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Isaias strengthens to Category 2 hurricane as it bears down on Gulf Shores

Isaias strengthened into a Category 2 hurricane as it barreled toward the U.S. Gulf Coast on Thursday, prompting orders for tourists to abandon beaches for safer spots inland, sending locals scurrying for gas and groceries and leading fishing crews to secure their boats before the potentially destructive storm’s arrival.

The first hurricane of the Atlantic season was forecast to intensify rapidly and cause dangerous conditions in the Florida Panhandle, southern Alabama and southern Mississippi when it makes landfall late Friday or early Saturday. Heavy rain and flooding were possible into the weekend as far north as Tennessee and North Carolina.

“We are expecting Isaias to be a dangerous hurricane when it makes landfall,” said Michael Brennan, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Isaias had maximum sustained winds of 100 mph, according to the hurricane center, surpassing the 96 mph threshold for a Category 2 storm.

Isaias was headed northeast at 13 mph and was centered about 290 miles south of the mouth of the Mississippi River.

A hurricane warning was in effect from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, to the Bay-Gulf County line in Florida, the hurricane center said. 

Coastal communities moved quickly to prepare. Videos on social media showed traffic at a standstill on a highway leading out of Gulf Shores, where double-red beach flags signaled water access was closed.

The governors of Florida and Alabama declared states of emergency for dozens of counties, with Florida’s Ron DeSantis saying about 5,000 National Guard troops were expected to mobilize by Friday.

Water from the storm surge and high tide could reach heights of 5 to 7 feet in parts of Alabama and Mississippi, forecasters said. Isaias also could dump up to 15 inches of rain on coastal areas and spawn tornadoes overnight Friday into Saturday from Alabama to the Florida Panhandle and southwestern Georgia. The hurricane is expected to quickly weaken after coming ashore.

The National Weather Service warned of possible “long-duration power outages.”


(Photo NOAA via AP)
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