Hurricane Sally blasts ashore in Alabama with punishing rain

PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) — Hurricane Sally has finally made landfall near Gulf Shores, Alabama, as a Category 2 storm, with top winds of 105 mph. The coast is being pummeled with sideways rain and beach-covering storm surges. Sally’s northern eyewall raked the Gulf Coast with hurricane-force winds and rain from Pensacola Beach, Florida, westward to Dauphin Island, Alabama, for hours before its center finally hit land. The National Hurricane Center says Sally will cause dangerous flooding from the Florida Panhandle to Mississippi and well inland in the days ahead. More than 300,000 homes and businesses are without power.