Hurricane Isaias has left more than 860,000 people without electricity as the storm moves inland across the southeast following its landfall along the US Gulf Coast. As the first Atlantic hurricane of the 2026 season, the system severely impacted Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, knocking out power for hundreds of thousands of residents. Data tracking indicates that Florida and Alabama absorbed the brunt of the outages, with additional disruptions recorded in Georgia and several other states.
The category 2 storm came ashore near Destin, Florida, late Friday, carrying maximum sustained winds of 105 miles per hour. By early morning, the National Weather Service reported that Isaias had weakened to a post-tropical cyclone with winds diminishing to 65 mph. Prior to the storm's arrival, authorities had issued storm surge warnings spanning from the mouth of the Mississippi River to the Suwannee River in Florida, urging residents in vulnerable zones to heed local evacuation orders.
Local areas experienced severe wind, heavy rain, and flying debris as the weather system passed through. Residents sheltering in Pensacola, Florida, described intense and frightening conditions amid widespread power failures. Isaias had originally intensified into a hurricane on Wednesday night before tracking toward the coast and delivering the season's initial major hurricane impact to the region.