Hurricane Isaias strengthens to Category 2 heading for Gulf Coast

Forecasters urged residents along the northern U.S. Gulf Coast to rush preparations to protect life and property on Thursday evening as Hurricane Isaias moved toward landfall. UPI, PBS NewsHour, and the Washington Examiner all reported that the storm has become a Category 2 hurricane, marking the first hurricane of the year in the Atlantic basin. UPI noted that the storm could make landfall along the coast as early as Friday night. [1][3][7]

According to the National Hurricane Center update reported by UPI, the storm was located about 255 miles north-northeast of Progreso, Mexico, and 290 miles south of the mouth of the Mississippi River on Thursday evening. It had maximum sustained winds of 100 mph and was moving northeast at 12 mph. Al Jazeera reported that the storm is forecast to strike Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi with up to 10 inches of rain over the weekend. [1][5]

PBS NewsHour reported that forecasters are warning of heavy rain, damaging winds, flooding, storm surge, and the possibility of tornadoes across the region. Millions of people along the coast are on high alert as the system gains power. The coastal states that have a shoreline along the Gulf of Mexico include Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. [3][12]

As FTMQ News reported earlier, the storm originally formed as a tropical storm off eastern Mexico with sustained winds of 40 mph before tracking across the Gulf of Mexico. Officials were previously monitoring the weather conditions ahead of a scheduled college football game between Alabama and Georgia. [15]