Hurricane Isaias Kills Four After Category 2 Landfall in Florida Panhandle

Hurricane Isaias made landfall near Destin in the Florida Panhandle late on Friday as a Category 2 storm with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph before weakening to a post-tropical cyclone as it moved inland. Officials reported four deaths linked to the storm: two in Florida’s Escambia County and two in Alabama.

In Escambia County, one person died when a tree fell on a home. A second person died of carbon monoxide poisoning after a generator was left running inside a closed garage; four family members aged from four to 72 were hospitalised with non-life-threatening injuries. Alabama authorities confirmed two storm-related deaths, including one involving a tree falling on a house in the Birmingham area and another in a traffic incident linked to a fallen tree in Barbour County.

Hundreds of thousands of customers remained without power across Florida, Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi. Tracking services reported roughly 420,000 outages in Florida, 190,000 in Alabama, and smaller numbers in neighbouring states at midday Saturday. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said structures generally held up but that falling trees accounted for most of the damage. More than 16,000 utility linemen were deployed in Florida.

Alabama, Florida and Georgia had declared states of emergency. Mandatory evacuation orders were issued in parts of Florida and Alabama. The National Hurricane Center noted a storm surge of about five feet, short of the higher range that had been forecast if landfall coincided with peak high tide. Flooding threats persisted inland even after the storm weakened.

The US authorised a release of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Shell and Chevron began re-deploying staff to Gulf operations. Highways and bridges reopened as the system moved north. The storm was the first of the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season to make landfall in the United States and only the fourth October hurricane to strike Florida since 2000.

Recovery crews continue clearing debris and restoring power. Authorities have warned residents against improper generator use and of ongoing risks from weakened trees and residual flooding. No major structural collapses of large buildings were widely reported, but local damage to roofs and power lines was extensive in the landfall zone.