Hurricane Sally causes damage and flooding

Sally has weakened to a tropical storm but the Gulf Coast region still faces issues from the slow-moving storm's drenching rains and flooding.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center says the storm's maximum sustained winds decreased Wednesday afternoon to near 70 mph (110 kph) with additional weakening expected as Sally moves inland.

As of 1 p.m. CDT, the storm was centered about 30 miles (45 kilometers) north-northeast of Pensacola, Florida, and moving north-northeast near 5 mph (7 kph).

Rivers were rising late Wednesday from Sally's heavy rains, and at least eight waterways in south Alabama and the Florida Panhandle were expected to hit major flood stage by Thursday.

Some of the crests could break records, submerge bridges and flood some homes, the National Weather Service warned.

In Alabama, they are the Styx and Fish rivers, Murder Creek and Big Escambia Creek.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey says some areas of the state are seeing historic flood levels from slow-moving Hurricane Sally and more flooding is expected throughout the day.

Ivey urged people Wednesday to refrain from getting on roads unless they absolutely have to and said the best thing is for people to stay home.

In Florida, major crests were expected on the Perdido, Blackwater, Shoal and Yellow rivers, forecasters said.

Nearly 332,000 homes and businesses had lost electricity across Alabama, Florida and Louisiana by Wednesday morning, according to the poweroutage.us site.