Hurricane Sally made landfall in the United States on the night from Tuesday to Wednesday (local time). Due to gusts of wind up to 160 kilometers per hour and a slow course of the hurricane (about 4 kilometers per hour), serious nuisance is feared.
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) reported that the storm arrived in the southern state of Alabama around 5:00 a.m. local time. Sally grew into a second category hurricane on the night from Tuesday to Wednesday.
Wednesday morning, at least 60,000 households and businesses in Alabama and western Florida were without power.
According to the NHC, Sally is leading to “life-threatening situations” due to the expected record amount of rain in some places. The hurricane is moving at a speed of about 4 kilometers per hour.
As a result, extreme rainfall can fall in certain places, which can possibly lead to additional damage. The NHC predicts that some areas could experience up to 75 centimeters of rain. The institute compares the storm to Hurricane Harvey from 2017.
President Trump declared a state of emergency
US President Donald Trump declared a state of emergency in the states of Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana on Monday. This allows these states to claim (financial) support from the federal government. The president called on residents to be vigilant about “this extremely dangerous hurricane”.
The coastal areas of the states of Florida and Alabama already had to deal with strong wind gusts and a lot of rainfall on Tuesday. As a precaution, residents of low-lying areas in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama have been urged to leave their homes and look for higher ground.
The hurricane is expected to move towards the southeast of the United States until at least Friday. Sally may lose strength later on Wednesday.
Residents are still recovering from hurricane Laura
That part of the US is still reeling from hurricane Laura, which caused major nuisance three weeks ago. The hurricane killed at least 14 people in the states of Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana. Hundreds of thousands of people were left without electricity and water. Laura was one of the worst hurricanes to hit the US since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
This year may be on the books as the busiest hurricane season in the history of the United States. The season will last more than two months, but the meteorologists are now almost through the alphabet hurricane names away.
In addition to Hurricane Sally, there are currently four active storms over the Atlantic Ocean. According to American meteorologists, this is only the second time such a thing has happened. That last happened in 1971.
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