Hurricane Warning for Gulf Coast, Mandatory Evacuations in Louisiana, Mississippi

Tropical Storm Sally, at 2050 GMT on Sept. 13, 2020. NOAA via AP

Hurricane and tropical storm warnings are in effect along the Gulf Coast on Monday morning as Tropical Storm Sally, which is expected to strengthen into a hurricane, approaches.

Mandatory evacuation orders were issued in Lousiana for Orleans Parish, Jefferson Parish, Plaquemines Parish, St. Charles Parish, St. John the Baptist Parish, and Hancock County in Mississippi.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) on Monday said Sally is about 115 miles east-southeast of the Mississippi River and approximately 165 miles southeast of Biloxi, Mississippi. The storm is moving at about 8 mph to the west-northwest.

A storm surge warning is in effect for Port Fourchon Louisiana to the Alabama-Florida Border, Lake Pontchartrain, Lake Maurepas, and Lake Borgne, as well as Mobile Bay.

Hurricane warnings are in effect for Morgan City, Louisiana, to the Mississippi-Alabama border, as well as for Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Maurepas including metropolitan New Orleans.

The storm is expected to strengthen into a hurricane by Monday night before it makes landfall.

“On the forecast track, the center of Sally will move over the north-central Gulf of Mexico today, approach southeastern Louisiana this afternoon, and make landfall in the hurricane warning area on Tuesday. Afterward, Sally is expected to move slowly north-northeastward near the northern Gulf Coast through Wednesday,” the agency said.

Forecasters told Fox News that the storm could produce between 10 and 20 inches of rain in some areas, as the storm is expected to be slow-moving. A storm surge of up to 11 feet is possible in some areas around New Orleans, testing the city’s levee system.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said Sunday that he requested a federal declaration of emergency in advance of Sally and spoke with President Donald Trump.

“We have every reason to believe that this storm represents a very significant threat to the people of southeast Louisiana,” Bel Edwards said.