Hurricane Isaias battered Florida’s Gulf Coast with powerful winds, heavy rain and dangerous flooding on Friday, October 9, after making landfall near Destin as a Category 2 hurricane. The storm later weakened to Category 1 as it moved inland, but forecasters warned that life-threatening storm surge, flash flooding and damaging winds remained a threat, according to the National Hurricane Center ( NHC ).
The storm’s center was about 40 miles east of Pensacola at landfall and continued moving north at around 19 mph. Earlier, the NHC reported a wind gust of 97 mph at a weather station near Santa Rosa Sound and a gust of 71 mph at Pensacola International Airport. Images and videos from Pensacola showed deteriorating weather conditions as the hurricane approached the coast. The storm brought widespread power outages across Florida , Alabama and Georgia, while emergency officials warned residents to remain sheltered as dangerous conditions continued.
Forecasters expected rainfall totals of 4 to 8 inches across parts of the Florida Panhandle, southern Alabama and southwestern Georgia, with isolated amounts reaching 15 inches. The rainfall could trigger significant flash flooding, particularly in low-lying areas and places with poor drainage.
