Hurricane Isaias rips roofs off homes with residents huddled inside
Hurricane Isaias slammed into the Florida Panhandle’s Gulf Coast, then spread its heavy rain, winds and spawned tornadoes over the South and East fighting off winds shear during a super El Niño Atlantic hurricane season.
The landfall
Isaias made landfall near Destin, Florida, on the evening of Oct. 9 with sustained winds of 105 mph, a Category 2 hurricane.
That was the first hurricane to landfall in the mainland U.S. in two years, since Milton slammed into western Florida on Oct. 9, 2024.
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Isaias’ storm surge, winds
Isaias’ highest storm surge inundation was generally along and to the east of its landfall.
According to preliminary data from the National Weather Service in Mobile, Alabama, the highest inundation was measured in Panama City (5.6 feet), while 4-feet of inundation was recorded in Destin and 2.73 feet occurred in Pensacola.
Post-storm surveys will likely be done to determine what the final peak storm surge inundation was along the Gulf Coast.
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A rare extreme wind warning was issued for the western Florida Panhandle, including Pensacola and Destin, for the likelihood of wind gusts over 115 mph ahead of the eyewall of Isaias.
Six separate reporting stations measured wind gusts over 100 mph at landfall, including a 117 mph gust near Oriole Beach, Florida.
A roof was blown off a hotel and gas station canopies were collapsed in Pensacola. Trees were uprooted, one of which crushed a business on Fort Walton Beach. There were also multiple RVs blown over, including one onto US 98 between Gulf Breeze and Navarre.
Strong wind gusts then moved inland over parts of the Southeast on Oct. 10. Here were some peak notable inland gusts:
Headland, Alabama: 71 mphMacon, Georgia: 68 mphMt. Mitchell, North Carolina: 67 mphGainesville, Georgia: 56 mph
Numerous trees and power lines were downed, some on homes and roads, in Alabama, Georgia and parts of the Carolinas.
At its peak, about 900,000 customers were without power from the Gulf Coast into the Southeast, according to poweroutage.us.
Isaias’ rainfall
The heaviest rain from Isaias was near its landfall along the Gulf Coast, where a few locations picked up over 11 inches of rain, lead by Bellwood, Alabama (12.97 inches in just 13 hours). Another reporting station on the southeast side of Jacksonville, Florida, reported almost 16 inches of rain, but over a five-day period including rainfall well before the arrival of Isaias.
That heavy rain also spread well inland, especially in the Appalachians and adjacent foothills from upstate South Carolina to Virginia. Up to 9 inches fell in western North Carolina. 6 inches in South Carolina and over 5 inches was reported in parts of western Virginia.
A few roads were washed out in the high country of the western Carolinas and one basement was flooded in Ivanhoe, Virginia.
Estimated rainfall and flood reports from Hurricane Isaias from Oct. 9-11, 2026
(Data: NOAA/NWS)
Isaias’ tornadoes
Typical of landfalling hurricanes and tropical storms, Isaias spawned several tornadoes, primarily from the Carolinas into eastern Georgia from Oct. 10-11.
These are preliminary reports of tornadoes from the remnant of Hurricane Isaias from Oct. 10-11, 2026. What’s on this map also includes confirmed tornadoes as of the time this article was published.
(Data: NOAA/NWS/Storm Prediction Center)
A cluster of these tornadoes happened on Oct. 10 in the Savannah River Valley including near Newington and Oliver, Georgia.
Three homes were heavily damaged from an apparent tornado west of Allendale, South Carolina.
On Oct. 11, one building was destroyed and another heavily damaged from an apparent tornado in Candor, North Carolina.
Isaias’ history
It began first as Tropical Depression Nine over the far southwest Gulf on Oct. 6, just over 72 hours before it would make its landfall.
It then became Tropical Storm Isaias the following morning and late that night, Isaias became the first hurricane of the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season while it was centered 460 miles south-southwest of the mouth of the Mississippi River.
It was the longest wait until the Atlantic’s first hurricane of the season in the modern era, about four weeks later than the previous record.
Isaias continued to intensify, with favorable winds spreading apart over its center, rather than more hostile wind shear hitting it from the west.
It intensified into the first major hurricane of the season on the morning of Oct. 9, before wind shear cost it a little bit of wind intensity at its Category 2 landfall that night.
Prior to landfall, a Saildrone captured a view on the Gulf inside Isaias, recording gusts just over 100 mph.
Isaias replaced “Ike” on one of the Atlantic name lists after that name was retired following the destructive, deadly 2008 hurricane.
It wasn’t used during its first year of eligibility in 2014, since we only reached the eighth name, Hanna, that year.
However, the name was used in 2020 for a storm that eventually tracked up the East Coast with destructive winds.