Hurricane Isaias live updates: warning of ‘spinoff tornadoes’ as hundreds of thousands without power

More than half a million people were without power after hurricane Isaias wreaked havoc on the US Gulf Coast, with Alabama and the Florida Panhandle being hit the hardest by the storm.

The category 2 hurricane made landfall near Destin, Florida, late Friday, with maximum sustained winds of 105 miles per hour. It weakened to a post-tropical cyclone by early morning, with winds of 65 mph, the National Weather Service said.

More than 750,000 people in Florida and Alabama have been left without power, according to poweroutage.us, with outages also reported in Georgia for tens of thousands of customers.

“Things are flying really fast, and I’ve never seen wind this fast before, so it’s intense, it’s scary,” Jonathan Ramos, a 40-year-old government employee, said from his hotel in Pensacola, Florida, where the power went out.

“I don’t recommend people coming down here for fun to do this.”

Isaias intensified into a hurricane on Wednesday night, then becoming the first Atlantic hurricane of the 2026 season.

In the days prior to landfall, storm surge warnings were in effect from the mouth of the Mississippi River to the Suwannee River in Florida. Residents in the affected areas were urged to follow advice from local officials and evacuate if instructed to do so.

Stick with us as we bring you the latest news and updates from hurricane Isaias.