Hurricane Isaias Kills Two and Cuts Power to 900,000
Hurricane Isaias slammed into the northern Gulf Coast as a Category 2 storm Friday night, killing at least two people, cutting power to nearly a million customers and pushing inland across Alabama with heavy rain and the threat of tornadoes. The storm made landfall near Destin, Florida, around 8:30 p.m. local time with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph (169 km/h), according to the National Hurricane Center.
By Saturday morning, Isaias had weakened to a post-tropical cyclone with wind speeds of about 35 mph (55 km/h) and was expected to dissipate on Sunday. But officials warned that the danger was far from over, as saturated ground and continued rainfall raised the risk of flash flooding and tornadoes across the Southeast.
A Storm That Arrived Late — and Hard
Isaias was the first hurricane of the 2026 Atlantic season, and its arrival in October was historic. It tied a record set on October 8, 1905, as the latest-forming first Atlantic hurricane on record, The Guardian reported. None of the season’s eight previous named storms had intensified beyond tropical storm status.
The unusually quiet season had been attributed to a strong “super” El Nino climate pattern, which suppressed storm formation in the Atlantic — even as very warm Gulf of Mexico waters fueled Isaias’s rapid intensification. NPR noted that El Nino’s inhibiting effects are weaker in the Gulf, where warm water helped the storm build strength and draw in moisture.
Forecasters had initially predicted a quiet year. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration anticipated three to six hurricanes at the start of the season, below the average of seven, and cut that estimate to two to six in an August update. Isaias was also the first hurricane to strike the United States since 2024.
Landfall and Immediate Impact
Isaias came ashore roughly two hours before high tide in Destin, producing a storm surge of about 5 feet — short of the 6 to 9 feet forecasters had said was possible had the storm arrived at peak high tide. Still, the winds were fierce enough to cause widespread damage ashore.
In Pensacola, local officials reported that strong winds damaged an airport and tore the roof off a hotel, according to Al Jazeera. Fallen trees and downed power lines blocked roads and left residents without electricity across the region. More than 900,000 customers in Florida, Alabama and Georgia were without power early Saturday, a figure that later fell to under 800,000.
One person died in Birmingham, Alabama, when a tree fell on a house overnight, according to local emergency officials. A second person was killed in Escambia County, Florida, after a tree fell during the storm. However, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said Saturday that state officials had not confirmed any storm-related fatalities, including the Escambia County report — leaving the official Florida toll uncertain.
Residents Confront the Aftermath
For families in the storm’s path, the destruction was deeply personal. In Crestview, Florida, a tree from Ashley Weeks’s backyard split and crashed onto her home, gutting the roof and bringing stormwater inside near her daughter’s bedroom.
“Just scary, everything, my whole life is in the house,” Weeks told WEAR News. “We heard a loud like something, like a bomb went off in the house. It was so loud. And I got up and went and seen the tree through the roof and it was freaking out.”
In Pensacola, resident Tim Mowry told the Associated Press that Isaias’s winds sounded like “a train whistle.” He lost power Friday afternoon but relied on a generator, and said he considered himself “really fortunate” given the scale of the storm.
Emergency Response and Warnings
The storm prompted sweeping emergency preparations. Alabama Governor Kay Ivey declared a state of emergency for 40 counties, an order in effect until 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, October 14, according to the Alabama Governor’s Office. State offices and buildings in nine southern counties — including Baldwin, Mobile and Houston — closed at noon Friday as a precaution, the Alabama Political Reporter reported.
Florida’s governor declared a state of emergency for 25 counties, and mandatory or voluntary evacuation orders were in effect for parts of seven counties. Roughly 16,000 utility workers were staged to restore power, and about 5,000 Florida National Guard personnel were readied to assist with recovery.
“Assume you’re going to lose power,” DeSantis told residents at a Friday news conference, according to NPR. He also stressed the dual nature of the threat: “We always say, you know, you hide from the wind, but you run from the water. When the water’s rising and things are happening, it’s a very, very difficult conundrum, and you do not want to be caught in that.”
Jared Perdue, executive director of Florida’s Division of Emergency Management, warned that the Panhandle was already saturated from earlier rainfall and that flash flooding was a certainty.
What’s Next
Though the storm had weakened by Saturday, NPR reported that officials warned the risk of flash, urban and river flooding would persist across much of southern Alabama, Florida’s Panhandle and southwestern Georgia through the weekend. Rainfall totals of 4 to 8 inches were expected, with localized amounts up to 15 inches possible.
Ivey said Saturday that her team remained focused on “strong winds, heavy rain and possible spinoff tornadoes,” urging residents to stay informed as conditions developed. “We often hear in emergency management: Hope for the best. Prepare for the worst,” she said.
DeSantis, meanwhile, said Florida power crews would spend the day assessing damage, clearing roads and restoring service — and cautioned that the flooding threat would linger. “The flooding story is not over,” he said. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier also warned residents to be alert for contractors seeking to exploit storm victims as repairs begin.
As the Southeast begins its recovery, the central question is how quickly power can be restored and how severe the flooding will prove in the days after the storm has passed.