MIAMI — Isaias strengthened into the first hurricane of the Atlantic season late Wednesday and kept intensifying over the Gulf on Thursday, with a hurricane warning now in effect from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, to the Bay/Gulf County line in the Florida Panhandle, the National Hurricane Center said.
Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft found that Isaias had become a hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph at 10:30 p.m. CDT Wednesday, the center said. By 7 a.m. CDT Thursday, its winds had reached 80 mph, and it was centered about 175 miles north-northwest of Progreso, Mexico, and 385 miles south-southwest of the mouth of the Mississippi River, moving east-northeast at 9 mph. Forecasters expect additional strengthening through early Friday and landfall within the warning area late Friday or early Saturday.
A storm surge warning covers the coast from the mouth of the Mississippi River to the Steinhatchee River in Florida. The hurricane center warned of 5 to 7 feet of surge from Ocean Springs to Indian Pass, Florida, including Mobile Bay, and urged residents to follow evacuation orders. “Residents in these areas should prepare for the possibility of long-duration power outages,” its forecast discussion said, adding that Isaias was forecast to come close to major-hurricane strength within 24 hours. Rainfall of 3 to 7 inches, locally up to 10, is expected from far southeastern Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle, along with isolated tornadoes.
Coastal communities were stocking up on supplies, boarding up windows and gathering sandbags, NPR reported. The storm also pushed up oil prices: Shell and Chevron said they were shutting down production in the Gulf of Mexico as Isaias approached, The Guardian reported, and Brent crude rose 5 percent to $105.30 a barrel on Thursday.
Sources: National Hurricane Center, NPR, The Guardian
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