Nate bringing powerful storm surge; @RickLeventhal reports from Mobile, Alabama. pic.twitter.com/ceDLJOb0e2
— Fox News (@FoxNews) October 8, 2017
On Saturday, Nate strengthened to hurricane status while approaching the U.S. Gulf Coast, where the storm made landfall twice. Although Nate spared New Orleans a direct hit, and folks breathed a sigh of relief when it weakened to a tropical storm, the storm caused heavy flooding in Mississippi upon landfall. And from there, the system has moved into Alabama, where — as one can see in the above Fox News clip — Mobile is seeing a significant storm surge on Sunday morning with flooded streets. In addition, up to 100,000 residents in Alabama and Mississippi have lost power.
Mobile’s local Fox station reports that some areas of the city flooded so heavily that water rescues took place overnight. The Weather Channel adds that the Mobile coast saw a 6.3 foot storm surge with the Coast Guard station seeing water levels at least 5 feet above usual tide levels. Here’s a video of a flooded Mobile — where 60,000 remain without power — before sunrise.
Nearly 60k are waking up without power around Mobile, AL as Tropical Storm #Nate continues to impact the central Gulf Coast. #ALwx pic.twitter.com/0psTkQtIiK
— WeatherNation (@WeatherNation) October 8, 2017
On Saturday night, heavy flooding also occurred in Biloxi, Mississippi, where streets were overcome with the rising storm surge, which quickly filled a casino, as you can see below.
Hurricane Nate makes landfall in the US causing flooding and storm surges, after wreaking havoc in Central America pic.twitter.com/nFQoz4Hqfu
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) October 8, 2017
Storm surge taking over the entrance of the Golden Nugget casino in Biloxi, MS from last night. #Nate
?: @MikeTheiss pic.twitter.com/CpppYtzI6B
— HurricaneTracker App (@hurrtrackerapp) October 8, 2017
Flooding in Mississippi before Hurricane #Nate weakened to a tropical storm overnight. @BMonahanWSB is tracking the storm, impacts on Ga. pic.twitter.com/417FdrrHeV
— Nicole Emmett (@Nicole_Emmett) October 8, 2017
Nate will continue moving inland throughout Sunday and Monday. Heavy rains, some strong wind, and potential flooding are expected to impact the Appalachians and the Tennessee Valley. Effects may even be felt in the Ohio Valley before the system collapses. We’ll continue to update you as Nate continues on its rain-soaked path.
(Via Fox News, ABC News, Weather Channel, Fox 10 in Mobile & AL.com)