Local Officials Report Four Isaias Deaths, Outages Fall to 679,000 as Flood Threat Shifts Toward the Carolinas

Since Isaias made landfall near Destin on Friday evening, Oct. 9, the picture has shifted from wind damage to flooding, with a death count that officials have not yet settled on.

Four deaths reported, one disputed at the state level

Local officials in Florida and Alabama have reported four deaths tied to the storm. Two were in Escambia County, Florida. Two were in Alabama.

Escambia County Sheriff Chip Simmons said a woman was killed when a tree fell on her house. Joey Williams told NewsNation his wife died that way. He said the couple went outside to photograph the damage, and a tree came through the roof after they went back in. "I was able to squeeze out. My wife didn't make it," Williams said.

Simmons later reported a second Escambia death: a man who died of carbon monoxide poisoning after a generator was run in a poorly ventilated garage. Four other people in the same house were taken to a hospital.

In Alabama, Gov. Kay Ivey said on X that two Alabamians died, without giving circumstances. Local emergency officials said one of them died in Birmingham when a tree fell on a house.

DeSantis said on Saturday that state officials had not confirmed any storm-related fatalities, including the Escambia report. The sheriff's account and the governor's statement have not been reconciled publicly. He did warn people about generators at a press conference: "Don't run any generators inside your home, it can be very, very hazardous."

An Alabama sheriff was also injured when a tree fell on him as he responded to a car crash.

Power outages ease from the morning peak

More than 900,000 customers in Florida, Alabama and Georgia were without power early Saturday, according to PowerOutage.us. By Saturday afternoon the figure had dropped to about 679,000.

At landfall the split was roughly 430,000 customers in Florida, 280,000 to 300,000 in Alabama and about 100,000 in Georgia.

DeSantis said some 16,000 utility linemen had been staged ahead of the storm. He said damage assessments would determine how fast power returns. Florida highways, bridges and airports have reopened.

In Pensacola, local officials reported wind damage at the airport and a hotel roof torn off. In Alabama, all Houston County roads were closed until further notice because of downed trees, power lines and flash flooding.

Rescues and federal backing

The Florida National Guard said soldiers swam to a truck stuck in a flooded ditch and pulled its occupants out. DeSantis said the state received no search-and-rescue requests shortly after landfall. "We've had a lot of assets in place that have not been called on," he told Fox News.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said emergency declarations were approved for Florida and Alabama so federal resources would be available. President Donald Trump, asked about preparations on Friday, told reporters outside the White House the situation was "under control."

The threat moves to rivers and the coast

Isaias weakened to a post-tropical cyclone Saturday morning, with sustained winds of about 35 mph. Storm surge and tropical storm warnings have been discontinued. The National Weather Service office in Mobile canceled all of its watches and warnings and issued its final statement. Watches and warnings remain in effect for Northeast Alabama, northern Georgia and the southern Appalachians.

The National Hurricane Center expects 4 to 8 inches of rain through Sunday across southern Alabama, the Florida Panhandle and the Big Bend. It warned of "considerable" flash-flood and landslide potential in the southern Appalachians. The center said a tornado risk would persist through Saturday afternoon across parts of the eastern Panhandle, Georgia and the Carolinas.

NOAA warned the Carolinas and Georgia could see up to 10 inches of rain. Robbie Berg, a warning coordination meteorologist at the hurricane center, said the system "does remain a wind threat, as well as a heavy rainfall threat." He added that some areas could see significant flash flooding over the next couple of days.

Florida transportation secretary Jared Perdue urged drivers to stay out of standing or moving water. "It does not have to be that deep, and it can wash away your car, it can wash away a human," he said. DeSantis said "the flooding story is not over."

Ivey said the storm "cannot clear fast enough." It is expected to move into the Tennessee Valley and dissipate by Sunday.

Gulf energy operations

Shell said Saturday it was beginning to redeploy personnel to its Mars, Olympus, Ursa, Vito and Appomattox assets in the Gulf. The company has not given a restart timeline for production.

What comes next

Charleston, South Carolina, asked residents to stay home tonight, Oct. 10, as high tide is expected to reach 7.5 feet. The city warned that floodwater is hard to see after dark and impossible to judge from behind the wheel. Whether Florida's state emergency officials will confirm the Escambia deaths, and how quickly the remaining outages are cleared, are the open questions heading into Sunday.