HOUSTON: Hurricane Sally drew closer to the US Gulf Coast on Tuesday morning, threatening historic floods, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said, with more than two feet f rain expected in some areas. ISEMENT: Your content will begin in 10 seconds
The second strong storm in less than a month to threaten the region, Sally’s winds decreased to 140 kmph and early Tuesday was 100 km east of the mouth of the Mississippi River, the NHC said, moving at a glacial pace.
It could wallop the Mississippi, Alabama and Florida coasts on Tuesday with massive flash flooding and storm surges of up to nine feet in some spots. Its slow speed recalls 2017’s Hurricane Harvey, which brought several feet of rain over a period of days to the Houston area.
Nearly 11,000 homes are at risk of storm surge in the larger coastal cities in Alabama and Mississippi, according to estimates from property data and analytics firm CoreLogic.
Evacuations
The governors of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana called for evacuations of low-lying areas and President Donald Trump made emergency declarations for all three states, which helps coordinate disaster relief.
Ports, schools and businesses closed along the coast. The US Coast Guard restricted travel on the lower Mississippi River from New Orleans to the Gulf, and closed the ports of Pascagoula and Gulfport, Mississippi and Mobile.
Energy companies buttoned up or halted oil refineries and pulled workers from offshore oil and gas production platforms. More than a fifth of US offshore oil production was shut.
The hurricane is expected to dump between 10 and 20 inches of rain on the coast, with isolated 30-inch downpours.