Hurricane Sally (2020)

Sally made landfall at Gulf Shores, Alabama, at about 4:45 a.m. CDT on September 16, 2020, as a Category 2 hurricane with 95-knot (109 mph) winds and a central pressure of 965 mb, four days after it came ashore in South Florida as a tropical depression.¹ It was moving at less than 5 mph at landfall, which made its hurricane winds, storm surge and heavy rain last longer.²

Measured gusts included 119 knots (137 mph) atop an 18-meter mast at Ingram Bayou, 103 knots (119 mph) at Perdido Pass and 80 knots (92 mph) at Pensacola Naval Air Station.¹ NWS Mobile says wind damage was worst from southeast Mobile County across Baldwin County into Escambia County, Florida, where gusts topped 100 mph near the coast.² In Mobile and Baldwin counties a few older homes were destroyed and many buildings had significant roof, siding and fence damage.¹ In Escambia and Santa Rosa counties, Florida, wind and surge damaged thousands of structures and destroyed about 50.¹

NHC puts peak surge flooding at 5 to 7 feet above ground along the coasts of Baldwin County and Escambia and Santa Rosa counties, and NWS Mobile says thousands of coastal structures flooded from surge and rain together.^1,2 Rain totaled 29.99 inches at Orange Beach and 24.88 inches just west of Pensacola Naval Air Station, and rain and surge left 2 to 4 feet of water in parts of downtown Pensacola.¹ Surge carried numerous large boats and barges onto land, and part of the US 98 Three Mile Bridge over Pensacola Bay collapsed when a construction barge struck it.¹ NHC counts four direct deaths in Florida, Alabama and Georgia, and NOAA's NCEI puts US damage at $7.3 billion.¹