Hurricane Sally lumbers ashore in Alabama with heavy rain

PENSACOLA, FL (AP) — Hurricane Sally has lumbered ashore near Gulf Shores, Alabama, as a Category 2 storm, with top winds of 105 mph.

The coast is being pummeled with sideways rain and beach-covering storm surges. Sally’s northern eyewall raked the Gulf Coast for hours before the center finally made landfall, delivering punishing wind and rain from Pensacola Beach, Florida, westward to Dauphin Island, Alabama.

The National Hurricane Center says Sally will cause dangerous flooding from the Florida Panhandle to Mississippi and well inland in the days ahead.

Nearly 500,000 homes and businesses are without power between Sally and Hurricane Laura’s aftermath in Louisiana.