Tropical storm Debby blows cocaine worth $1 million onto Florida beach

Over $1 million (nearly Rs 9 crore) worth of cocaine washed up on a beach in Florida after tropical storm Debby hammered the state with torrential rain and strong winds.

After making landfall as a Category 1 hurricane early on Monday morning, it carried more than two dozen 70-pound packages of cocaine ashore as winds exceeded 80 miles (288 km/hour) per hour, the New York Post reported, citing the US Border Patrol.

Taking to X, US Border Patrol Acting Chief Samuel Briggs II shared pictures of the cocaine packages, which it said were discovered by a citizen who then informed the authorities.

"Hurricane Debby blew 25 packages of cocaine (70 lbs) onto a beach in the Florida Keys. Good Samaritan discovered the drugs & contacted authorities. US Border Patrol seized the drugs, which have a street value of over $1 million dollars," Briggs tweeted.

The packages carried a glowing red triangular symbol on them.

The citizen discovered the drugs - concealed in a garbage bag - among seaweed, leaves and other scraps that washed up on the beach.

This is not the first time that cocaine and other drug packages washed up ashore on southern Florida beaches. In June, a beachgoer in search of sea turtle nests at a north Florida beach stumbled upon $4 million worth of cocaine bricks, New York Post reported.

Debby, meanwhile, battered the state on Monday, leading to at least four deaths, including a 13-year-old boy who was crushed after a tree fell on his family's mobile home. Several homes were flooded, prompting the rescue of hundreds. Record rain caused flash flooding with up to 76 centimetres possible in some regions, the Hurricane Center said, The Associated Press reported.

It has since been downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm, and turned its direction towards Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina.