Hurricane Isaias is driving a Walton County evacuation push as the storm strengthens in the Gulf and heads toward a Gulf Coast landfall Friday night. Preparations to protect life and property from damaging winds and storm surge should be finished by tonight.
The storm had sustained winds of 85 mph and was centered in the Gulf just under 400 miles south-southwest of New Orleans, moving east-northeast at 10 mph. The National Hurricane Center said Isaias was expected to strengthen to at least a Category 2 hurricane by Thursday night in the central Gulf.
Gulf Coast Watches And Warnings
The alert area already stretches across much of the Gulf Coast and nearby inland counties. A storm surge warning runs from the Mouth of the Mississippi River to the Suwannee River, Florida, while a storm surge watch extends south to Yankeetown, Florida.
A hurricane warning covers Ocean Springs, Mississippi, to the Bay/Gulf County line in Florida, and also extends inland in parts of southwest Alabama and the western Florida Panhandle. A tropical storm warning covers the Jefferson/Plaquemines Parish line south of New Orleans to west of Ocean Springs, Mississippi, and east of the Bay/Gulf County line to the Aucilla River, Florida.
Walton County Evacuation And Landfall
The same warning pattern reaches much of inland southern Alabama, parts of southeast Mississippi, the rest of the Florida Panhandle not in hurricane alerts, and extreme southwestern Georgia. A hurricane watch covers a small area of south-central Alabama and the western Florida Panhandle, while a tropical storm watch extends from parts of southeastern Mississippi north into central Alabama and parts of western Georgia.
Walton County evacuation planning sits inside that wider zone of alerts, but the practical step for residents is the same: finish preparations before tonight and be ready for stronger conditions as the storm closes in.
Isaias Strengthening In Gulf
Isaias benefited from Gulf water temperatures well into the 80s and a moist air mass, and it had already undergone rapid intensification. Maximum sustained winds climbed from 40 mph at 5 a.m. on Wednesday to 80 mph at 5 a.m. on Thursday.
That strengthening trend can continue over warm water, but the storm was also expected to lose some wind intensity closer to landfall because increasing wind shear should disrupt it as it moves farther north Friday. Even with that slackening, the forecast still points to a hurricane reaching the Gulf Coast Friday night, with the strongest impacts likely arriving before landfall.
