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Isaias becomes hurricane; still bound for Friday landfall on Gulf Shores

Isaias surged toward the U.S. Gulf Coast on Thursday as the first hurricane of the Atlantic season, prompting mandatory evacuations and school closures in parts of Florida.

Isaias was forecast to intensify rapidly and bring strong winds and a life-threatening storm surge to the Florida Panhandle, southern Alabama and southern Mississippi when it makes landfall on the northern Gulf Coast late Friday or early Saturday. Heavy rain with the risk of flooding was possible into the weekend as far inland as the Tennessee Valley.

The hurricane had maximum sustained winds around 80 mph and was moving east-northeast at 9 mph early Thursday morning, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said. It was centered about 420 miles south-southwest of the mouth of the Mississippi River. 

On Wednesday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency for 25 counties in the Panhandle and Big Bend regions.

The storm was on track to tie or break a 121-year-old record as the latest arriving initial hurricane of the Atlantic season. According to the National Weather Service, the record dates to 1905, when the year’s first Atlantic hurricane formed on Oct. 8.

The hurricane center issued a hurricane watch Wednesday for the northern Gulf Coast from Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, to Indian Pass on the Florida Panhandle. The watch means hurricane conditions are possible within 48 hours.

Brennan said dangerous storm surge could affect an even wider area, from southeast Louisiana to Florida’s Big Bend. Heavy rains of 3 to 7 inches could trigger flash flooding near the coast, with accumulations of 1 to 3 inches as far inland as Tennessee and the western Carolinas.

Forecasters predict Isaias will make landfall late Friday or early Saturday.

In Gulf Shores, Alabama, the storm threat caused organizers to cancel the National Shrimp Festival that had been scheduled for Thursday through the weekend. The event drew an estimated 325,000 people last year.

As it moves inland, Isaias might also disrupt Saturday’s college football showdown between rivals Georgia and Alabama — a game President Donald Trump has planned to attend.

The Atlantic hurricane season has been unusually quiet this year because of a strong El Niño, which disrupts storm formation over that ocean. Storm activity has been above average in the Pacific, where Tropical Storm Simon also formed Wednesday off Mexico.


(Photo NOAA via AP)
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