This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Isaias weakened from a hurricane to a post-tropical cyclone early Saturday after it made landfall in northwestern Florida, where it lashed the U.S. Gulf Coast with heavy rain and strong winds, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.
"Isaias has very rapidly weakened over Alabama and has transitioned into a post-tropical cyclone," the NHC said in an update. The cyclone should move northward and north-northeastward over the weekend and gradually weaken as it moves across the Tennessee and Ohio valleys, the NHC added. Isaias earlier made landfall near Destin, Florida, with authorities warning of "life-threatening storm surge impacting Gulf Coast as dangerous hurricane conditions and flash flooding spread inland." Coastal communities saw mandatory evacuations and shuttered businesses as Isaias became the first hurricane of an Atlantic season that kicked off in June, held in check by a historic El Niño phenomenon that typically spurs more major storms in the Pacific.
In Pensacola, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) west of Destin in Florida, an reporter witnessed howling winds rip the roofs from some homes and businesses, snapping tree branches as the power went out. "Things are flying really fast, and I've never seen wind this fast before, so it's intense, it's scary," Jonathan Ramos, a 40-year-old government employee, told at his hotel in Pensacola, where the power went out. "I don't recommend people coming down here for fun to do this." More than 300,000 customers in Florida and 200,000 in Alabama were without power on Friday night, according to poweroutage.us.
Earlier Friday, caravans of repair trucks rolled through the cities of Pensacola and Navarre to staging areas in preparation for power outages, reporters on the scene said. Water service to buildings was suspended. Fueled by record-warm Gulf waters heated by climate change, Isaias underwent rapid intensification and was the first hurricane to strike the U.S. mainland since Milton in 2024.
Ron DeSantis told a press briefing earlier Friday that "we've got a massive amount of supplies and personnel ready to respond once the storm hits." President Donald Trump canceled his visit to Saturday's college football game between the University of Georgia and the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, because of the storm. Mandatory evacuation orders are in effect in several Florida counties, but impacts are expected across a swath of the southeastern United States, with hurricane-force winds up to 100 miles (160 kilometers) inland. Storm surge combined with the tide is expected to flood normally dry areas, with the NHC warning that water could reach as high as 9 feet (2.7 meters) around the Alabama-Florida border.
Heavy rainfall could trigger flash flooding and push rivers over their banks. Two airports in northwestern Florida have suspended operations. Isaias' late arrival this season is largely due to an El Niño of historic strength.
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