Isaias Reaches Category 3 as Gulf Coast Braces for Landfall

Hurricane Isaias strengthened to Category 3 on Friday, October 9, as it approached the northern Gulf Coast, where forecasters warned of storm surge, heavy rain and high winds. Officials in Florida and Alabama had announced evacuations and emergency measures ahead of the storm’s expected landfall. The National Hurricane Center reported that Isaias reached Category 3 strength around 8 a.m. Friday. The center’s forecasts placed the storm’s approach near the Alabama-Florida border, but the precise landfall location and intensity remained subject to change. The reports available Friday described a forecast, not a confirmed landfall. Forecasters warned that coastal areas could face dangerous storm surge. A Friday forecast cited in reports projected water levels of up to 9 feet along the Alabama-Florida border. The same forecast projected 4 to 8 inches of rain across southern Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, with localized totals of up to 15 inches. Those figures were forecasts, and conditions could vary by location.