Hurricane Isaias seems to leave four dead and hundreds of thousands without power

Hurricane Isaias, the first hurricane of the 2026 Atlantic season, came ashore late Friday, October 9, on Florida’s panhandle as a Category 2 storm, the Guardian reports, citing authorities. DW and NPR place the landfall near Destin, Florida. The BBC and the Guardian put its maximum sustained winds at 105mph; the BBC converts that figure to 168km/h, the Guardian to 169km/h. By Saturday the storm had weakened to a post-tropical cyclone as it crossed central Alabama, according to the Guardian, and DW, citing the National Hurricane Center (NHC), reports that its remnants moved over Tennessee and Kentucky toward West Virginia.

Officials have linked four deaths to the storm, the Guardian, the BBC and DW report: two in Escambia County, Florida, and two in Alabama. According to the Guardian, which carries Associated Press reporting, one death each in Escambia County and in Birmingham, Alabama, came when trees fell on homes. Escambia County Sheriff Chip Simmons said a woman died when a tree fell on her house, the BBC reports. Her husband, Joey Williams, told NewsNation, in remarks the BBC quotes: “I was able to squeeze out. My wife didn’t make it.” NPR, in an earlier report, said it had confirmed two deaths, one in Escambia County and one in Jefferson County, Alabama.

Carbon monoxide caused another of the deaths, officials say. The Escambia sheriff’s office said investigators found a person in a closed garage with a running generator, and four members of that person’s family went to the hospital with carbon monoxide poisoning, the Guardian reports. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis warned at a press conference: “Don’t run any generators inside your home, it can be very, very hazardous,” according to the Guardian. In Alabama, Governor Kay Ivey wrote on X that “two Alabamians have lost their lives,” the BBC reports, without giving details of how they died.

Outage counts differ by outlet and by hour. Citing PowerOutage.us, the Guardian reports that nearly 550,000 customers across Florida, Alabama and Georgia still lacked power on Saturday afternoon, down from more than 900,000 earlier that day. The BBC, citing the same tracker, gives an estimated 500,000 people without power across several states as of Saturday evening, and DW reports more than 500,000 customers without power in Florida and Alabama.

Damage reports concentrate along the Florida panhandle. Hurricane-force winds blew the roof off a Pensacola hotel, and the city’s mayor said the airport “took some damage,” the Guardian reports. The storm flattened a boathouse in Destin and tore away part of the facade of a high-rise in Panama City Beach, according to the same report. The BBC reports that the roof came off an apartment complex in Milton, Florida, and that a petrol station canopy collapsed in Gulf Breeze. NPR reports a storm surge of some 5 feet in the area, short of the 6 to 9 feet forecasters had said could arrive if landfall coincided with peak high tide; Isaias arrived roughly two hours before high tide in Destin, NPR says.

Rescuers worked through flooded roads. The Florida National Guard said soldiers “stopped, swam to the vehicle and pulled its occupants to safety” after a truck ended up in a flood ditch, the BBC reports. The Florida Division of Emergency Management said about 5,000 Florida National Guard soldiers and airmen got “activated to support impacted communities,” according to DW. Florida transportation secretary Jared W Perdue urged drivers to avoid water over roads, saying, in remarks the Guardian quotes: “It does not have to be that deep, and it can wash away your car.” In Alabama, a sheriff suffered injuries when a tree fell on him as he responded to a car crash, the BBC reports.

The threat now shifts inland and north. The NHC said in a Saturday-morning advisory that “flash, urban and river flooding is possible across the region,” with considerable potential for flash flooding and landslides across the southern Appalachians, the Guardian reports. The Guardian, citing the NHC, says Isaias could drop 4 to 8 inches of rain across southern Alabama, the Florida panhandle and Big Bend, and southwest Georgia through Sunday, with localized totals up to 15 inches. The BBC cites the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) as warning that the Carolinas and Georgia could see floods from up to 10 inches of rain. In Charleston, South Carolina, city officials asked residents to stay home on Saturday night ahead of a high tide forecast at 7.5ft, the BBC reports.

Federal and state emergency steps followed the storm. Alabama, Florida and Georgia all declared states of emergency before Isaias arrived, and Florida and Alabama ordered thousands to evacuate, the BBC reports. Trump approved emergency declarations for Florida and Alabama before landfall, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency said on Saturday that he had allowed it to provide resources to Georgia, the Guardian reports. Ivey said Isaias “cannot clear fast enough,” according to the Guardian.

The storm also stands out on the calendar. NOAA predicted a quiet season, with three to six hurricanes against an average of seven, and cut that range to two to six in August, the Guardian reports. According to the Guardian, Isaias ties the record for the latest-forming first Atlantic hurricane, set on October 8, 1905, and none of the eight earlier named storms of the 2026 season grew beyond tropical storm strength. The BBC attributes the delayed season largely to El Niño conditions in the Pacific. Meanwhile, Hurricane Simon reached Category 4 strength off Mexico’s Pacific coast, with landfall expected overnight or on Sunday near areas including Puerto Vallarta, according to the BBC and DW.

Open questions this desk will watch: whether the death toll rises as crews reach damaged areas; how fast utilities restore power to the roughly half-million customers still in the dark; whether flash flooding and landslides hit the southern Appalachians and the Carolinas; and where Hurricane Simon comes ashore in Mexico.