Hurricane Sally weakens in US but remains ‘life threatening’ | Abroad

Floods threaten large parts of the southeastern coastal regions of the US until Friday, according to the NHC. The institute expects the hurricane to weaken into a tropical storm by Thursday morning local time.

The second-category hurricane on a scale of five made landfall in the southern United States on Wednesday. The eye of the storm passed the Alabama town of Gulf Shores in the early morning. Sally is expected to head northeast through the interior for the next few days.

Stacy Stewart of the National Hurricane Center told USA Today that slow-moving Sally could drop about three feet of rain in places. Meteorologist Phil Klotzbach at Colorado State University also expects a lot of rain. “It is not going well.”

Considerable rainfall

Some coastal areas on the Gulf of Mexico have already been inundated with over 18 inches of rain in the past 24 hours. Parts of Pensacola, Florida, were ravaged by flooding that brought water up to five feet high, the NHC said.

Due to the storm, almost 500,000 homes and shops in Alabama and Florida are now without power. That number is expected to increase further. Videos on social media show that the Gulf Shores hurricane is uprooting trees, blowing away street signs and cars getting stuck due to flooding.

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