Four people have died and hundreds of thousands are without power after Hurricane Isaias battered parts of the southern US with powerful winds and heavy rain. Officials reported two deaths each in the states of Alabama and Florida, which included people who were killed when trees fell on their houses. An estimated 500,000 people in total were without power in several states as of Saturday evening, according to tracker PowerOutage. Isaias made landfall in Florida late on Friday with maximum sustained winds of 105mph (168km/h) before being downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone.
The storm felled trees and ripped the roofs off buildings. Alabama, Florida and Georgia all declared states of emergency ahead of its arrival, while both Florida and Alabama issued mandatory evacuation orders to thousands of people. Meanwhile, Hurricane Simon is bearing down on Mexico’s Pacific coast and has strengthened to category four. It is expected to make landfall sometime overnight.
Tropical Storm Rachel, also in the Pacific Ocean, is expected to hit southern California later on Saturday. Two deaths related to Isaias were reported in Florida’s Escambia County. A woman was killed when a tree fell on her house, local Sheriff Chip Simmons said. Joey Williams told NewsNation his wife had died in the storm.
He said they went outside to snap pictures of the damage but, when they went back into their home, a tree fell through the roof and trapped them. “I was able to squeeze out. My wife didn’t make it,” Williams told the outlet. Simmons later reported that a man had died from carbon monoxide poisoning after running a generator in a garage that was not properly ventilated.
Four other people who were in the same house were taken to hospital. Officials had to rescue people in vehicles that became submerged by floodwaters. The Florida National Guard shared pictures of a truck stuck in a flood ditch, saying soldiers “stopped, swam to the vehicle and pulled its occupants to safety”. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said flooding was a continued risk and warned of a “very hazardous situation”.
In neighbouring Alabama, a sheriff was injured when a tree fell on him as he was responding to a car crash. “Unfortunately, we have also learned that two Alabamians have lost their lives,” Governor Kay Ivey said in a post on X, without giving further details on the circumstances of the deaths. She also said officials were concerned about “spinoff tornadoes” in the state from the strong winds and heavy rain. “As we approach the weekend and any travel plans, make sure you have reliable information as conditions develop,” she said.
In Charleston, South Carolina, officials asked people to stay home on Saturday night as high tide is expected to reach 7.5ft (2.3m). “After dark, floodwater is much harder to see and it’s impossible to judge how deep it is from behind the wheel,” the city said. The storm is expected to continue to weaken as it travels to the north-east, but the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) warned that the Carolinas and Georgia could see floods from up to 10 inches (25cm) of rainfall. Hurricane Isaias was the first hurricane in the Atlantic’s hurricane season, which largely has been delayed due to El Niño conditions in the Pacific.
Hurricane Isaias downgraded after making landfall in Florida
