NewzIsaias strengthened into a major hurricane Friday as it headed toward the U.S. Gulf Coast, where final preparations were underway for potentially life-threatening storm surges and high winds.Meanwhile, Hurricane Simon was headed toward Mexico’s Pacific coast and strengthened into a Category 2 storm late Friday morning. forecasters issued a hurricane warning for parts of the central and southwest coast, where hurricane-force winds were expected within 36 hours.Tropical storm activity has been above average this season in the Pacific because of a strong El Niño, a natural, temporary warming of parts of the Pacific that warps weather worldwide.
In the Atlantic, El Niño’s decapitating winds and the Gulf of Mexico’s toasty, storm-fueling waters are battling over Isaias’s future strength.Here's the latest:Waffle House locations close ahead of IsaiasAs of Friday afternoon, dozens of Waffle House locations in the Florida panhandle were closed, according to the restaurant’s website.The beloved Southern breakfast chain is known for staying open 24/7, even through severe weather. For decades, it often seemed to be the only business open during a storm — or the first to reopen after it passed.Thus, the diner became a measure of a storm’s severity for both communities and officials alike. So when a local Waffle House closes, it can signal impending disaster and cue people to evacuate.Memories of Michael loom over some residentsIn 2018, Morton McLemore, of Apalachicola, Florida, witnessed the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Michael, one of the strongest storms to hit the U.S.It knocked out power in his small town in the Florida Panhandle for at least a week, he said.“That was a tough one to go through,” said McLemore, owner of a local Piggly Wiggly grocery store in the area.
“We just pray that it’s nothing like the Hurricane Michael.”A truckload of water and other essentials arrived at the grocery store Friday morning.“The store is pretty busy, and people are getting the last, last-minute things they need,” McLemore said.‘It’s just the nature of the beast, it’s Florida’In Panama City, Florida, residents braved the rain to fill sandbags and protect their homes from flooding, hours before Isaias is expected to hit.“This area is really a bad flood zone,” said Corliss Stone, who works for the fire department. “I mean, it’s just the nature of the beast, it’s Florida.”Wh… Other than the usual preparations like filling up his car tank and having plenty of water, he said he wasn’t too worried.“I mean, I’m not boarding up,” Brazzell, 69, said.
“I’ve been through — this being the ninth hurricane.”For past storms, he and his neighbor would run through their preparation lists, grab beignets and coffee, and share them with newcomers to help them prepare.“It was like a little party,” he said.DHS won’t say whether it will suspend immigration enforcement during IsaiasThe Department of Homeland Security would not give The Associated Press a clear answer Friday on whether it will suspend non-criminal immigration enforcement in states impacted by Isaias during the emergency.In past administrations, including Trump’s first, DHS would sometimes issue messaging in the run-up to hurricanes clarifying its immigration enforcement policies during extreme weather.Before Hurricane Irma in 2017, the agency stated that “DHS will not conduct non-criminal immigration enforcement operations in the affected area … When it comes to rescuing people in the wake of Hurricane Irma, immigration status is not and will not be a factor.”Asked Friday what the DHS policy is during Isaias, the department instead cited a statement about FEMA’s storm preparations. It included: “Under President Trump and Secretary Mullin’s leader…
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