hurricane Center, could produce severe thunderstorms.
A wind warning was also in effect for the entire state, with gusts of up to 50 miles per hour expected.
Parts of New York State northwest of New York City and eastern Pennsylvania were also under tornado warnings. Ginger Zee of ABC News reported.
There is no tornado warning for New York City, but a National Weather Service wind advisory is in effect for the region.
A flood warning was also in effect in most parts of New York State and central Pennsylvania.
The powerful storm was expected to bring rain, strong winds and flooding to the tri-state region when it arrived later Friday.
Rainfall of between 3 and 7 inches (7.5 to 18 centimeters) is expected in many areas, which could cause “locally catastrophic flooding,” the National Weather Service warned.
Since early Friday morning, Debby devastated parts of the Carolinas coast before moving north through Virginia and Maryland with winds of up to 30 miles per hour, the National Hurricane Center said.
Debby made landfall on Big Bend in Florida on Monday as a Category 1 hurricane.
The storm brought more than 500 centimeters of rain to the southwest of the state and left more than 300,000 homes without power.
Debby made landfall in South Carolina for the second time on Thursday as a tropical storm.
Heavy rain is expected in parts of the East Coast through Sunday, with the heaviest rainfall expected along the Interstate 95 corridor from the Mid-Atlantic to the Northeast.
By Friday morning, at least seven people had died in the storm.
