Hurricane Sally: Images of destruction across Alabama and Florida panhandle
Hurricane Sally made landfall near Gulf Shores, Alabama in the early hours of Wednesday morning as a Category 2, bringing a storm surge and more than 2 feet (60cm) of rain.
The northern eyewall brought hurricane-strength winds across the Gulf coast from Pensacola Beach in Florida through to Dauphin Island, Alabama.
Almost 650,000 customers are without power across three states.
The slow speed of the system, moving at just 3mph, and the amount of rain falling, could seriously exacerbate flooding, which is already widespread across the region.
900 AM CDT Hurricane #Sally update: The center of #Sally is moving slowly near the Alabama/Florida border. Catastrophic and life-threatening flooding is ongoing along portions of the north-central Gulf coast. More: https://t.co/tW4KeGdBFb pic.twitter.com/fjDPPgCj8p
— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) September 16, 2020
Pensacola, Florida, currently has between three and four feet of water in its streets and more rainfall is expected. Much of downtown is impassable.
FEMA has pre-positioned more than 1.8 million meals and 1.5 million bottles of water in response to the hurricane.
Palafox and Main. One of the higher points. #stormsurge Pensacola, FL. #Sally pic.twitter.com/o4S7VJJvVm
— Jim Cantore (@JimCantore) September 16, 2020
It is the eighth named storm to reach landfall on American shores this year, reportedly breaking a 104-year old record last set when seven storms landed in 1916’s storm season.
Ed Rappaport, deputy director of the National Hurricane Centre, said Sally was a rare storm that could make history.
#Eyewall #HurrjcaneSally #Pensacola pic.twitter.com/ks5bOQg488
— Rob Marciano (@RobMarciano) September 16, 2020
"Sally has a characteristic that isn't often seen and that's a slow forward speed and that's going to exacerbate the flooding," he said, likening the storm's slow progression to that of Hurricane Harvey, which swamped Houston in 2017.
Images of the damage and flooding have been emerging throughout the morning.