Hurricane Isaias Hits Florida Panhandle as Category 2 Storm, Leaving at Least 4 Dead and Nearly 900,000 Without Power

Hurricane Isaias struck Florida’s Panhandle on Friday night as a Category 2 storm, leaving at least four people dead, damaging homes and cutting power to nearly 900,000 customers across Florida, Alabama and Georgia before weakening and moving inland.

The National Hurricane Center said Isaias made landfall near Destin at about 8:30 p.m. local time, 9:30 p.m. Eastern, with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph and a minimum central pressure of 971 millibars. It was the ninth named storm of the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season, its first hurricane, and the first hurricane to hit the Gulf Coast since Milton in 2024. Wind gusts of up to 91 mph were reported in nearby locations.

The storm had been stronger earlier in the day. Isaias reached Category 3 strength on Friday morning with peak winds of 120 mph, but wind shear eroded its southern side before landfall and dropped its winds to 105 mph. The storm’s timing also softened its worst-case impact. Landfall came roughly two hours before high tide in Destin, and storm surge reached about five feet, short of the six to nine feet that forecasters had warned was possible if Isaias had arrived at peak high tide, NPR reported.

Isaias weakened quickly over land. It became a post-tropical cyclone over southern Alabama early Saturday and was moving toward Tennessee by Saturday night, though forecasters said it was still capable of causing damage as it moved north. Extreme wind warnings and a flash flood emergency were in effect for parts of the Panhandle on Friday, and a tornado watch covered areas including Pensacola, Tallahassee and Panama City, along with southern Georgia and Alabama. A tornado touched down in South Carolina on Saturday as the system fuelled severe thunderstorms.

At least four deaths have been reported, according to officials: two in Florida and two in Alabama. The deaths in Florida involved a fallen tree and a man found in a closed garage with a running generator, a danger that emergency officials commonly warn about after storms knock out power. Officials have not yet released further details on the Alabama fatalities.

Power outages affected nearly 900,000 customers on Saturday across Florida, Alabama and Georgia, according to the monitoring site PowerOutage.us, including roughly 434,000 in Florida. Crews were working to restore service as roads were cleared of fallen trees and debris. Pensacola was among the areas hardest hit, with aerial surveys showing widespread damage to roofs and buildings, and residents describing the scene as “pretty catastrophic,” CBS News reported. In Destin, people were seen retrieving belongings from a collapsed boathouse on Saturday.

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The danger has not ended with the wind. Forecasters said rainfall totals of 4 to 8 inches were possible over the weekend in parts of Alabama, Florida and Georgia, with up to 15 inches in some areas, raising the risk of flash flooding well inland. Officials urged residents to avoid flooded roads, stay away from downed power lines and use generators only outdoors and away from windows and doors.

Isaias also arrives at a time when the Gulf Coast is still sensitive to the effects of hurricanes. Destin and the surrounding area are known for white-sand beaches, vacation homes, waterfront bars and seafood restaurants, and the storm struck at the end of the tourist season, when many seasonal businesses remain open. Local officials said damage assessments were continuing, and an early estimate of the cost of the storm had not been released.

Hurricane season runs through the end of November, and Isaias is a reminder that the Gulf Coast remains at risk well into autumn. For now, the focus in the Panhandle is on restoring power, clearing roads and counting the cost of a storm that caused less coastal flooding than feared but still left lives lost and communities facing a long clean-up.