Hurricane Isaias Makes Landfall Near Destin, Florida, Threatening Storm Surge and Flooding

Isaias hits Gulf Coast

Hurricane Isaias made landfall near Destin, Florida as a dangerous Category 2 storm on Friday, with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph (169 kph), and it threatened life-threatening storm surge and flooding across the U.S. Gulf Coast.

The National Hurricane Center warned that storm surge could cause up to 9 feet (2.7m) of flooding in some areas, while Florida, Alabama, and Georgia issued states of emergency and ordered evacuations.

Jamie Rhome, deputy director for the National Hurricane Center, said, “Things are going to get really, really treacherous over the next couple hours,” as wind gusts began lashing the Gulf shoreline in the early evening.

Jonathan Ramos, 40, described the wind in Pensacola as “I’ve never seen wind this strong. It’s intense, it’s scary.”

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said, “We are taking this storm very, very seriously,” as the storm moved inland and forecasters warned of damaging winds, flooding, and possibly tornadoes.

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Power outages and deaths

Hurricane Isaias left hundreds of thousands without power after landfall, with more than 365,000 customers in Florida and Alabama without power Friday evening, and the outages later described as nearly 700,000 by midday. Alabama Governor Kay Ivey warned her team was concerned about “strong winds, heavy rain and possible spinoff tornadoes” as the storm weakened into a post-tropical cyclone. Escambia County Sheriff Chip Simmons said a woman was killed when a tree fell on her home and a man died of carbon monoxide fumes from a generator running in his garage.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said in a press conference Saturday, “One individual in Escambia County had a tree fall on his home and tragically was killed.” PowerOutage.us tracking showed 800,000 Florida, Alabama and Georgia residents without power after Isaias made landfall, even as the storm weakened.

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Energy, flooding risk, aftermath

The storm disrupted Gulf Coast energy infrastructure, and workers on platforms operated by Chevron and Shell were evacuated as about two-thirds of regional oil production capacity and more than half of gas production capacity were halted on Friday.

The U.S. Energy Department announced it would release up to four million barrels of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve as an emergency exchange to address disruption of supply caused by Hurricane Isaias.

Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said, “With this emergency exchange, the Energy Department is acting swiftly to help maintain refinery operations, limit disruptions to fuel supplies, and ensure American families and businesses continue to have access to affordable, reliable, and secure energy.”

Forecasters warned that flooding could stretch into the Appalachians, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said, “Sometimes these things happen a day or two days after the storm goes through. So the flooding story is not over.”

The BBC reported that meteorologists warned of life-threatening storm surge and winds that forced thousands to evacuate, even as the storm weakened slightly to a category 2 hurricane with 110 mph (175 kph) winds before ramming into Florida’s western panhandle.

Reporting for this section20 MinAl Jazeera