Hurricane Isaias was strengthening over the Gulf early Friday, with a forecast landfall near the Alabama-Mississippi border and potentially dangerous weather expected across Georgia. At 2 a.m. Friday, the National Hurricane Center reported the Category 2 storm had maximum sustained winds of 105 mph and was moving north-northeast at 14 mph. Forecasters said it could reach Category 3 strength before landfall, expected late Friday. NOAA and Air Force hurricane-hunter aircraft were flying into the storm. A Tropical Storm Watch was in effect for Heard, Meriwether, Pike, Troup and Upson counties in Georgia. Randolph County, Alabama, was also under a watch. A Flood Watch covered metro Atlanta and most of north Georgia, where rainfall totals of 1 to 3 inches were forecast, with isolated amounts as high as 5 inches. North Georgia was also under a High Wind Watch, with gusts potentially reaching 50 mph. Those winds could bring down trees and cause widespread power outages. The storm’s rain bands could also produce severe weather and brief tornadoes. Gov. Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency for all 159 Georgia counties. The Georgia Emergency Management Agency planned to activate the State Operations Center Friday afternoon to coordinate with state and local agencies. The order authorizes Kemp to call up to 500 National Guard troops. “We’re not trying to cause any panic here, because we’re not,” Kemp said. “We just want to be overly prepared in case something changes or if the storm moves.”