⁍ Sally could hit the central Gulf Coast on Tuesday as nearly a major hurricane.

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⁍ The second strong storm in less than a month to threaten the region, Sally’s winds increased to 100 miles per hour (155 kph)
It could wallop the Mississippi and Alabama coasts on Tuesday with devastating winds of up to 110 mph.

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– “We are going to bear the brunt of this storm,” Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said Monday as residents of low-lying areas along the Gulf Coast filled sandbags and moved cars and boats to higher ground ahead of Hurricane Sally, expected to hit the central Gulf Coast on Tuesday as a Category 3 hurricane. The National Hurricane Center said Monday that Sally, the second storm in less than a month to threaten the region, had strengthened to 100mph winds as it moved over the Gulf of Mexico and could hit the Mississippi and Alabama coasts Tuesday with devastating winds of up to 110mph, on the cusp of becoming a Category 3 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale of intensity, Reuters reports. Mississippi and Louisiana called for evacuations of low-lying areas and President Trump issued an emergency disaster declaration for both states. The US Coast Guard restricted travel on the lower Mississippi River in New Orleans to the Gulf, and closed the ports of Pascagoula and Gulfport, Mississippi, and Mobile, Alabama. Energy companies buttoned up or halted oil refineries and pulled workers from offshore oil and gas production platforms. Ports, schools, and businesses were closing along the coast. Ports, schools and businesses were closing along the coast.