Hurricane Isaias set to make landfall on the Gulf Coast late tonight

Hurricane Isaias, a Category 2 storm near major-hurricane strength, is forecast to make landfall late Friday or early Saturday on the northern Gulf Coast, near the Alabama-Florida line around Pensacola. Forecasters warn of 5 to 7 feet of storm surge from the Mississippi coast to the western Florida Panhandle. Florida and Alabama have declared states of emergency, with mandatory evacuations on Dauphin Island and in parts of Baldwin County, Alabama, and Okaloosa County, Florida. It is the first Atlantic hurricane of the season, the latest first hurricane on record.