On Wednesday, the hurricane made landfall near Gulf Shores, uprooting trees, cutting power to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses across the area, and bringing what the US National Hurricane Centre (NHC) calls "catastrophic and life-threatening" flooding.
First, the NHC graded the weather event, given its maximum wind speeds of 169 kilometres per hour (105 miles per hour), as a Category 2 hurricane, but later downgraded it to a tropical storm, as the maximum wind speed dropped to 113 kilometres per hour (70 miles per hour).
A drive along Highway 161, Orange Beach this evening... @WVTM13 #hurricanesally pic.twitter.com/HvlzGThrxJ
— Brittany Decker (@BrittanyWVTM13) September 17, 2020
#HurricaneSallypic.twitter.com/8l7WG2wKOu
— 𝘾𝙖𝙥𝙩 𝙍𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙎𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙝 77K (@captsingh) September 17, 2020