Hurricane Isaias Slams Florida Coast, Causing Widespread Power Outages
The storm, which made landfall as a Category 2 hurricane, ripped roofs off buildings and left hundreds of thousands without electricity.
Hurricane Isaias made landfall on the Florida Panhandle Friday night, bringing powerful winds that tore roofs from buildings, toppled trees, and caused widespread power outages affecting over 418,000 homes and businesses across Florida and Alabama. The storm initially made landfall near Destin as a Category 2 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph, though its winds weakened to 85 mph shortly after.
In Pensacola, Florida, the roof of the Rest and Relax Inn was ripped off by fierce winds, and footage emerged of a Cumberland gas station in Crestview where the roof was torn away and twisted over the pumps. Storm chaser Edgar O’Neal documented towering waves surging toward coastal communities and sheds being carried away by floodwaters.
More than 300,000 customers in Florida lost power, according to PowerOutage.us. Guests at Pensacola’s Residence Inn watched from behind glass doors as wind and rain hurled debris outside, with the lobby plunged into darkness after the power failed.
President Donald Trump stated that government officials were closely monitoring the storm. The National Weather Service issued a warning for a life-threatening storm surge along the coast between Dauphin Island, Alabama, and Suwannee, Florida, with potential water level rises of one to five feet if the surge coincided with high tide. Airports in Pensacola and Destin-Fort Walton Beach closed due to the storm, and hundreds of flights were canceled.
This marks the first hurricane landfall in the United States since Milton two years prior. Isaias is the fourth named storm and the first hurricane of the 2026 Atlantic season to make landfall in the country.