PENSACOLA, Fla. (WSVN) – As the central Gulf Coast braces for Tropical Storm Isaias, Floridians are not wasting any time preparing sandbags in the panhandle.
On Wednesday evening, it’s the calm before the storm.
“We are expecting a northeastward to eastward eastward motion tonight into Thursday, with the storm rapidly strengthening into a hurricane,” said National Hurricane Center Director Michael Brennan.
As Isaias aims at the coastline from Mississippi to Alabama and the Florida panhandle, watches, warnings and states of emergency are going into effect.
“We still have a hurricane watch in effect along the coast, essentially from Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, to Indian Pass, Florida, including places like Mobile, Pensacola, Panama City,” said Brennan. “You can see the hurricane watch in pink here now extends upward inland into portions of the Florida panhandle and south-central Alabama.”
The late-season storm, expected to mark the first hurricane of the Atlantic season, could become a major Category 3 — packing life-threatening winds of more than 110 miles per hour.
“We will reach a window where we cannot respond to calls once the winds pick up too much or those roads become flooded,” said Sheriff Anthony Lowery of Baldwin County. “We will not be able to respond to some of these calls for emergency.”
The National Hurricane Center predicts a 5- to 7-foot storm surge in some areas.
“When it starts rising, there’s no time for you to say, ‘Oh, I should have left, and I need to leave now,'” said Mobile County Emergency Management Agency Director Mike Evans. “The reaction time’s over with.”
As northern Florida prepares, South Florida is helping where it can.
Thousands of pounds of sand and sandbags are expected to arrive at the University of West Florida for distribution by Thursday morning.
Miami-Dade County’s Urban Search and Rescue Team is also preparing to deploy to the region sometime Thursday.
The weather may disrupt Saturday’s College Football Showdown between rivals Georgia and Alabama, with the storm already canceling other events in its path, like an Alabama weekend festival.
Some oil wells in the Gulf also paused production.
Additionally, Florida State University’s Panama City campus will be canceling classes for the rest of the week.
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