According to CNBC, Hurricane Isaias strengthened into a Category 3 storm with 120 mph winds as it moved toward the U.S. Gulf Coast, where final preparations were underway for potentially life-threatening storm surge and high winds. The National Hurricane Center said the hurricane was forecast to make landfall late Friday somewhere along the Alabama-Florida line, with dangerous conditions expected in the Florida Panhandle, southern Alabama and southern Mississippi.

Rain began falling along the coast Friday morning, and tropical storm conditions were expected to start early in the afternoon. The center said Isaias, the first hurricane of the Atlantic season, was centered about 200 miles south-southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River and moving north at about 15 mph. It expected the storm to weaken quickly after landfall and be downgraded to a tropical storm by Saturday afternoon as it moved north and inland along the Alabama-Mississippi line.

The hurricane center said Isaias could bring storm surge of 5 to 7 feet, along with flash flooding and tornadoes. A hurricane warning was in effect from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, to the western Florida Panhandle, while tropical storm warnings covered southeastern Louisiana to Aucilla River in Florida's Big Bend. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey ordered non-residents to immediately evacuate Gulf Shores, Orange Beach and Dauphin Island, and Florida and Alabama declared states of emergency for dozens of counties.