Hurricane Isaias brings wind, water and destruction

Hurricane Isaias made landfall Friday night in Destin, Florida, packing 110 mph winds that knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses across a large swath of the Southeast. Heavy rains from the storm’s remnants could still cause major flooding over the weekend, forecasters warned.

At least four deaths in Florida and Alabama have been attributed to the storm, which made landfall as a Category 2 hurricane.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Saturday morning that Florida came through Isaias relatively well compared to other storms that have hit the state.

Flooding was receding, DeSantis said during a news conference in Tallahassee, and bridges and major highways were open.

“There’s obviously damage. There’s obviously debris,” he said. “But in terms of some of the other storms we’ve had, (when) we’ve had to really mobilize, massive search and rescue, and bring people out of very perilous situations — fortunately, that has not been something that’s been requested of us. And my sense is, from talking to some of the local officials, that they’ve been able to fulfill needs and requests through their ordinary course of business.”

As of Saturday afternoon, the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office reported two deaths, one of someone pinned under a large tree inside a home, spokesperson Morgan Lewis told the Florida Phoenix. 

The second victim “was found deceased in his garage, which was closed, with a running generator inside it. Four additional family members, ages 72, 24, 5, and 4, were transported to the hospital by EMS for non-life-threatening treatment,” she wrote.

In Pensacola, Cher Stanturf and her daughters were among locals surveying damage at the Welcome Mat Mobile Home Park. Isaias’ winds sent trees smashing through many of the homes, including Stanturf’s. 

Her daughter Rachel Velez also lives in the trailer park and had successfully convinced Stanturf to leave before the storm. Stanturf had ridden out four hurricanes in her trailer home before, but Velez said this time, “I kept on her about leaving.”

In the middle of the night, “as soon as (the hurricane) let off, I came and picked her up and said, ‘Hey, we need to go check out our homes,’” Velez said. “I was devastated when I walked in here because I was right. … I will tell you, after this, I will never, ever back down from telling people to get out.”

‘Heavy damage to power infrastructure’ 

Isaias caused severe damage in parts of southern Alabama Saturday and led to the death of at least one person in Birmingham when a tree fell on a house. Another person died in what authorities described as a car crash involving a fallen tree.

“Significant trees and power line damage,” said Jason Beam, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Mobile. “Many of our inland counties were at a 100% power loss, and there was some heavy damage to the power infrastructure. Monroe County is one example of that.”

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said in a statement early Saturday morning that the major concern was “strong winds, heavy rain and possible spinoff tornadoes in certain parts of the state.”

The National Hurricane Center says the remnants of Hurricane Isaias will move over the Tennessee Valley, Southern Appalachians and the Southeast Saturday with “considerable flash and urban flooding” possible.

The storm has left hundreds of thousands of electric customers without power. According to USA Today’s power outage tracker, there were about 437,000 customers in Florida without power, 187,000 in Alabama and nearly 44,900 in Georgia on Saturday afternoon. The Edison Electric Institute, the trade association representing U.S. investor-owned electric utilities, said Friday that companies had been positioning equipment and workers in advance to “begin damage assessments and restore power as soon as it is safe to do so.” 

Florida Power & Light, the nation’s largest electric utility, said it had 16,000 workers from 29 states attempting to restore power to its Florida customers and already got the lights back on for 43,000 customers, about 12% of those affected by the storm.  

President Donald Trump, who canceled a planned appearance at the Alabama-Georgia college football game Saturday night in Tuscaloosa, approved emergency declarations for Florida and Alabama Friday. The declaration makes federal disaster assistance available to supplement state, local and tribal response efforts in the affected counties. 

In Georgia, Gov. Brian Kemp issued an emergency order Thursday for all 159 counties in the state. In North Carolina, Gov. Josh Stein activated portions of the state’s emergency response team, including search and rescue teams.