Hurricane Sally swamps U.S. Gulf Coast with massive floods, 'unreal' rain

[webfact]

Hurricane Sally swamps U.S. Gulf Coast with massive floods, 'unreal' rain

By Devika Krishna Kumar and Catherine Koppel

 

A downed tree pulled electrical lines with it after Hurricane Sally made a landfall, in Irvington Alabama, U.S., September 16, 2020. REUTERS/Kathleen Flynn

 

PENSACOLA, Fla. (Reuters) - Hurricane Sally uprooted trees, flooded streets and cut power to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses on Wednesday as it brought what the U.S. National Hurricane Center called "historic and catastrophic" flooding to the Alabama-Florida coast.

 

Sally, which made landfall early Wednesday near Gulf Shores, Alabama, as a Category 2 storm, was donwgraded in the afternoon to a tropical storm as maximum sustained winds dropped to 70 miles per hour (113 kph).

 

Some parts of the Gulf Coast had been inundated with more than 18 inches (46 cm) of rain over the previous 24 hours, with more precipitation expected as the storm's winds slow further, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

 

Several residents along the Alabama and Florida coasts said damage from the slow-moving storm caught them off guard.

 

“Normally it goes away. But with this one it was first The anxiety of it coming and then when it finally came, it didn’t move," said Preity Patel, 41, who has resided in a downtown Pensacola apartment for two years. "It was just constant rain and wind,” Patel said.

 

The coastal community of Pensacola, Florida, suffered up to five feet of flooding, and travel was cut by damaged roads and bridges. More than 500,000 homes and businesses across the area were without power as the storm knocked over stately oak trees and tore power lines from poles.

 

More than 430,000 homes and businesses were without power on Wednesday after the slow-moving storm careened into Alabama. This report produced by Zachary Goelman.

 

A section of the Pensacola Bay Bridge, known also as the "Three Mile Bridge," is missing a "significant section," Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said at a press conference.

 

The storm was moving at a slow 5 mph pace toward the Alabama-Florida border but was predicted to pick up speed, the NHC said.

 

"The rain is what stands out with this one: It's unreal," said Cavin Hollyhand, 50, who left his home on a barrier island and took shelter in Mobile, Alabama, where he viewed the damage on Wednesday. Some isolated areas could see up to 35 inches (89 cm) of rain before Sally is done, the NHC said.

 

Upon landfall at Gulf Shores, Sally's winds were clocked at 105 mph. Along the coast, piers were ripped away by the storm surge and winds.

 

Alabama Governor Kay Ivey told residents not to go outside to check on damage unless necessary, and to stay away from live power lines and fallen trees.

 

"We had strong winds for a long period of time," said 38-year-old Grant Saltz as he took a break from clearing debris outside his Mobile restaurant.

 

"Instead of a few hours we got it for 12 hours."

 

In Pensacola, where wind gusts were clocked at 77 mph at one point, images on social media showed major floods. One witness reported hailstorms in the city as well and the NHC warned of possible tornados.

 

Pensacola police warned of high winds and urged residents not to drive around looking at damage.

 

"We see lots of 'lookers' out," the police department wrote on Twitter. "It's slowing our progress down. Please stay at home!"

 

Electrical crews from other states have arrived in Pensacola to aid in restoration efforts.

 

“This year we’ve just got hurricane after hurricane,” said Matt Lane, 23, a member of a crew from New Hampshire Electric Coop, who arrived late Tuesday directly from Hurricane Laura recovery efforts in Texas.

 

Sally is the 18th named storm in the Atlantic this year and the eighth of tropical storm or hurricane strength to hit the United States. There are currently three other named storms in the Atlantic, highlighting one of the most active Atlantic hurricane seasons on record.

 

"We've only got one name left," said Jim Foerster, chief meteorologist at DTN, an energy, agriculture and weather data provider, referencing the procedure to name storms and the prospect of running out of letters. "That's going to happen here soon, Wilfred, and then we'll be into the Greek alphabet."

 

Hurricanes have increased in their intensity and destructiveness since the 1980s as the climate has warmed, according to researchers at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Climate change is also a factor in the increasing frequency of record-breaking wildfires plaguing the western United States, scientists say.

 

Damage from Sally is expected to reach $2 billion to $3 billion, said Chuck Watson of Enki Research, which tracks tropical storms and models the cost of their damage. That estimate could rise if the heaviest rainfall happens over land, Watson said.

 

As the storm moved east and inland, ports on the western Gulf Coast were reopened to travel and energy companies were beginning to return crews to offshore oil platforms.

 

Sally shut more than a quarter of U.S. Gulf of Mexico offshore oil and gas production. Two coastal oil refiners halted or slowed operations, adding to existing outages from last month's Hurricane Laura and pandemic-related demand losses.

 

(Reporting by Devika Krishna-Kumar and Catherine Koppel in Mobile, Alabama; additional reporting by Jennifer Hiller in Houston and Stephanie Kelly and Scott DiSavino in New York and Rich McKay in Atlanta. Editing by Jonathan Oatis, Steve Orlofsky, Tom Brown and David Gregorio)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-09-17

 

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[nobodysfriend]

Storms , Inondations , Wildfires , Drought , Landslides , are happening more intense and more often by now ...

It is just the beginning .

' Pacha Mama's ' revenge ...

 

( Ancient middle american civilisations ( Incas ) believed that the earth is where they were all coming from , ( rightly so ) , and called her ' Pacha Mama ' .)

Edited September 17, 2020 by nobodysfriend

[Jenkins9039]

Plenty of salvage gems coming up then (boats).

[xylophone]

11 hours ago, webfact said:

Hurricanes have increased in their intensity and destructiveness since the 1980s as the climate has warmed, according to researchers at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Climate change is also a factor in the increasing frequency of record-breaking wildfires plaguing the western United States, scientists say.

Surely not...........the dumbo in the White House said there is no connection, and he is a "stable genius"!

 

Yeah right!

 

 

[JulesMad]

Don't worry, america, your president will take care of it ????

[Aspaltso]

I wouldn't want to live anywhere near the U.S Gulf Coast in the upcoming years. After 3 massive flooding events in Houston over the past 5, and several hurricanes fed by the warm water in that gulf it'll be a disaster waiting to happen year after year.

[Elkski]

My daughter says insurance companies in CA canceling policies in wake of the fires.  Surely  insurance companies must redraw coastal  risk maps.  Im afraid some of that beachfront property is worthless now.  

Dod you hear tRump denial of global warming in his recent round table in CA?  He said it will get cold  just  wait.  What an idiot.  He just single handedly reinforced distrust of science and set back the minds of millions of dumb @ss Americans