Hurricane Isaias kills at least four, leaves thousands without power in US

At least four people have died and 800,000 Florida, Alabama and Georgia residents were without power after Hurricane Isaias made landfall.

Authorities in Florida had received no search and rescue requests shortly after landfall in a sign of limited impact, Governor Ron DeSantis said.

However, hazardous conditions remained and storm surges, flash flooding, damaging winds and a risk of tornadoes across parts of the US were expected, the National Hurricane Center said.

The tornado threat is expected to continue today across parts of the Florida Panhandle, Georgia and the Carolinas, the NHC said.

Florida, Alabama and Georgia have declared emergencies.

In Florida, power restoration was marked as priority, authorities said, while highways, bridges and airports were reopening, and teams were assessing the damage.

"They're going to make assessments this morning, and I think that'll give us a good sense about the future for the rapidity of the power restoration," Mr DeSantis said.

He also warned that casualties might follow "in the days after".

Some 16,000 utility linemen had prepared to respond to the storm, he said.

More than 430,000 customers in Florida, over 280,000 in Alabama and some 100,000 in Georgia lost power as the storm hit shore, according to tracking firm PowerOutage.us.

Several killed by fallen trees

In Alabama and Florida, three people were killed by falling trees, according to local media and authorities.

Sheriff Chip W Simmons of Escambia County, Florida has confirmed two "storm-related fatalities" via social media.

"A tree fell on a house and unfortunately took the life of a lady," he said, and later confirmed that a man died from carbon monoxide poisoning.

Alabama's emergency management agency said the downed trees and power lines made 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.

Isaias rapidly lost wind speed after hitting the Florida coast as a Category 2 hurricane, the first of the 2026 Atlantic season.

It is expected to produce gusty winds well inland before weakening below gale force later on Saturday, the NHC said.

'A lot of hazards post-storm'

Oil and gas producer Shell has said it was beginning to redeploy personnel to its Mars, Olympus, Ursa, Vito, and Appomattox assets in the Gulf.

President Donald Trump, asked about hurricane preparations on Friday, told reporters outside the White House that it was "under control."

Earlier, emergency declarations were approved in Florida and Alabama to ensure federal resources would be available to respond to Isaias, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said on X.

"But so far, we've had a lot of assets in place that have not been called on."