Gordon gains speed, could strike Gulf Coast with hurricane force

Tropical Storm Gordon was making landfall late Tuesday night just west of the AlabamaMississippi border, according to forecasters.

Gordon was about 35 miles south of Mobile, Ala., and packing maximum sustained winds of 70 mph, according to the 11 p.m. advisory Tuesday from the National Hurricane Center.

It was moving northwest at 14 mph.

“Rapid weakening is expected after Gordon moves inland,’’ the hurricane center said.

A hurricane warning remained in effect from the mouth of the Pearl River to the Alabama-Florida border.

To the west, from the Alabama-Florida border to the Okaloosa-Walton County Line is under a tropical storm warning.

Gordon lashed South Florida with heavy rains and high winds Monday.

The storm left many businesses on Florida’s Gulf Coast feeling shortchanged by the holiday weekend.

The area already has been heavily affected by this summer’s “red tide”— massive algae blooms that have caused waves of dead marine life to wash up along the coast.

Jenna Wright, owner of a coffee shop in Naples, told the Naples Daily News that she had expected higher numbers for the Labor Day weekend.

“This is normally a decent weekend, but the storm and red tide aren’t helping,” she said.

“We’re a beach coffee shop, and if people can’t go to the beach, then we won’t get any customers.”

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards declared a state of emergency Monday and said 200 National Guard troops will be deployed to southeastern Louisiana.

Meanwhile in the Atlantic Ocean, Florence has been upgraded to a Category 2 Hurricane, packing 100-mph winds as it moves west-northwest at 12 mph. No coastal watches or warnings are in effect through the weekend for Florence.

It is about 1,305 miles east of the Northern Leeward Islands.

“Some additional strengthening could occur [early Wednesday], but a slow weakening trend is forecast to begin on Wednesday and continue through Friday,’’ forecasters said.

The hurricane center also is monitoring a tropical wave a few hundred miles south of the Cabo Verde Islands.

It is given a 90 percent chance of developing into at least a tropical depression in the next five days.

Gordon was about 35 miles south of Mobile, Ala., and packing maximum sustained winds of 70 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.

DEVON RAVINE/ASSOCIATED PRESS Mitchell Nugent paddles his surfboard toward waves near Crystal Beach as Tropical Storm Gordon churns the Gulf of Mexico in Destin on Tuesday. Gordon could become a hurricane this morning.