MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Hurricane Isaias is likely to make landfall on Alabama's Gulf Coast late tomorrow. It could arrive as a Category 2 storm. That would mean sustained winds around a hundred miles an hour. Well, all day today people have been preparing or evacuating. Cori Yonge with Alabama Public Radio is in Fairhope, Alabama, and joins us now. Hey, Cori.
CORI YONGE, BYLINE: Hello. How are you?
KELLY: I am hanging in there. OK, but you...
YONGE: (Laughter).
KELLY: ...You're the one we want to know about. You're in Fairhope. That's a small town. You're on Mobile Bay. What are you seeing?
YONGE: Well, everyone is getting ready. Interstate traffic is bumper-to-bumper as people are evacuating the beaches. We expect high winds and storm surge to start tomorrow afternoon. It could get as high as 7 feet in some areas along the Gulf Coast. At this point, it's really all about preparation. Though, Isaias is supposed to be a quick-moving storm, city officials are warning residents to be weather aware. People are out securing anything around the house that could possibly fly and cause damage during high winds, people in low-lying areas who need protection from storm surge are picking up free sand and sandbags. I tackled a very busy supermarket, where bread and water flew off the shelves.
KELLY: Yeah.
YONGE: I met Richard Akins (ph) unloading a full shopping cart of groceries into his trunk. He and his wife have two young daughters, and he wanted to make sure they had enough supplies to get through the storm.
RICHARD AKINS: Bread, meats, you know, any kind of frozen stuff, canned goods, lots - obviously, water, which there's not much of it left right now, which is surprising. So I'm glad I got out today.
YONGE: Akins told me he's having a 10,000-watt portable generator hooked up to his house today to keep his refrigerator running.
KELLY: Yeah, 'cause you buy all that food, you want to make sure you can keep it cold. That makes sense. I mean, it seems like preparing for hurricanes like this one is just such a part of life now for people living along the Gulf Coast. Do people feel like they are ready?
YONGE: You know, it is a part of life. On the Alabama Gulf Coast, we've fortunately gone six years since the last storm, and that was Sally. I talked to Gary Rambo (ph), who owns a local service station that carries ethanol-free gas, and that's really important because it's used in portable generators. He was doing a brisk business, but he was prepared.
GARY RAMBO: I'm kind of used to this. I've done it for 32 years. So yesterday, I went ahead and called and had a 8,000-gallon truck brought in at 6 o'clock this morning because I've been through this too many times.
YONGE: He says he's not rationing yet, but after a storm he usually does. Rob Hickman (ph) was one of Rambo's customers. He was filling portable containers with that ethanol-free gas.
ROB HICKMAN: We're just trying to be prepared as far as have water and food for a few days at least. You know, it's not like we're preparing for Armageddon. You never know.
YONGE: He's right. You never know. During the last hurricane, we were without power for about five days. So in my house, we have a generator, a couple small lithium battery power stations and a very long extension cord to plug into the neighbors' where they have a whole house generator.
KELLY: Oh, man. I can picture you getting all this ready and set up. What about officials - what are they telling people? What are the warnings? What's the guidance?
YONGE: Well, they're telling people do heed the warnings. They're saying the hurricane's impact could be far and wide. The National Weather Service is warning of life-threatening storm surge. There could be isolated tornadoes as the storm moves through. On the coast, we're expected to have about 5 inches of rain.
And as it looks now, the Florida Panhandle could take the brunt of this storm. They've started mandatory evacuations there. Here on the Alabama beaches, officials have asked visitors and residents to voluntarily evacuate. A popular shrimp festival this weekend was canceled, and shelters are open for evacuees. And governors in Florida, Alabama and even Georgia have issued emergency declarations. That allows for quicker disaster response.
KELLY: Cori Yonge with Alabama Public Radio reporting there from Fairhope, Alabama, thank you. Stay safe.
YONGE: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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