Mandatory evacuations have been announced and schools closed across parts of coastal Florida after Isaias intensified into the Atlantic season's first hurricane, advancing towards the US Gulf Coast Thursday, the National Hurricane Center said.
Forecasters warned that Isaias could deliver destructive hurricane-force winds to the Florida Panhandle, alongside southern Alabama and southern Mississippi. It could also cause a life-threatening storm surge along areas of the northern Gulf Coast, while potentially bringing heavy rains of 3 to 7 inches (7 to 18 centimeters) across the central Gulf Coast, according to the hurricane center.
