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Hurricane Sally Threatens US Gulf Coast with Slow Drenching

Associated Press

   NEW ORLEANS - Hurricane Sally, one of five storms lined up as if on a
   conveyor belt across the Atlantic, churned toward the
   Louisiana-Mississippi coast Monday with rapidly strengthening winds of
   at least 145 kph (90 mph) and the potential for as much as 60
   centimeters (23.5 inches) of rain that could bring severe flooding.

   Storm-weary Gulf Coast residents rushed to buy bottled water and other
   supplies ahead of the storm, which was expected to reach Louisiana's
   southeastern tip around daybreak Tuesday and make its way sluggishly
   northward into Mississippi on a path that could menace the New Orleans
   metropolitan area and cause a long, slow drenching.

   Forecasters said it could be a Category 2 hurricane with winds of 169
   kph (105 mph) by the time it nears the coast. It would be Louisiana's
   second pounding from a hurricane in less than three weeks.

   Jeremy Burke lifted things off the floor in case of flooding in his Bay
   Books bookstore in the Old Town neighborhood of Bay St. Louis,
   Mississippi, a popular weekend getaway from New Orleans, about 60 miles
   (95 kilometers) to the west. The streets outside were emptying fast.

   "It's turning into a ghost town," he said. "Everybody's biggest fear is
   the storm surge, and the worst possible scenario being that it just
   stalls out. That would be a dicey situation for everybody."

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