Hurricane Isaias nears Gulf Coast as Category 2, evacuation orders spread
What's next: Forecasters expect landfall late Friday or early Saturday, with storm surge, flooding and tornado risks across the northern Gulf.
Hurricane Isaias strengthened into a Category 2 storm as it pushed toward the U.S. Gulf Coast, prompting evacuation orders, school closures and emergency declarations in parts of Florida and Alabama. The National Hurricane Center said Isaias had top sustained winds of 105 mph and was expected to bring dangerous conditions to the Florida Panhandle, southern Alabama and southern Mississippi, with landfall late Friday or early Saturday. Warnings stretched from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, to the Bay-Gulf County line in Florida, while storm surge alerts covered the coast from the Mississippi River mouth to the Suwannee River. Heavy rain and flooding could spread inland through the weekend as far as Tennessee and North Carolina.