Hurricane Isaias strengthened to a powerful Category 2 storm Friday and threatened to briefly become a major hurricane before striking the northern U.S. Gulf Coast, prompting evacuations and warnings for life-threatening storm surge, flooding, damaging winds and tornadoes.
The storm was forecast to make landfall late Friday or early Saturday near the Alabama-Florida border, although officials warned that the exact location could still shift. Hurricane warnings stretched from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, to the Bay-Gulf County line in Florida, while tropical-storm warnings covered nearby coastal areas. Governors in Florida, Alabama and Georgia declared states of emergency, and local officials ordered evacuations in vulnerable coastal communities, including parts of Florida’s Panhandle and Alabama’s barrier islands.
Forecasters said Isaias could produce a storm surge of 5 to 7 feet above normally dry ground, particularly around Mobile Bay and surrounding shorelines. The National Hurricane Center also projected 4 to 8 inches of rain across southern Alabama, the Florida Panhandle and parts of Georgia, with isolated totals reaching 15 inches. Heavy rainfall and the storm’s expanding wind field could cause flooding and power outages well inland across the Southeast.
Residents in warning areas were urged to complete preparations immediately and follow evacuation instructions from local authorities.