Hurricane Isaias weakened rapidly after making landfall in Florida. In its advisory issued at 2 a.m. ET on October 10, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) declared that the storm had lost its tropical characteristics and been downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone, with maximum sustained winds of 35 mph. The center was about 40 miles south-southwest of Montgomery, Alabama, moving north at 14 mph. All watches and warnings were dropped, and the NHC said the advisory would be its final one on Isaias.
Isaias had come ashore near Destin, Florida, at about 8:30 p.m. CT on October 9 as a strong Category 2 hurricane with 105 mph winds, after peaking at 120 mph earlier in the day. By around 10:30 p.m., it had weakened to a Category 1 storm with 90 mph winds.
Power outages kept climbing after landfall. According to FOX Weather, more than 760,000 customers across Florida, Alabama and Georgia were without power as of 1:30 a.m. on October 10, with most outages concentrated in the Florida Panhandle where Isaias made landfall. Outages were also mounting across southern Alabama and southwestern Georgia.
Escambia County, home to Pensacola, was the hardest hit: 126,303 customers — 73% of the county — were without power as of 3:45 a.m. CT. Walton County had 77,770 outages (95%), Okaloosa County 82,805 (67%) and Bay County 53,370 (39%). At one point on landfall night, more than 450,000 Florida customers were in the dark.
Florida Lt. Gov. Jay Collins told Fox News the storm "hit like a freight train. It was fast. It came in like a Mike Tyson punch." He said preliminary reports showed no catastrophic damage to the state but cautioned the storm was not over: "The real extent of the damage, as this thing crested and hit shore, you'll start to see good feedback coming through."
Collins said an estimated 900,000 people had heeded warnings and evacuated from Isaias's path before landfall. He added that he did not expect a "Michael-like event," referring to the deadly Category 5 hurricane that devastated the Florida Panhandle in October 2018. President Trump said he was monitoring the storm "very closely" as outages mounted.
The danger is far from over despite the downgrade. The National Weather Service issued a Level 3 of 4 flood risk for Saturday across parts of northern Georgia and the Blue Ridge Mountains, including the Atlanta and Asheville metro areas. FOX Weather senior correspondent Robert Ray reported 2 to 3 feet of flooding in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, just hours after landfall.
Rain from Isaias's remnants has reached Birmingham, Alabama, where gusts of up to 60 mph are expected in the metro area. A tornado threat remains across parts of the Florida Panhandle, Georgia and South Carolina. The NHC warned the remnants will bring heavy rainfall to the central Gulf Coast and much of the Southeast through the weekend, with considerable flash and urban flooding and significant river flooding possible.
With the storm's center moving away from the coast, communities that escaped the worst impacts have begun cleanup and damage assessment. In Orange Beach, on the Alabama Gulf Coast, crews were clearing debris and downed trees from streets. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had expanded the state of emergency to 27 North Florida counties on October 8. Power companies said repair crews would be dispatched once conditions are safe.