Nearly 396,000 customers in Florida’s Panhandle and southern Alabama were still without electricity early Sunday as the remnants of Isaias pushed north. Forecasters expected widespread moderate to heavy rain across the central Appalachians and the mid-Atlantic.
Heavy rain was expected to pose the storm’s “primary hazard” as Isaias moved north, said Philippe Papin, a senior hurricane specialist with the National Hurricane Center in Miami. Scattered outages, fallen trees and downed power lines were possible across parts of the Southeast and mid-Atlantic. The National Weather Service also warned that dangerous surf and rip currents would persist along the Gulf and southeastern Atlantic coasts.
“We’re expecting that heavy rainfall to continue here across the central Appalachians into the mid-Atlantic here during the day on Sunday,” Papin said. He added that isolated flash flooding and urban flooding remained possible, along with lingering gusty winds as the system tracked along the Appalachian Mountains.
At least four people died in incidents connected to the storm, including two who were killed after trees crashed into homes in Florida and Alabama. Forecasters cautioned that flooding could continue spreading into the Appalachian region.
Isaias reached the Florida coast near Destin on Friday as a Category 2 hurricane. The landfall came near the Gulf Coast resort community, known for its high-rise condominiums and tourist businesses.
Although officials had warned of storm surge, several major coastal roads were open by daybreak Saturday. They were largely clear of the fallen trees and power lines often left behind by powerful hurricanes.
Hurricane-force winds tore the roof from a Pensacola hotel, while the city’s mayor said the airport had “took some damage.” In Destin, the storm destroyed a boathouse, and in Panama City Beach it ripped away part of a high-rise’s facade.
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At one condominium, a worker cleared heaps of insulation from the parking lot as others gathered beach chairs scattered by the storm.
Escambia County Sheriff Chip Simmons said a woman died after a tree struck her home. A man also died from carbon monoxide poisoning caused by a generator operating inside his garage. Four relatives, ages 4 to 72, were treated and expected to recover, Simmons said.
Isaias, the Atlantic season’s first hurricane, continued into Alabama with winds that remained at tropical-storm strength.
In Birmingham, a tree fell onto a house and killed one person, Fire Chief Cory Moon said. A separate storm-related death in Barbour County occurred when a vehicle crashed into a fallen tree, according to Josh Johnson of Alabama’s emergency management agency.
Officials in Mobile reported widespread downed trees and power lines along Alabama’s Gulf Coast.
President Donald Trump approved an emergency declaration for Georgia, following similar declarations for Florida and Alabama. The move made federal assistance available to the affected states.
The U.S. Energy Department also authorized emergency crude oil exchanges from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to help counter storm-related disruptions to fuel supplies.
The National Weather Service warned that parts of Georgia and the Carolinas could receive intense rainfall capable of triggering flash floods.
In the Pacific, Simon was a Category 4 storm with maximum winds of 150 mph (241 kph) as it neared Mexico’s coast. The storm was expected to deliver heavy rain to parts of southwestern Mexico beginning Sunday, bringing the threat of life-threatening flooding and mudslides.
Rachel, meanwhile, was forecast to send strong winds and heavy rain into northern Mexico and Southern California after becoming a post-tropical cyclone overnight, Papin said.
