Hurricane Isaias has left at least four people dead across the south-eastern United States after trees struck homes and a generator caused fatal carbon monoxide poisoning, while hundreds of thousands remain without electricity.
The storm made landfall near Destin in Florida’s Panhandle at about 8.30pm on Friday as a Category Two hurricane, bringing maximum sustained winds of 105mph. Its winds eased to 85mph around 30 minutes later, but heavy rain, flooding and widespread damage continued along the Gulf Coast.
In Escambia County, Florida, a woman was killed when a tree fell on her home. Sheriff Chip W Simmons said emergency crews found her trapped beneath the tree and unresponsive.
A second person in the county died from carbon monoxide poisoning after a generator was operated inside a garage. Four other members of the household, aged between four and 72, were taken to hospital.
Sheriff Simmons warned residents not to use generators indoors, including in garages, because of the risk of fatal poisoning.
Two further deaths were reported in Alabama, where Governor Kay Ivey said residents had been killed during the storm. Emergency responders in Birmingham had earlier been called to a home after a tree trapped a woman inside.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said the hurricane had not strengthened to the Category Three storm that had been anticipated. However, he warned that flooding and damage could lead to further injuries or deaths.
“There tends to be injuries and, unfortunately, deaths in the days after [a significant storm],” Mr DeSantis said, urging people to stay off the roads, avoid fallen power lines and report flooding to local authorities.
Hurricane Isaias leaves widespread flooding and damage
Flooding was reported in Destin, while police in nearby Pensacola advised residents to avoid roads covered by debris. Rainfall in parts of the Florida Panhandle approached ten inches, including 9.65 inches in Shalimar and 9.6 inches in Valparaiso.
Images and videos showed submerged cars, emergency vehicles moving through floodwater and trees crashing into buildings. A roof was reportedly torn from an inn, while a home in Milton suffered severe damage after a tree fell through it.
A deputy from the Dale County Sheriff’s Department was injured when a tree fell on a car as emergency workers gathered nearby. The deputy was treated for minor injuries and later returned home to his family, the department said.
Travel was also disrupted, with nearly 300 flights cancelled and more than 800 delayed. More than 80 per cent of flights were cancelled at Eglin Air Force Base/Destin-Fort Walton Beach International Airport and Pensacola International Airport on Saturday.
Waffle House, the 24-hour restaurant chain, closed 91 locations as conditions worsened.
More than 755,000 Americans remained without power, with the largest outages concentrated along the Gulf Coast. Florida accounted for about 423,620 outages and Alabama for 205,919, while Georgia recorded nearly 50,000.
Isaias weakened to a post-tropical cyclone during the early hours of Saturday, but officials continued to warn of dangerous flooding and the risk posed by storm debris and damaged power lines.
