Hurricane Isaias makes landfall near Destin in Florida as a category 2 storm

9 October 2026

Hurricane Isaias made landfall near Destin, Florida on 9 October 2026 as a dangerous category 2 storm with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph (169 kph), the National Hurricane Center said. Forecasters had earlier expected Isaias to weaken from its peak as a major category 3 hurricane, and it weakened to just below major hurricane status before coming ashore. The governors of Mississippi, Alabama and Florida all declared states of emergency, and Florida's national guard deployed roughly 5,000 soldiers and airmen. The NHC warned of a life-threatening storm surge of up to 7ft (2.1 metres) along the Alabama-Florida line, with dangerous hurricane conditions and flash floods spreading inland. A wind gust up to 102 mph (164 km/h) was recorded at Pensacola city hall, and NOAA officials observed a water level 5.4 feet (1.64 metres) above average at Panama City Beach. Nearly 500,000 customers had lost power across Alabama and Florida by Friday evening, according to PowerOutage.com. Isaias was the first hurricane of the Atlantic season and one of the two latest-forming Atlantic hurricanes on record, tying a record set on 8 October 1905. After landfall Isaias was downgraded from a hurricane to a post-tropical cyclone and continued north across the southeastern United States; the NHC discontinued all hurricane warnings on Saturday morning, while a storm surge warning remained in effect for parts of Florida.