Isaias leaves two reported dead, widespread outages across Southeast

Hurricane Isaias knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of customers and sent trees crashing into homes after striking the Florida Panhandle as a Category 2 storm Friday night. Two storm-related deaths were reported in Florida and Alabama, though Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Saturday that his state had not confirmed any fatalities.

Isaias made landfall near Destin, Florida, around 8:30 p.m. local time with sustained winds of 105 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center. It weakened as it moved inland through Alabama overnight. By Saturday morning, it was a post-tropical system with sustained winds of about 35 mph.

In Escambia County, at the western end of the Florida Panhandle, rescuers found a person pinned beneath a large tree shortly before 9 p.m. Friday, NPR reported. “The victim was inside the home when the tree collapsed,” Sgt. Melony Peterson of the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office told NPR. DeSantis said Saturday that Florida officials had not confirmed a storm-related death, including the Escambia County report, according to Al Jazeera.

A second death was reported in Jefferson County, Alabama, which includes Birmingham. “We did have a storm-related fatality overnight,” county emergency management director Jim Coker told NPR. “A tree did fall on the house.” He said it was a single-family residence.

Power outages remained widespread Saturday. More than 900,000 customers in Florida, Alabama and Georgia were without electricity earlier in the day, falling to about 780,000 by 11:50 a.m. ET, according to figures from PowerOutage.us cited by NPR. DeSantis said more than 80% of residents in Florida’s Santa Rosa, Holmes, Washington and Walton counties had lost power. About 16,000 utility workers were working to restore service, he said.

“Last night in the wee hours of the morning, those crews began working as early as 3 a.m.,” DeSantis said. Crews were also clearing fallen trees from major roads. Interstate 10, Route 98 and all state bridges were open Saturday morning, he said.

The storm pushed about five feet of water ashore near Destin, NPR reported, below the six to nine feet forecasters had warned could occur if landfall coincided with peak high tide. Isaias arrived roughly two hours before high tide.

Damage extended beyond the landfall area. Pensacola officials reported winds that damaged an airport and tore the roof from a hotel, according to Al Jazeera. Flooding closed roads in parts of southern Alabama, including Houston County, the outlet reported. In Jefferson County, emergency officials warned that trees and power lines were down and urged residents to avoid unnecessary travel while crews worked.

Officials cautioned that the danger had not passed. Heavy rain threatened flash flooding farther inland, and forecasters warned of possible tornadoes as the system moved across the Southeast. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said her team was concerned about “strong winds, heavy rain and possible spinoff tornadoes,” Al Jazeera reported.

“The flooding story is not over,” DeSantis said, warning that saturated ground and continued rain could bring dangerous flooding a day or two after the storm passed. He said search and rescue resources would remain available.