Florida officials take toll of deadly Hurricane Isaias damage after Panhandle landfall

Hurricane Isaias made landfall as a Category 2 storm with 105 mph winds in the Florida Panhandle on Friday night, and there have been two confirmed fatalities in the state, but it could have been a lot worse.

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“If you looked at the storm as it was gaining strength, there were predictions that it would weaken, but that’s not always the case,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Saturday afternoon in Destin. “To see how the storm ended up developing, and even falling apart, that helped in terms of damage that otherwise would’ve been done.”

The system had been a major Category 3 hurricane with 120 mph winds just hours before its 9:30 p.m. landfall near Destin. The system was the Atlantic season’s first hurricane of the year, and it dropped in intensity quickly as it moved inland and into Alabama headed for the Tennessee Valley.

In Florida, Escambia County Sheriff Chip Simmons said there were two storm-related deaths.

A woman was killed when a tree fell on her home and a man died of carbon monoxide fumes from a generator running in his garage. Four of the man’s family members, ranging in age from 4 to 72, were treated but expected to survive, the sheriff said.

“We have had one fatality. A tree fell on a house and unfortunately took the life of a lady and our thoughts and prayers are obviously with that family,” he said.

In Alabama, one person died when a tree fell on a house in Birmingham, said Cory Moon, the city’s fire chief. One other person was rescued from the house and treated at the scene, he said.

A second storm-related death in the state was attributed to a motor vehicle crash involving a downed tree in Barbour County, said Josh Johnson of the state’s emergency management agency.

Lingering dangers from the storm included a tornado threat and flash flooding as bands strafed Florida’s peninsula farther to the east on Saturday morning.

As of 9 p.m. the state had about 370,000 customers without power while another 112,000 were down in Georgia and Alabama, according to tracking website poweroutage.us. Florida’s total was near 450,000 at 7 a.m.

DeSantis said 16,000 utility personnel had been staged to deal with the power outages.

At the height of the storm’s landfall, DeSantis said Santa Rosa Sound saw gusts of 116 mph and Pensacola saw 100 mph winds. As far as storm surge, Panama City Beach saw water 5.6 feet above the average high tide level. He said flooding, especially to the east of landfall over already saturated areas of the state, was still a risk on Saturday.

“State search and rescue teams are ready and able,” he said at an 8:30 a.m. news conference in Tallahassee. “We have not yet received any request for search and rescue deployment, and I think that’s a good sign.”

Florida Department of Transportation teams had cleared Interstate 10 and U.S. Highway 98 and all state-controlled bridges had been cleared for travel.

DeSantis cautioned people to be cautious in the coming days.

“There could be downed power lines. Those are hazardous. There could be floodwaters. Stay out of those,” he said. “On all these storms you will have impacts directly from the storms on peoples’ lives and safety, and there tends to be injuries and unfortunately deaths in the days after. So it’s still a very hazardous situation.”

President Donald Trump on Friday approved an emergency declaration for Florida authorizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate federal disaster relief efforts covering the 27 counties under a state of emergency declared by DeSantis.

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Law enforcement agencies on Saturday morning began posting images of damage from overnight.

“Downed trees and power lines are blocking roads. Please don’t go out to sightsee! Let first responders and emergency management do their jobs for a faster recovery,” reads a post from the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office.

Video posted on social media showed some of the damage across the region.

That included a roof being ripped off the Rest and Relax Inn in Pensacola, gas station signs and canopies collapsing, fallen trees, and coastal surges and inland flooding.

Gas stations in the Florida towns of East Milton and Destin suffered significant damage. A condominium also was damaged in Panama City, insulation from the building was spread across a parking lot.

Storm chaser Mike Boylan, who runs the site Mike’s Weather Page, rode out the storm in Fort Walton Beach, and on a drive to Pensacola documented large fallen trees and downed power lines as well as several camper vans that had been turned on their side in Navarre Beach.

“I’m not talking little trees. We’re talking huge pines blocking roads and unfortunately are on people’s houses,” he said. “Power lines are down everywhere. It’s going to be a very impactful storm. … definitely packed some punch.”

Tim Mowry, who endured the hurricane in his home in Pensacola, said the wind was so intense it sounded like a train whistle as it whipped through a crack in his patio door. He lost power about 4:30 p.m. but was able to rely on a generator. Standing water also covered his backyard, and parts of his fence were ripped down, but overall he said the storm wasn’t as bad as he expected.

“As far as Pensacola-wise, we really got fortunate,” Mowry said.

Mowry said his son, who lives about 15 minutes away, tried to drive to his home after losing power but had to turn around because downed trees and power lines blocked the roads.

The state was last hit in 2024 when Hurricane Milton struck the Big Bend region, one of three that hit very close to one another that year, following hurricanes Debby and Helene, and only one year after Hurricane Idalia struck the same region.

Florida’s Panhandle had not had major hurricane impacts since 2020 when Hurricane Sally came ashore just west of the Florida-Alabama border, but did significant damage to the east.

“All in all we had a significant storm,” DeSantis said. “There’s obviously damage, there’s obviously debris, but in terms of some of the other storms that we’ve had, where we have had to really mobilize massive search and rescue, and bring people out of very perilous situations, fortunately that is not something that has been requested of us.”

He said he will be touring some of the affected areas during the day and more updates on the power restoration efforts would be coming.

“We’ll just keep working together and make sure that we get everyone back on their feet as soon as possible,” he said.

Orlando Sentinel staff writer Brian Bell, The Associated Press and Tribune News Service contributed to this report.

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