Isaias strengthened into a category 3 hurricane on Friday morning as it barreled toward the US Gulf coast, where states of emergency have been declared in Alabama, Florida and Mississippi. The hurricane, the first in the Atlantic in what has turned into a very late 2026 season, is expected to cause a “life-threatening storm surge”, officials said. Isaias is forecast to make landfall on Friday night, somewhere along the Alabama-Florida line with surging seas up to 7ft (2.1 meters) and waves as high as 30ft (9.1 meters).
Residents in these areas should prepare for the possibility of long-duration power outages,” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) said. Noaa said a storm surge is expected from south-east Louisiana to Suwannee, in north-east Florida. Isaias could also dump up to 15in (380mm) of rain on coastal areas and even spawn tornadoes overnight on Friday into Saturday from Alabama to the Florida panhandle and south-western Georgia.
The hurricane is expected to quickly weaken after coming ashore. Heavy rain began falling along the coast on Friday morning and winds were picking up sharply, with tropical storm conditions expected by early afternoon. Isaias had maximum sustained winds of 105mph (169km/h) on Friday morning, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC).
It was headed north-north-east at 15mph (24km/h) and was centered about 230 miles (370km) south of the mouth of the Mississippi River in Louisiana. The NHC said Dauphin Island, a barrier island off the Alabama coast, could see a 7ft (2.1-meter) storm surge, while Indian Pass, 200 miles (322km) to the east on the Florida coast, could see a 6ft (1.8-meter) surge. Videos on social media showed traffic at a standstill on a highway leading out of Gulf Shores, where double red flags signaled that beaches were closed.
Ivey has declared a state of emergency for 40 counties in Alabama, while Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, has declared a state of emergency in 27 counties. Several cities and counties in south Mississippi have done the same. DeSantis said 5,000 national guard troops were expected to mobilize in Florida, where at least four school districts cancelled late-week classes.
The Atlantic hurricane season has been unusually quiet this year because of a strong El Niño, which disrupts storm formation over the Atlantic. The first hurricane of the season has not formed this late since 8 October 1905, which predates the satellite era (1960s) for tracking hurricanes. Ahead of the storm, oil and gas producers shut down a significant share of offshore production in the Gulf, which accounts for almost 15% of crude pumped annually in the US.
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