The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gordon likely to strike Gulf Coast as hurricane
GULFPORT, MISS. — Families filled sandbags, took patio furniture inside and stocked up on batteries and bottled water as the Gulf Coast prepared Tuesday for Tropical Storm Gordon, which was forecast to become the second hurricane to hit the region in less than a year.
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. Others did their familiar pre-storm preparation rituals, including the staff at The Hotel Whiskey in Pass Christian, Mississippi, only about a block away from the Gulf of Mexico. 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 around midday Tuesday.
A hurricane warning was in effect for the entire Mississippi and Alabama coasts with predictions 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.
By Tuesday afternoon, the storm was centered 145 miles southeast of Biloxi, Mississippi, with top sustained winds of 65 mph, forecasters said. It was moving relatively quickly, at about 15 mph.
The last hurricane to strike the U.S. was Nate in October, coming ashore in Biloxi with 75 mph winds.
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 coming toward Dauphin Island, Alabama, 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 poised for 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.