Cocaine found after Hurricane Debby hits US coasts

Hurricane Debby struck the coasts of Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina on Monday, 5 August. Waves washed ashore packages with surprising contents, which turned out to be worth over a million dollars in total.

As reported by Border Patrol officers in Miami and quoted by the newspaper The Guardian, a passerby stumbled upon a package while walking on a beach on one of the islands in the Florida Keys archipelago after Hurricane Debby had passed.

The man found packages on the beach containing nearly 32 kilograms of cocaine. A photo of the 25 packages with drugs was shared on platform X by a local Border Patrol representative, Samuel Briggs. According to his account, the finder of the cocaine immediately contacted the authorities.

Officers quickly confiscated and secured the find. They also estimated that the black market value of the drugs exceeds a million dollars (approximately €955,000).

The hurricane hit the coasts of Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina, causing the death of five people - four in Florida, including two children, and one in Georgia.

Since Monday, the hurricane has weakened but transformed into a tropical storm. The resulting rainfall is causing floods and inundations, with rescue operations ongoing. Hundreds of people whose homes are underwater are being assisted. President Joe Biden has authorised the governors of these states and South Carolina to declare a state of emergency.

According to the latest forecasts from meteorologists, in the next two days, the wind speed is expected to reach over 90 kilometres per hour. Debby will thus remain a tropical storm but close to the hurricane threshold of 119 kilometres per hour.