Isaias strengthens into a dangerous Category 3 hurricane on track toward the US Gulf Coast

PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) — Residents along the U.S. Gulf Coast boarded up windows and picked up last-minute supplies on Friday as Isaias strengthened into a major hurricane and carved a path toward the Alabama-Florida line.

The Category 3 hurricane — the first of an unusually quiet Atlantic season — is expected to make landfall Friday night and bring significant storm surge, damaging winds, flooding and possibly even tornadoes.

Isaias is expected to make landfall between Mobile Bay on the Alabama coast and the city of Destin in the Florida Panhandle — a region known for powdery white sand beaches dotted with vacation homes, waterfront bars and seafood shacks.

Anne Petzold, who lives with her husband in the panhandle beach community of Gulf Breeze, said Friday that they and all of their neighbors plan to ride out the storm. The couple put up hurricane shutters, put away anything in their yard that could turn into a projectile, stocked up on food and water, and have two generators ready if they lose power.

“Everybody does what they can do, everybody asks if they need help — they ask for help, they offer help. All good,” she said. “It’s just another adventure.”

Dangerous conditions are expected throughout the western panhandle, southern Alabama and southern Mississippi, the National Hurricane Center said. Rain began falling along the coast Friday morning, and tropical storm conditions were expected by early afternoon.

A storm surge as high as 6 to 9 feet (1.8 to 2.7 meters) was predicted in some coastal areas, according to the hurricane center.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis warned residents Friday to expect power outages and shortages at gas stations along with flooding and wind damage.

“When the water’s rising and things are happening, it’s a very, very difficult conundrum and you do not want to be caught in that,” he said.

The hurricane center said Friday morning that time was running out to make preparations “as the weather will go downhill quickly today.”

As of mid-morning, the storm was centered about 240 miles (386 kilometers) south of Pensacola, Florida, and moving to the north-northeast, the center said.

Isaias strengthens as it closes in

The storm was packing 120 mph (193 kph) winds Friday morning and picking up speed. Category 3 storms are considered major hurricanes and are capable of causing devastation.

Once Isaias comes ashore, it is expected to weaken until it is downgraded to a tropical storm by Saturday afternoon, the hurricane center said.

Still, heavy rain was in the forecast as it moves inland, with 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters) or even more expected through the weekend from southern Alabama to southwestern Georgia.

Isaias, which will be the first hurricane to hit the eastern U.S. since Milton tore up the Gulf Coast of Florida in 2024, also is expected to bring heavy rain and potential flooding to much of the Southeast over the weekend, and then to parts of the Midwest and Northeast into Monday.

Evacuations have been ordered

A hurricane warning was in place from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, to the western Florida Panhandle.

Preparations have been going on for days. On Thursday, residents boarded up windows and stacked sandbags while thousands of National Guard soldiers were deployed.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on Thursday ordered non-residents to immediately evacuate Gulf Shores, Orange Beach and Dauphin Island. 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.

Several counties announced mandatory evacuations for some coastal areas while Florida and Alabama declared states of emergency for dozens of counties.

On Dauphin Island, a barrier island off the Alabama coast, Mayor Jeff Collier said he did not anticipate substantial damage, “but at the same time, these things are very fickle and a little jog here or there, or some last-minute increase in strength — we just have to be prepared for the worst.”

Meanwhile in the Pacific Ocean, Hurricane Simon, which formed as a tropical storm on Wednesday off Mexico and became a hurricane late Thursday, was forecast to strengthen into a Category 4 hurricane.