Hurricane Sally Pummeled the Florida Panhandle and Alabama Gulf Coasts, Then Spread Flooding Rain Into the Carolinas

(MORE: Impacts From Sally)

Sally was born as Tropical Depression Nineteen just off the coast of South Florida on Sept. 11.

The following afternoon the depression strengthened to Tropical Storm Sally over the Gulf of Mexico just off the southwest coast of Florida.

Flooding rainfall soaked parts of the Florida Keys on Sept. 12 as Sally brushed through. Some areas in the Keys picked up nearly a foot of rainfall.

Sally also soaked parts of the western Florida Peninsula on Sept. 13 as it moved northward over the eastern Gulf of Mexico.

Just before noon on Sept. 14, Hurricane Hunter reconnaissance aircraft found Sally had intensified into a hurricane while centered about 165 miles southeast of Biloxi, Mississippi.

Sally then slowed to a crawl, and as with many slow-moving tropical storms and hurricanes, became a challenge to forecast exactly when and, thus, where it would take its northward turn toward the Gulf Coast.

Sally finally developed a small inner core, which allowed it to strengthen to a Category 2 hurricane before making landfall.

Sally made landfall near Gulf Shores, Alabama, at 4:45 a.m. CDT on September 16 as a Category 2 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph.

Sally became the eighth tropical cyclone in the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season to make a mainland U.S. landfall, a record number through mid-September, according to Colorado State University tropical scientist Phil Klotzbach.

Sally also made landfall in the exact same location as Category 3 Hurricane Ivan in 2004.

One rather fascinating oddity about Sally was a drop in water levels.

As Sally moved inland on Sept. 16, water levels in Mobile Bay dropped from 3 to 9 feet below normal for a brief time as strong north winds pushed water out of the mouth of Mobile Bay.

A storm surge of 5.6 feet was recorded in Pensacola, Florida. Parts of the city's downtown area were submerged by several feet of water because of the storm surge and heavy rainfall. Peak inundations of 3 to 4 feet above normal high tide levels were recorded also in Panama City Beach and Dauphin Island, Alabama.

Serious flash flooding with flooded homes and roads - some sections of which were washed out - has also occurred in numerous spots from southeast Alabama into the Florida Panhandle and southwestern Georgia. This torrential rain on top of the storm surge has combined to produce catastrophic flooding near the Gulf Coast.

Flash flood emergencies were issued by the National Weather Service in the western Florida Panhandle for parts of Escambia, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Walton and Washington Counties. Record flooding was measured on the Shoal River near Mossy Head in Walton County, Florida.

These highest-level flash flood warnings were also issued in southeast Alabama for southeast Baldwin, northern Coffee and northern Dale Counties, where the NWS estimated rainfall rates of 4 to 6 inches in one-hour occurred.

Heavy rainfall flooded streets in numerous areas in southeastern Alabama and parts of southern and central Georgia. Flash flooding was also reported in parts of South Carolina and southern Virginia.

The heaviest rainfall was along parts of the Alabama coast and the western Florida Panhandle. Orange Beach, Alabama, recorded 29.99 inches, while Pensacola picked up 24.80 inches. Many other locations in southern Alabama and the Florida Panhandle picked up over 12 inches of rain from Sally.

More than a half dozen river gauges in the Florida Panhandle and southern Alabama were expected to reach major flood stage, according to NOAA.

One elevated platform measured a wind gust to 121 mph near Ft. Morgan, Alabama, as Sally was making landfall.

A wind gust to 92 mph was measured early Wednesday morning in Pensacola, Florida. Dauphin Island, Alabama, and Mobile, Alabama recorded wind gusts as high as 99 mph and 82 mph, respectively.

More than 500,000 homes and businesses lost power in Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, according to poweroutage.us.

While not nearly as strong as winds in the hours before or after landfall near the coast, numerous trees were reported down in Montgomery and Pike Counties, Alabama, among other areas.

A few tornadoes were also reported in the Florida Panhandle, southern Georgia and central South Carolina.

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