Hurricane Isaias became the first hurricane to make direct landfall in the United States in more than two years when it came ashore late Friday as a Category 2 storm.
By Saturday morning, Isaias had weakened into a post-tropical cyclone as it moved across Alabama. While no longer a hurricane, its remnants were expected to bring heavy rain and gusty winds across parts of the South on Saturday before spreading into the Great Lakes and Northeast on Sunday.
As of 2 p.m. CT Saturday, more than 700,000 customers were without power. More than 400,000 outages were reported in Florida’s Panhandle, while Alabama reported more than 180,000 outages and Georgia reported about 40,000.
At its peak, nearly 900,000 customers were without power.
2 dead as Hurricane Isaias weakens over the South
The storm also caused significant wind damage in the Pensacola area, where a hotel lost its roof as Isaias made landfall.
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The hurricane pushed storm surge onto coastal roadways across the Florida Panhandle.
Escambia County Sheriff Chip W. Simmons confirmed one person died during the storm. He added that some roads were impassable due to downed trees and power lines.
Away from the coast, a death was reported in Birmingham, Alabama, due to a fallen tree limb.
Isaias marked a departure from what had been one of the quietest Atlantic hurricane seasons in recent years. It was also the first hurricane to form in the Atlantic basin in 2026.
Forecasters had predicted a below-normal season because of a strong El Niño, which typically creates upper-level winds that can disrupt tropical cyclone development.
Although Isaias was the ninth named storm of the season, all previous systems had peaked at tropical-storm strength.
The same upper-level winds that limited hurricane activity this year also contributed to Isaias weakening before landfall. The storm maintained Category 3 strength for much of Friday before being downgraded to a Category 2 hurricane just hours before reaching the coast.
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Behind Isaias, the National Hurricane Center said it was not tracking any additional systems. The Atlantic hurricane season typically peaks around Sept. 10 and begins to wind down by mid-October before ending Nov. 30.
Since 2013, only two hurricanes have made U.S. landfall after Oct. 15. The most recent was Hurricane Nicole in 2022.
