By Rhea Rose Abraham and Rajveer Pardesi
Oct 10 (Reuters) – Isaias is expected to bring storm surges, flash flooding, damaging winds and a risk of tornadoes across parts of the US Southeast on Saturday, even as the storm weakens after making landfall in Florida, the National Hurricane Center said.
The center warned of considerable impacts across much of southern Alabama and the Florida Panhandle into southwest Georgia.
The tornado threat will continue on Saturday across parts of the Florida Panhandle, Georgia and the Carolinas, the NHC said.
Isaias weakened to a post-tropical cyclone on Saturday, having rapidly lost wind speed after hitting the Florida coast as a Category 2 hurricane, the first of the 2026 Atlantic season, the NHC said in its latest advisory.
Isaias is expected to continue weakening but produce gusty winds well inland before weakening below gale force later on Saturday, the NHC said.
Alabama’s emergency management agency said the hurricane has downed trees and power lines, making travel hazardous in Houston County, which is under a flash flood warning.
“Due to the impacts of Hurricane Isaias, all Houston County roads are closed until further notice,” it posted on X. “These road closures will remain in effect until conditions are deemed safe for travel.”
President Donald Trump, asked about hurricane preparations, told reporters outside the White House, “We’re watching it very closely, the hurricane,” adding that it was “under control.”
More than 430,000 customers in Florida and nearly 297,000 in Alabama lost power as the storm hit shore, according to power outage tracking firm PowerOutage.us.
“Emergency declarations have been approved in Florida and Alabama to ensure federal resources are available to respond to Isaias,” Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said on X.
Florida’s emergency services urged residents to shelter in place and watch for hurricane conditions across the north of the state.
(Reporting by Rhea Rose Abraham and Rajveer Singh Pardesi in Bengaluru; Editing by William Mallard and Ros Russell)
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