Hurricane Isaias Rips Roofs Across Florida

Hurricane Isaias made landfall near Destin, Florida, around 9:30 p.m. Friday as a Category 2 storm with 105 mph winds. Gusts reached 116 mph near Santa Rosa Sound and 100 mph near Pensacola, and Panama City Beach water levels rose about 5.6 feet above average high tide. Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency for 27 counties. By 7 a.m. Saturday about 448,298 Florida customer accounts lacked power, with more than 16,000 restoration personnel staged. The storm weakened to a post-tropical cyclone early Saturday and moved into Alabama and Georgia. CONTESTED: poweroutage.us put Georgia outages above 90,000 households by noon Saturday; another tally said about 56,000 remained out Saturday morning after more than 60,000 restorations overnight. Gov. Brian Kemp said he was monitoring impacts statewide and had spoken with FEMA Administrator Hamilton to stay ready to respond. Hartsfield-Jackson saw 30 cancellations and 90 delays. EPB reported 1,521 customers out near Chattanooga. Local accounts described a tree through a Crestview home roof, a torn Pensacola hotel roof, a Blanca Street home collapse, a flipped Pensacola Beach RV, and blocked streets in Argon Court. Full damage and injury counts were not yet detailed.