The U.S. Capitol complex was put under a rare tornado warning as bad weather caused by Storm Debby heading through the Washington, D.C. area.
The U.S. Capitol Police said due to the warning, personnel within the Capitol Complex should immediately move to their office’s severe weather shelter locations and no one should exit the building until directed.
They indicated to take emergency equipment and visitors with them. If people were not near their offices, they were directed to go to the nearest office and shelter there.
The warning has since been downgraded to a tornado watch until 2pm local time.
The police said to close and stay away from exterior doors and windows.
Both the House and Senate are out of session this week, so there aren’t any lawmakers currently on Capitol Hill.
They still have a staff presence in their offices servicing constituent inquires and conducting tours of the Capitol.
On Thursday, the Washington Nationals baseball team’s game was delayed due to bad weather.
Grounds crew stretched out a tarp to cover the field during a weather delay in the eighth inning of a baseball game between the Nationals and the San Francisco Giants.
Storm Debby has hit landfall for a second time in South Carolina as it makes its way up the East Coast, spawning damaging tornadoes as well as fresh floods.
More than 130,000 people have been left without power due to tornado activity, as widespread structure damage has been caused.
The National Hurricane Center revealed Debby came ashore early Thursday near Bulls Bay, South Carolina, and first made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane, temporarily shutting down part of Interstate 95.
The tropical storm is expected to now keep moving inland, spreading heavy rain and possible flooding up through the mid-Atlantic and Northeast by the weekend.
Early Thursday morning, the storm had maximum sustained winds of 45 mph in Miami with its center about 90 miles north of Charleston, South Carolina.
As it made its way to North Carolina, there there were even reports of emergency responders in Wilson County searching for a man possibly trapped inside, according to local news outlet ABC11.
Meanwhile, three tornado warnings have been issued east of Raleigh, NC, as well as in Dortches and Rocky Mount.
Debby wasn’t done flooding parts of eastern South Carolina and southeast North Carolina, and an additional 3 to 9 inches (8 to 23 centimeters) of rain is possible as the storm moves north, raising concerns of flash floods in mountainous areas of West Virginia.
At least three tornadoes were reported overnight in North Carolina, including one around 3 a.m. that damaged at least four houses, a church and a school in Wilson County east of Raleigh, county officials said. No injuries were immediately reported.
Standing water a few feet deep covered parts of the tiny town of Bladenboro, where deputies posted photos of a patrol car damaged by a tree and washed out roads.
In Huger, northeast of Charleston, South Carolina, Gene Taylor waited for the water to drain from his house along French Quarter Creek as high tide passed.
He had learned the hard way to begin moving his belongings up or out of his home last week as Debby approached. Taylor figures this is the fourth time he has had floodwater in his home in the past nine years.
‘We got caught with our pants down in 2015. We waited, didn´t think the water was going to come up as quick. But it did, and it caught us. We couldn´t even get the vehicles out,’ Taylor said.
At least four dams were breached northwest of Savannah in Georgia’s Bulloch County, but no deaths had been reported, authorities said. More than 75 people were rescued from floodwaters in the county, said Corey Kemp, director of emergency management, and about 100 roads were closed.
‘We´ve been faced with a lot of things we´ve never been faced with before,’ Bulloch County Commission Chairman Roy Thompson said.
