Southerners issued urgent warning in wake of Storm Debby as brazen alligators take over flooded cities

Southerners are being told to watch out for unexpected alligators in their backyards and swimming pools as Tropical Storm Debby deluges the East Coast. 

Several in South Carolina have filmed massive gators stalking their streets and taking dips in backyard pools since Debby made landfall on Monday. 

'There's a seven-footer,' Robert Moose Rini said from inside his car on Hilton Head Island Monday. 'Imagine walking around the corner and seeing that sucker.' 

The reptile is seen slowly crossing the street before settling into a puddle next to a bed of flowers. 

As the shocked witness continued to drive, he spotted a gator crawling onto a sidewalk.

Adrienne LeBlanc filmed an alligator swimming in an overflowing lagoon in Bluffton, South Carolina. 

She filmed the video from her bedroom as she saw the gator 'cruising' toward her house. 

'Ugh, I can't think of anything more terrifying at the moment than having a big a** gator come right up on my lawn,' she said while capturing the footage. 

LeBlanc later filmed the 'alligator-infested moat around my house.' 

'They just really like coming up here, that's for sure,' she says. 'I mean, they did even before the water level rose... This is pretty unbelievable. They're never, ever, ever this close.' 

LeBlanc said she thought it would 'take weeks for all of this water to recede.' 

Christian Sudduth, of Hilton Head, saw an eight-foot alligator and nearly ran the reptile over.

'I was fortunate I saw him,' he told The Island Packet. 

Another Hilton Head resident spotted a gator swimming in her backyard pool on Monday.

Matt Kraycar, of K&K Wildlife Services, said the phenomenon isn't abnormal as the reptiles are forced out of their natural habitats, but he doesn't expect them to stay for very long. 

'They're going to go back to where the food is and where they feel comfortable,' he told The Island Packet. 'Right now, they're just trying to find a safe spot.' 

Experts warn locals not to swim in floodwater as alligators and snakes can be lingering nearby. 

Storm Debby has continued to pick up its pace, moving north and northeast from the Carolinas, while still packing a punch with heavy rains, flash flooding and the threat of tornadoes.

The Mid-Atlantic states and parts of New York and New England will see significant rainfall that could cause dangerous flooding into the weekend, such as on parts of Interstate 95 near bigger cities, said Jon Porter, Accuweather's chief meteorologist.

There may be an active stretch of tornadoes on Friday from eastern Virginia up to Vermont.