Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Tropical storm fighter
Kamdn Boose, 4, helps his family fill sandbags Tuesday at the harbor in Long Beach, Miss., as Tropical Storm Gordon approaches. The storm was forecast to become a hurricane before making landfall on the Gulf Coast and moving inland toward Arkansas as a weakened tropical system.
GULFPORT, Miss. — Tropical-force winds from fast-moving Gordon smashed into the coastline of Alabama and the western Florida Panhandle on Tuesday evening, the frontal edge of a system just offshore that forecasters warned could become a hurricane by the time it makes landfall.
Tropical Storm Gordon strengthened some as it neared the central Gulf Coast, clocking top sustained winds of 70 mph. The National Hurricane Center said Gordon’s tight core was about 75 miles southeast of Biloxi, Miss., or about 70 miles south of Mobile, Ala., where heavy rains and winds picked up shortly before nightfall.
Just hours before the storm was expected to come ashore, a few people remained on the beach, soaking in the sun before the tropical rain bands became more numerous.
Families along the coast filled sandbags, took patio furniture inside and stocked up on batteries and bottled water ahead of Gordon.
The staff at The Hotel Whiskey in Pass Christian, Mississippi — only about a block from the Gulf of Mexico — were among those carrying out pre-storm preparation rituals. The hotel restaurant planned to stay open Tuesday evening as usual, fortified by sandbags to keep out torrential rains, the manager said.
“All the outside furniture has to come in, but honestly it’s not even a freak-out kind of hurricane, so we’re not super-stressed right now,” Ashley Peeples said.
A hurricane warning was in effect for the entire Mississippi and Alabama coasts with predictions that Gordon would become a Category 1 storm. The National Hurricane Center predicted a “life-threatening” storm surge of 3 to 5 feet along parts of the central Gulf Coast.
Flooding was also a risk. As much as 8 inches of rain could fall in some parts of the Gulf states through late Thursday as the tropical weather moves inland toward Arkansas.
The previous hurricane to strike the U.S. was Nate in October, going ashore in Biloxi with 75 mph winds.
Governors in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana declared states of emergency for Gordon, allowing them to quickly mobilize state resources and National Guard troops to help during and after the storm.
Gordon became a tropical storm Monday near the Florida Keys, so residents and businesses rushed preparations Tuesday. But for some people, it was just another beach day with a bit of a breeze.
Morgan Kearley took the potted plants off her porch Tuesday before heading to the beach at Bay St. Louis with her husband, their daughter and a niece and nephew. They stayed near the edge of the water as a stiff breeze from the south rarely relented.
“I think we’ve had worse in the past,” Kearley’s husband, Shane, said.
Mayors of barrier islands in the storm’s path warned that their communities might get cut off from the mainland. Gordon appeared to be moving toward Dauphin Island, Ala., closer to low tide around 7 p.m. Tuesday. Police planned to monitor the only highway to the mainland.
“When you get the higher waves, water starts splashing across. Sometimes it starts pushing not only water across but debris, logs and things of that nature, which makes it very treacherous to get across,” Mayor Jeff Collier said.
Gordon was positioned to deliver only a glancing blow to New Orleans, where Mayor LaToya Cantrell said the city has “the pumps and the power” needed to protect residents.
Authorities issued a voluntary evacuation order for areas outside the city’s levee protection system, including the Venetian Isles, Lake Saint Catherine and Irish Bayou communities.
L.J. Cazaux moved his boat to a nearby lot of elevated land before the rain started in Venetian Isles. He elevated his house after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and has food, water and two generators.
“You just blend it into your lifestyle when you live outside the levee system. You know you’re going to flood before anyone else does. The good part about it is the water goes down faster here,” said Cazaux, who has lived in the neighborhood for 15 years.
Gordon wasn’t the only storm being watched by forecasters. Hurricane Florence was some 2,400 miles away from the U.S., and another potential storm was likely to form not far off the coast of Africa and head east.