Tropical Storm Isaias formed early Wednesday in the warm waters off eastern Mexico and forecasters said it was expected to strengthen into the first hurricane of the Atlantic season before hitting the U.S. Gulf Coast later in the week. The National Hurricane Center has issued a Hurricane Watch across the Mississippi Gulf Coast ahead of the storm.
Tropical Storm Isaias is currently forecast to rapidly intensify into a Category 2 hurricane. Depending on the storm’s path, heavy rain and winds could cause damage and coastal flooding in South Mississippi from Friday into Saturday.
The National Hurricane Center reports there is an increasing risk of life-threatening storm surge along portions of the northern Gulf Coast. A Hurricane Watch has been issued from Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, to Indian Pass, Florida. A Storm Surge Watch has been issued from the Mouth of the Mississippi River to Yankeetown, Florida. The hurricane center recommends residents living in these areas should prepare for the possibility of power outages.
The rapidly strengthening storm was on track to tie or break a 121-year-old record as the latest arriving initial hurricane of the Atlantic season. According to the National Weather Service, the record dates to 1905, when the year’s first Atlantic hurricane formed on Oct. 8. The storm grew overnight from a depression to a Tropical storm.
Isaias was centered about 285 miles west of Progreso, Mexico, and about 580 miles southwest of the Mississippi River’s mouth, according to the Miami-based National Hurricane Center. It had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph and was moving east-northeast at 8 mph.
Forecasters predict Isaias will become a hurricane by Thursday as it turns northward toward the U.S. Gulf Coast. Though its path could shift, the storm is expected to make landfall late Friday or early Saturday between southeastern Louisiana and the Florida Panhandle. This includes South Mississippi and the storm could make landfall somewhere along the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
The hurricane center also said residents of the Mississippi Gulf Coast should prepare for dangerous wind, storm surge and heavy rains that could trigger flash floods and urban flooding.
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