Published reports say that heavy winds from Hurricane Isaias led to two fatalities in Alabama and Florida. NBC news reports that one person was killed in East Birmingham when a tree fell on a house. Another person was trapped. CBS News reports a woman in Escambia County, Florida died when a tree hit her house in the winds of Isaias.
Isaias weakened quickly after making landfall on the U.S. Gulf Coast near Destin, Florida, as a Category 2 hurricane Friday evening. Its powerful winds left hundreds of thousands of people in Alabama and the Florida Panhandle without power early Saturday. It was the first hurricane of the Atlantic season.
“All tropical storm surge warnings have been discontinued as of this morning, but there are still high wind warnings for portions of the Southeast,” said Robbie Berg, a warning coordination meteorologist with the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
“So even though it has become post-tropical, it still does remain a wind threat, as well as a heavy rainfall threat. We could see some areas of significant flash flooding over the next couple of days.”
Isaias weakened overnight and was no longer considered a hurricane, but flash flooding threats and the potential for tornadoes persisted Saturday as the storm moved inland across Alabama. The storm, now considered a post-tropical cyclone, made landfall Friday as a Category 2 hurricane, then quickly moved north through Alabama as its wind speeds dropped sharply to 35 mph. But the possibility of life-threatening storm surges still loomed for parts of the Florida Panhandle.
Parts of southern Alabama also were flooded, with officials in Mobile reporting downed trees and power lines. Roads in Houston County, which is in the southeastern corner of the state, were closed because of similar conditions. More than 911,000 customers in Florida, Alabama and Georgia were without power early Saturday, according to poweroutage.com.
Tim Mowry rode out the storm from his home in Pensacola, Florida. He says the wind was so intense it sounded like a train whistle as it whipped through a crack on his patio door. He said overall the storm wasn’t as bad as he expected. He had standing water in his backyard and parts of a fence were ripped down. He also lost power but was able to rely on a generator. Mowry said his son, who lives nearby, was unable to drive to Mowry’s house due to downed trees and power lines blocking the roads.
“As far as Pensacola-wise we really got fortunate,” Mowry said.
Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves said on his Facebook page that the airport “took some damage.” Some power was out downtown, he said, and there were trees and power lines down in some areas.
Meanwhile, strong winds blew the roof off a hotel in the city.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis says there were no confirmed reports of fatalities from Isaias and that all state-owned bridges and major thoroughfares in the state are now open. DeSantis warned that flooding dangers persist, especially in areas far east of the storm where it will continue raining.
“The risk of flooding is still high,” DeSantis said. “Sometimes these things happen a day or two days after the storm goes through. So the flooding story is not over.”
