Hurricane Isaias at 115 MPH, 90 Miles South of Pensacola, Heads for Evening Landfall as Conditions Deteriorate
Hurricane Isaias held Category 3 strength at 115 mph about 90 miles south of Pensacola on Friday afternoon, with the National Hurricane Center forecasting an evening landfall on the western Florida Panhandle and warning of life-threatening surge, winds and tornadoes.
PENSACOLA, Fla. — Hurricane Isaias remained a major Category 3 storm on Friday afternoon, about 90 miles south of Pensacola and moving north at 17 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center update reported by the Pensacola News Journal.
The center put maximum sustained winds at 115 mph, with higher gusts, and forecast little change in strength before an evening landfall on the western Florida Panhandle near Pensacola. The storm is then expected to cross Alabama and move into the Tennessee Valley over the weekend, weakening after it comes ashore, according to the same update.
Conditions were already deteriorating along the northern Gulf Coast. A wind gust of 56 mph was reported at Pensacola Naval Air Station, and a sustained wind of 46 mph with a gust to 58 mph was measured near Gulf Breeze, according to the News Journal’s live coverage.
Warnings cover the Panhandle and Alabama coast
A Hurricane Warning is in effect from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, to the Bay-Gulf County line in Florida, while a Storm Surge Warning runs from the mouth of the Mississippi River to the Suwannee River, according to the News Journal. Forecasters warned of life-threatening storm surge, damaging winds and possible tornadoes along the Florida Panhandle and Alabama coasts.
Hurricane-force winds extend up to 35 miles from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend up to 205 miles, according to the update. The center also warned residents to seek safe shelter as conditions worsen.
DeSantis urges residents to shelter in place
At a briefing in Tallahassee on Friday, Gov. Ron DeSantis told Floridians who are not evacuating to finish preparations and shelter in place, saying conditions would soon make it unsafe to be outside, according to the Tallahassee Democrat. The newspaper reported that the state of emergency covers 27 North Florida counties and that officials have staged generators, food, water, rescue teams and utility crews ahead of landfall.
DeSantis said the storm’s center is expected to come ashore between Pensacola and Destin and that dangerous weather could extend well beyond the track of the eye, according to the Democrat. State officials also prepared for possible closures on Interstate 10 and other major roads and bridges once sustained winds reach 39 mph, the newspaper reported.
Waffle House locations in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties have closed, according to the News Journal — a step that emergency managers often watch as an informal sign of a storm’s severity. Schools and Tyndall Air Force Base services were also closing on Friday as the storm approached, according to the same coverage.
Reporting based on coverage by Pensacola News Journal and Tallahassee Democrat.
