Photo: Joe Raedle / Getty Images News / Getty Images
Crews are working tirelessly to restore power to tens of thousands of people left in the dark after Hurricane Isaias made landfall Friday night (October 9) as a Category 2 hurricane along the western Florida Panhandle. The storm, the first Atlantic hurricane of the year, claimed five lives—two in Florida, two in Alabama, and one in South Carolina.
According to Hawaii News Now, Isaias caused significant damage, peeling off rooftops and facades of hotels and condos in the Florida Panhandle before moving north with torrential rains and the threat of flash floods and tornadoes across the Southeast. Nearly 900,000 customers were without power in the immediate aftermath, primarily in Florida and Alabama.
In Florida's Escambia County, a woman died when a tree fell on her home, and a man succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning from a generator running in his garage. In Alabama, a tree fell on a house in Birmingham, resulting in one death, and another death occurred due to a car crash involving a downed tree in Barbour County, WGN Radio reports.
Despite the devastation, some residents like Maranie Adams in Gulf Shores, Alabama, felt relieved as the storm was less severe than previous ones like Hurricane Sally. "I feel very much more relieved today," she said.
The Daily Record News notes that President Donald Trump approved emergency declarations for Georgia, Florida, and Alabama, allowing for federal aid. The U.S. Energy Department authorized emergency exchanges of crude oil from the strategic petroleum reserve to address supply disruptions.
The National Weather Service warned that parts of Georgia and the Carolinas could experience heavy rains and flash floods as the storm moved into the Tennessee Valley and the mid-Atlantic on Sunday (October 11).