Hurricane Sally: 'Rapidly strengthened' storm approaching central Gulf Coast

The National Weather Service has declared a slow-moving storm in the Gulf of Mexico has “rapidly strengthened” to a hurricane with sustained winds reaching 85mph with higher gusts.

Hurricane Sally is expected to make landfall as a category 1 storm on Tuesday, bringing potentially flooding rains and devastating winds as residents along the Gulf Coast from Louisiana to the Florida panhandle make final preparations.

New Orleans and its outlying areas, as well as coastal Mississippi and Alabama, are under hurricane warnings.

Storm surge warnings are in effect from Port Fourchon, Louisiana to the Alabama-Florida border.

The storm marks the second time in recorded history that the Atlantic Ocean has produced five tropical cyclones simultaneously, on the heels of Hurricane Laura’s devastation in southwest Louisiana.

In its latest forecast, the National Weather Service predicted the slow-moving system could dump up to two feet of rain and generate flash flooding in some parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. Inland areas could see six to 12 inches of rainfall as it moves on a northern track and weakens into a tropical storm before dissipating through early Friday.