Hurricane Sally downgraded to tropical storm as it continues to dump massive amounts of rain along Gulf Coast
A slow-moving Hurricane Sally trudged ashore the northern Gulf Coast early Wednesday as a fierce Category 2 storm, dumping massive amounts of rain from Mississippi to the Florida Panhandle, where homes and businesses are already getting rushed with floodwaters.
Sally made landfall at about 6 a.m. near Gulf Shores, Ala., with sustained winds of up to 105 mph but weakened to a tropical storm with gusts topping 70 mph by Wednesday afternoon.
According to the National Hurricane Center’s most recent update, the storm has also sped up slightly and is moving north-northeast at just 5 mph. While still slow, it is slightly faster than forecasters initially predicted.
As of 1 p.m., Sally was centered about 30 miles west of Pensacola, one of the largest cities on the Gulf Coast.
The hurricane’s painfully slow trek across the Atlantic has allowed for Sally to gather massive amounts of water to dump upon its arrival on land. Forecasters have warned the storm’s sluggish pace will result in lingering rainfall, which has already sparked “catastrophic” and “life-threatening” flooding along parts of the north-central Gulf Coast.
Most of the region initially started experiencing huge amounts of rainfall more than 24 hours ahead of Sally’s landfall. Some locations have already seen up to 25 inches, an amount that could double depending on how quickly it continues to fall, according to the National Weather Service in Mobile, Ala.
Emergency officials in Alabama and Florida have already reported flash floods that are pushing water into communities and homes. More than 2 feet of rain was recorded near Naval Air Station Pensacola, and the National Weather Service reported nearly 3 feet of water rushing down the streets in the city’s downtown area.
“It’s not common that you start measuring rainfall in feet,” said National Weather Service forecaster David Eversole in Mobile, Ala. “Sally’s moving so slowly, so it just keeps pounding and pounding and pounding the area with tropical rain and just powerful winds. It’s just a nightmare.”
A flash flood emergency alert was also issued for parts of Alabama and the Florida panhandle, including Pensacola. And Okaloosa and Santa Rosa County, both located in Florida, will remain under alert until 11:45 a.m.
“These warnings are issued for exceedingly rare situations when a severe threat to human life and catastrophic damage from a flash flood is happening,” NWS said in a statement Wednesday morning.
“This is a life-threatening situation. Seek higher ground now.”
President Trump also issued emergency declarations for parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama on Monday, and on Twitter urged residents to listen to state and local leaders.
Local police departments within the affected communities have already issued stern warnings to their residents. In the Panhandle’s Escambia County — which includes Pensacola — Chief Sheriff’s Deputy Chip Simmons vowed to keep officers available for as long as physically possible.
“The sheriff’s office will be there until we can no longer safely be out there, and then and only then will we pull our deputies in,” Simmons said at a storm briefing late Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Orange Beach Police in Alabama said officers would no longer be able to respond to calls due to the extreme weather.
“Present conditions are preventing us from answering calls at this time,” the department tweeted. “If you have the option to move to higher ground do so now.”
Nearly 400,000 homes and businesses had lost electricity by early Wednesday, according to the poweroutage.us site, and officials have warned more could lose power in the coming hours.
According to Colorado State University hurricane research scientist Phil Klotzbach, Sally has made landfall during what could be one of the busiest hurricane seasons to date.
“Sally is 8th named storm to make continental US (CONUS) landfall so far in 2020,” he wrote. “This is the most CONUS landfalling named storms on record through 9/16.”
The season has been so frenetic so far, forecasters have nearly run through the alphabet with storm names and there are still more than 2 months left to go.
With News Wire Services
