Hurricane Isaias came ashore near Destin, Florida around 9:30 Friday night as a Category 2 storm packing 105 mph winds. By Saturday morning more than 700,000 homes and businesses across Florida and Alabama were in the dark.
The storm briefly touched Category 3 strength offshore before wind shear knocked it down a peg. A gust of 116 mph was recorded near Santa Rosa Sound, and Panama City Beach saw storm surge near 5.6 feet, close to the record set by Hurricane Opal in 1995.
“This thing hit like a freight train. It was fast. It came in like a Mike Tyson punch.”
That was Lt. Gov. Jay Collins on Fox News Friday, warning the real damage picture would come with daylight. So far officials say nothing catastrophic has surfaced, but crews are still getting out to look. Close to a million people evacuated ahead of the storm.
By 5 a.m. Saturday the National Hurricane Center had downgraded Isaias to a post-tropical cyclone crawling north of Montgomery with 35 mph winds. The danger now is water: flash flood emergencies around Destin and Fort Walton Beach, up to 8 inches of rain, and a tornado threat stretching into Georgia and the Carolinas.
Trump approved an emergency declaration for Florida Friday night, opening up FEMA help. DeSantis briefs from the state emergency operations center at 8:30 this morning. It is the first Atlantic hurricane of 2026, arriving after what had been a remarkably quiet season.
The Panhandle spent days bracing for this one. Now comes the cleanup.