Sally weakens after dumping rain on Gulf coast

Sally weakens after dumping rain on Gulf coast

[NFA] The storm was downgraded to a tropical depression and is threatening to dump another foot of rain as it moves inland.

This report produced by Zachary Goelman.

Hurricane Sally moved northeast Thursday (September 17), after slamming into Alabama and drenching parts Florida's panhandle.

The slow-moving storm was downgraded to a tropical depression, and was moving north at about nine miles per hour.

Some parts of the coast were inundated with more than two feet of rain.

Cities such as Pensacola on the Florida coast experienced several feet of flooding.

Residents faced washed out roads and closures.

More than 570,000 homes and businesses across the area were without power.

Police in Alabama reported one death they believe to be storm-related.

Florida's governor Ron DeSantis on Wednesday (September 16) warned that the flooding could persist even after the weather moved on.

"You're going to have these rivers that are going to crest.

Maybe it'll happen tomorrow.

Maybe Friday.

You maybe even see some of them will happen this weekend.

So this is kind of the initial salvo, but there is going to be more that you're going to have to contend with." Sally was the 18th named storm in the Atlantic this year and the eighth of tropical storm or hurricane strength to hit the United States.

There are currently three other named storms in the Atlantic, making it one of the most active Atlantic hurricane seasons on record.

Researchers with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or NOAA say the warming climate since the 1980s has increased the intensity and destructiveness of Atlantic hurricanes.