BILOXI, Mississippi – Biloxi, Mississippi is bracing for a second direct hit by a hurricane in two years. When we arrived, boat owners were scrambling to dry dock or move their watercraft upstream.
Tropical Storm Gordon is expected to hit the central Gulf Coast on Tuesday night as a Category 1 hurricane. Hurricane warnings stretch from the eastern tip of Louisiana to the Florida-Alabama state line.
Storm surge warnings affecting millions of Americans stretch even farther. The mayor of New Orleans issued a voluntary evacuation order for areas “outside of the levee system.”
“Needed some hardware to fix my shutters, so I wanted to secure the house a little better,” said one man outside a home improvement store near New Orleans.
Instead of Labor Day celebrations, many along the coast spent the day sandbagging. Alabama hasn't been hit by a hurricane since 2004.
Gordon developed into a tropical storm as it made landfall over the Florida Keys. The 8 p.m. National Hurricane Center advisory predicted Gordon would develop into a hurricane in the Gulf, and hit around 8 p.m. Tuesday.
Many schools and city buildings across the coastal region were ordered closed Tuesday or scheduled early release.
Hurricane Nate flooded some buildings and streets in Biloxi in 2017. Boat owners said the storm also broke apart some of the docks and sank several boats.