Hurricane Sally Grows Stronger, Threatening US Coast - NHC

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th September, 2020) Hurricane Sally, the second storm within three weeks developing off the US Gulf of Mexico, is expected to make landfall in the southeastern by Tuesday and is gathering wind speeds that could make it more dangerous, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said on Monday.

"On the forecast track, the center of Sally will move over the north-central Gulf of Mexico today, approach southeastern Louisiana tonight, and make landfall in the hurricane warning area on Tuesday or Tuesday night," the NHC said in a bulletin warning about the storm. "Maximum sustained winds are near 90 mph (150 km/h) with higher gusts. Additional strengthening is forecast during the next day or so, and Sally is expected to be a dangerous hurricane when it moves onshore along the north-central Gulf coast.

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Sally is the 18th named storm in the Atlantic this year and will be the eighth of tropical storm or hurricane strength to hit the United States, according to NHC records.

It comes less than three weeks after Hurricane Laura, one of the strongest US hurricanes in more than a century, made landfall near Cameron, Louisiana, on August 26 as a Category 4 storm. That hurricane, which killed at least 25 people and damaged countless property, also scored a near-direct hit on one refinery in Louisiana processing 769,000 barrels per day of crude oil.