For most of 2026 the Atlantic barely stirred. Then, on Friday evening, Isaias roared ashore on the Florida Panhandle close to Destin as a Category 2 storm packing sustained winds of about 105 mph. It was the season’s very first hurricane, and the first time in over three decades that none had formed before October, a lull forecasters pin on a strong El Niño in the Pacific.
The worst of it lasted only hours, but it was enough. A sensor near Santa Rosa Sound logged a gust of 116 mph, water rose well above normal high tide around Panama City Beach, and video from Pensacola showed the roof being torn from an inn. By Saturday morning more than 800,000 homes and businesses across Florida, Alabama and Georgia had lost electricity, according to tracking site PowerOutage.us. The Escambia County sheriff reported that a woman died when a tree crashed onto her house.
Isaias weakened fast once it moved inland over Alabama and was downgraded to a post-tropical system on Saturday. The danger has shifted rather than vanished: up to eight inches of rain could fall on southern Alabama, the Panhandle and southwest Georgia, and forecasters warned of tornadoes and river flooding.
All three states had declared emergencies, and coastal counties ordered evacuations beforehand. In Washington, the president signed off on federal emergency aid, and he dropped a planned trip to watch college football in Tuscaloosa. Some who stayed put were relieved; one Pensacola homeowner said his area had “really got fortunate”.
North America’s stormy weekend is not over. Hurricane Simon is heading for Mexico’s Pacific coast near Puerto Vallarta, while Tropical Storm Rachel has already pushed seawater into the streets of Newport Beach, California.
