Four deaths linked to Isaias after hurricane roared into Florida and Alabama

A shop had the roof torn off as Hurricane Isaias hit Milton, Florida (Gerald Herbert/AP)

At least four people have been killed as Hurricane Isaias peeled off hotel and apartment rooftops and facades along the Florida Panhandle before charging north, dishing out torrential rain and the threat of flash floods.

Two people were killed when trees fell on to homes in Florida and Alabama, with forecasters warning flooding caused by the storm could stretch into the Appalachians.

Isaias came ashore as a Category 2 hurricane on Friday near Destin, Florida, a Gulf Coast holiday destination filled with high-rises and tourist shops. The storm weakened overnight but remained dangerous.

Within the first hours after landfall, nearly 900,000 customers were without power, mostly in Florida and Alabama.

Hurricane-force winds in the Florida Panhandle blew the roof off a Pensacola hotel, and the city’s mayor said the airport “took some damage”. The storm flattened a boathouse in Destin and ripped away part of the facade of a high-rise in Panama City Beach.

In Florida’s Escambia County, officials 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. Four of the man’s family members, ranging in age from four to 72, were treated but expected to survive.

Nearby in Gulf Breeze, Jayme Mitich wiped tears away as she surveyed the damage to her apartment. Her living room was soaked and covered in insulation.

She and her 13-year-old daughter hid beneath a mattress before the storm tore off part of their roof. “The noise got so loud, and I just kept hearing things break and crash into everything,” Ms Mitich said.

The rest of their apartment complex was littered with roof shingles and broken beams from a wooden fence. The winds uprooted trees and flipped a truck on its side.

Isaias, the first hurricane of the Atlantic season, also roared into Alabama with tropical-force winds.

One person died when a tree fell on a house in Birmingham, and a second storm-related death in Alabama was attributed to a road crash involving a downed tree in Barbour County.

Along Alabama’s Gulf Coast, authorities in Mobile reported numerous downed trees and power lines.

Maranie Adams, who rode out the storm with her family in Gulf Shores, Alabama, said the winds rocked their home, but it was nothing like Hurricane Sally, which left water under their elevated house.

“I feel very much more relieved today,” she said.

President Donald Trump approved an emergency declaration for Georgia after earlier doing the same for Florida and Alabama, allowing for federal aid.

The US Energy Department authorised emergency exchanges of crude oil from the nation’s strategic petroleum reserve to address disruptions in supply because of the storm.

The Atlantic hurricane season has been unusually quiet this year, and Isaias was the first hurricane to hit the eastern US since 2024.

The National Weather Service advised that parts of Georgia and the Carolinas could see heavy rain capable of causing flash floods. The storm is expected to move into the Tennessee Valley and then the mid-Atlantic on Sunday.

Meanwhile, in the Pacific, Simon strengthened into a Category 4 hurricane as it approached Mexico’s coast. It is expected to bring heavy rain from Sunday to parts of south-western Mexico with life-threatening flooding and mudslides.

Tropical Storm Rachel is also expected to bring wind and rain to northern Mexico and Southern California over the weekend.