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At least four dead from Hurricane Isaias
Uwa Ede-Osifo
The death toll from Isaias is rising.
In Florida, one person was killed after a tree fell on their home, the state’s governor, Ron DeSantis, said at an afternoon news conference on Saturday. Another individual was found dead in their garage with the generator on.
In Alabama, two people are dead, according to that state’s governor, Kay Ivey.
Earlier reports indicated one casualty due to a downed tree hitting a home, but details around the second death remain unknown.
“This storm cannot clear fast enough,” Ivey wrote in a Saturday statement to social media.
“It brought heavy winds throughout Alabama, taking down trees, knocking out power and doing some damage. Unfortunately, we have also learned that two Alabamians have lost their lives. I am praying for their loved ones this morning.”
Key events
Shell, the oil and gas mega-company, said they are actively monitoring the “improving offshore conditions” in the wake of Hurricane Isaias. As conditions continue to improve today, the company says they are “beginning the process of redeploying personnel to our Mars, Olympus, Ursa, Vito, and Appomattox assets.”
The US Department of Energy said on Saturday it authorized an emergency exchange of up to 4m barrels of crude oil from the strategic petroleum reserve to address supply disruptions due to Hurricane Isaias.
“With this emergency exchange, the energy department is acting swiftly to help maintain refinery operations, limit disruptions to fuel supplies, and ensure American families and businesses continue to have access to affordable, reliable, and secure energy,” the US secretary of energy, Chris Wright, said in a statement to Reuters.
At least four dead from Hurricane Isaias
Uwa Ede-Osifo
The death toll from Isaias is rising.
In Florida, one person was killed after a tree fell on their home, the state’s governor, Ron DeSantis, said at an afternoon news conference on Saturday. Another individual was found dead in their garage with the generator on.
In Alabama, two people are dead, according to that state’s governor, Kay Ivey.
Earlier reports indicated one casualty due to a downed tree hitting a home, but details around the second death remain unknown.
“This storm cannot clear fast enough,” Ivey wrote in a Saturday statement to social media.
“It brought heavy winds throughout Alabama, taking down trees, knocking out power and doing some damage. Unfortunately, we have also learned that two Alabamians have lost their lives. I am praying for their loved ones this morning.”
The center of Isaias has moved out of Florida, but storm hazards persist.
State officials advised residents to exercise caution if they go outside.
“There could be downed power lines,” governor Ron DeSantis said early Saturday at a news conference. “There could be floodwaters. Stay out of those.”
Jared Perdue, secretary of Florida’s transportation department, urged the public to avoid unnecessary travel, as utility crews, debris removal teams and first responders are at work.
“Remember vehicles can be swept away in an instance in water that is not very deep,” Perdue said.
In an update on social media, the Florida national guard shared photos of troops pulling people to safety after a truck became submerged in a flooded ditch.
“En route from Tallahassee, the Soldiers stopped, swam to the vehicle and pulled its occupants to safety,” the post said.
The Florida state guard said in a statement that teams have been “actively working since 1.30am in Holmes and Escambia Counties executing operations to clear fallen trees and clear vital roadways”.
Alabama Power, which provides electricity to much of the state, said that more than 6,400 outside resources from 25 states are working alongside crews as they work to clear debris and restore power.
Photos show fallen trees and downed power lines across the affected regions:
Customers slowly getting power returned
The total number of power outages across the US is slowly crawling down from its peak, now sitting at just more than 800,000 based on poweroutage.com reports. Earlier, it had reached more than 850,000.
Travel remains heavily disrupted across Florida, Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi on Saturday as Isaias continues to stall regional transportation networks.
Airports throughout the Gulf coast are bearing the brunt of the storm’s impact.
Pensacola international airport in Florida remains closed to all commercial traffic as officials conduct safety inspections and assess physical damage after Friday’s shutdown.
Destin-Fort Walton Beach airport in Florida has reopened, but flight operations are severely delayed, with the majority of departing flights canceled on Saturday, according to FlightAware data.
In response to the rolling closures and cancellations, major carriers – including American Airlines, Delta and United Airlines – have issued travel waivers for affected passengers.
Here are some of the photos coming through of the flooding that Hurricane Isaias has brought throughout parts of Florida.
One dead in Alabama from hurricane damage
A person died in Birmingham, Alabama, after a tree fell on their home overnight, according to local reports citing the Birmingham fire department.
A tree reportedly fell on a home during the night, trapping two people inside. One of the people trapped in the home died, officials said.
This marks the second fatality over this weekend due to fallen trees resulting from the storm. The other reported death took place in Escambia county, Florida, local officials said.
The “significant damage” to homes, businesses and public buildings in Monroe county, Alabama, will take days to repair, the county’s emergency management agency said in a Saturday morning statement.
Monroe county officials also said in a social media post there was “crippling damage to communications and power infrastructure”. They added there were downed trees and power lines throughout the county with several impassable roads.
“Please be patient. There was significant damage to the power grid,” the agency said. “Repairs will take days.”
Around 843,000 people are still without power in the US south-east, according to PowerOutage.com, as Isaias continues to move inland.
Here’s the updated breakdown of the worst affected states, according to the website:
Florida: 438,137
Alabama: 294,662
Georgia: 111,105
According to the latest data, within the past few hours, the number of people without power has sharply increased in Georgia, and slightly increased in Florida. Meanwhile, in recent hours, the number of people without power in Alabama has slightly decreased.
The majority of roads in Santa Rosa county, Florida, are impassable due to “trees and/or power lines”, the county’s emergency management reported on Saturday morning in a social media post.
A release by the county’s emergency management agency advised people not to travel “unless absolutely necessary” and that crews are working to clear roadways.
The emergency management agency also mentioned in the social media post that their website and phone lines were down, likely due to increased traffic.
One person has died in Escambia county, Florida, due to the tropical storm, according to the county’s sheriff, Chip W Simmons.
“A tree fell on a house and it unfortunately took the life of a lady,” Simmons said in a video published on social media. “And our thoughts and prayers are obviously with that family.”
This seems to be the first death in Florida resulting from the storm. Earlier this morning, Florida governor Ron DeSantis said during an interview with Fox News he had not yet received any reports of fatalities.
Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, said during an interview with Fox News on Saturday morning that they had not received any reports of fatalities yet in the state.
DeSantis attributed this to likely heightened preparation and previous experience with other tropical storms and hurricanes.
“We’re a peninsula in the middle of a tropical part of the world – we’ve gotta deal with these things,” DeSantis said.
