Hurricane Isaias, the first named hurricane of the 2026 Atlantic season, made landfall Friday night near Destin, Florida, bringing catastrophic winds and life-threatening flooding to a wide stretch of the Southeast.
The Miami-based National Hurricane Center confirmed the storm came ashore as a Category 2 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph recorded at approximately 9:30 p.m. Eastern Time.
A wind gust of 116 mph was recorded at Santa Rosa Sound, underscoring the extreme ferocity of the storm as it pushed onshore along the Florida Panhandle.
The National Hurricane Center warned that “life-threatening storm surge and devastating winds” were likely along the Florida Panhandle and Alabama coasts throughout the night.
Coastal areas stretching from the Alabama-Florida border east to Grayton Beach, Florida, faced projected storm surge flooding of between six and nine feet.
Some of the most vulnerable communities also faced the prospect of up to 15 inches of rainfall, compounding the danger already posed by violent winds and surging seawater.
A hurricane warning was in effect from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, to the Bay/Gulf County Line in Florida, covering hundreds of miles of densely populated coastline.
A tropical storm warning extended further, reaching from the Jefferson/Plaquemines Parish Line in Louisiana to west of Ocean Springs, and from east of the Bay/Gulf County Line to the Aucilla River in Florida.
States of emergency were declared across both Florida and Alabama ahead of the storm’s arrival, as officials scrambled to prepare emergency services and urge coastal residents to evacuate.
President Trump told reporters late Friday night that White House officials were tracking the hurricane “very closely,” signaling federal attention to the storm’s potentially severe humanitarian impact.
Isaias quickly weakened from a Category 2 to a Category 1 storm after landfall but continued moving north at 19 mph, driving dangerous winds, torrential rainfall, and flash flooding deep into the interior Southeast.
The storm’s arrival as the season’s first hurricane came as a surprise to some forecasters, given that a strong El Nino pattern typically suppresses Atlantic hurricane development during the summer and early fall months.
