#Hurricane Sally intensifies to Category 2 storm ahead of landfall

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Hurricane Sally, shown on a satellite image provided by NOAA.
AP

Hurricane Sally strengthened to a Category 2 storm with 100 mph winds early Wednesday morning as it continued to crawl toward the northern Gulf Coast.

The storm was located about 65 miles southeast of Mobile, Alabama moving north-northeasterly at a clip of just 2 mph as of 1 a.m., according to the National Hurricane Center.

Sally could bring historic flooding rains, ferocious winds and life-threatening storm surges along the Mississippi, Alabama and Florida coasts, forecasters predicted.

The hurricane’s slow speed recalls 2017’s Hurricane Harvey, which brought several feet of rain over several days in the Houston area, according to Reuters.

Mobile, Alabama Mayor Sandy Stimpson said he expected a “tremendous amount of flooding” as the city barricaded intersections likely to be inundated by high water.

Sally is expected to dump between 10 and 20 inches of rain on the coast, with isolated 30-inch downpours.

Before making landfall, Sally had already dumped 12.71 inches of rain in Pensacola, Florida, according to the National Weather Service.