Mandatory evacuations have been announced and schools closed across parts of coastal Florida after Hurricane Isaias intensified into the Atlantic season’s first hurricane, advancing toward the Gulf Coast on Thursday, the National Hurricane Center said. The storm, which formed earlier Wednesday in the warm waters of eastern Mexico, has prompted officials in several states to prepare for a possible landfall as early as Friday evening.
Forecasters warned that Isaias could deliver destructive hurricane‑force winds to the Florida Panhandle, southern Alabama and southern Mississippi. A life‑threatening storm surge is expected from the mouth of the Mississippi River to Suwannee, Florida, while damaging wind gusts are possible over much of central and northern Alabama and portions of western and northern Georgia, especially in higher terrain. The National Weather Service also projected a life‑threatening surge along the northern Gulf Coast and heavy rains of 3 to 7 inches across the central Gulf Coast. The cyclone’s center was located about 740 kilometres south‑southwest of the Mississippi River mouth, with maximum sustained winds of roughly 121 kph.
Isaias is developing more than four months into the Atlantic hurricane season, nearly tying a 121‑year‑old record for the area’s latest‑forming hurricane. The record dates to 1905, when the first Atlantic hurricane of that year formed on Oct. 8. The Atlantic season has been unusually quiet this year because of a strong El Niño, which disrupts storm formation over the ocean, although activity has been above average in the Pacific.
The approaching storm has already affected oil production and tourism. About 25 percent of Gulf offshore production has been temporarily halted, taking roughly 511,000 barrels a day off the market, and eight of the Gulf’s 371 manned platforms were evacuated. State emergencies have been declared for 40 counties in Alabama and 25 in Florida, and local officials in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach have encouraged voluntary evacuations of low‑lying residents. Residents are moving supplies to higher ground, utilities are pre‑positioning crews, and city officials are distributing sand for sandbags to protect homes from flooding. The storm may also disrupt Saturday’s college football showdown between Georgia and Alabama, a game President Donald Trump has planned to attend.
