Hurricane Isaias Death Toll Reaches 4 as Alabama, Florida Panhandle Begin Cleanup

The Hurricane Isaias death toll stood at four people across Alabama and Florida on Saturday, Oct. 10, as residents from Mobile Bay to the Florida Panhandle stepped outside to survey downed trees, damaged roofs and darkened traffic signals left by the season’s first hurricane. Two of the deaths occurred in Alabama, one in Birmingham and one in Barbour County, while Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis confirmed two storm-related deaths in the Panhandle.

Isaias came ashore near Destin, Fla., at about 8:30 p.m. CDT Friday, Oct. 9, as a Category 2 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph. It then raced north across Alabama, weakening to a Category 1 hurricane within about an hour and a half and losing its tropical characteristics by 1 a.m. Saturday, when the National Hurricane Center reclassified it as a post-tropical cyclone. Even as its winds dropped, the system knocked out electricity to hundreds of thousands of customers and left a trail of tree and power line damage well inland.

For coastal Alabama, the storm’s late eastward turn proved decisive. Mobile and Baldwin counties dealt with fallen trees, scattered structural damage and widespread outages, but local officials reported no deaths and, in Baldwin County, no injuries. By Saturday morning, curfews had ended, bridges to the beaches had reopened and Gov. Kay Ivey had lifted the evacuation order for visitors to the coast.

Four deaths blamed on Isaias

Each of the confirmed deaths was tied to the storm’s winds or its aftermath:

• Birmingham: Shortly after 5 a.m. Saturday, a tree crashed into a home in the 1300 block of Monterey Drive, just off Edwards Lake Road on the city’s east side. Firefighters and police found two people trapped inside a house that also had a downed power line on it. One person had fallen through the floor, and the other was pinned beneath the tree. Birmingham Fire & Rescue Services Chief Cory Moon said one person was treated at the scene and did not need to go to a hospital, while the second person was found dead in a bedroom. Shea Hess, an emergency management officer with the Jefferson County Emergency Management Agency, confirmed the fatality.
• Barbour County: A driver died after a wreck involving fallen trees, according to the Alabama Emergency Management Agency. “The person was transported out of Barbour County to a medical facility in Dale County where the person died,” said Josh Johnson, who works in external affairs with the agency.
• Escambia County, Fla.: One person was killed when a tree fell on a home, DeSantis said.
• Florida Panhandle: A second Florida victim was found dead in a garage where a generator was running, according to DeSantis.

DeSantis used the generator death to deliver a warning that applies to every household still without power. “And so just don’t run the generator inside. It’s something that could be fatal,” he said.

Gov. Ivey said in a statement late Saturday morning that she was “praying for their loved ones” and thanked the crews working to clear debris and restore electricity.

Power outages peak above 300,000 in Alabama

Across the storm’s path, more than 911,000 customers in Florida, Alabama and Georgia were without power early Saturday, according to outage-tracking data. In Alabama alone, outages peaked at more than 300,000 during the height of the storm, and more than 253,000 customers were still waiting for electricity at 10 a.m. Saturday.

Restoration moved quickly through the day. Alabama Power said that as of 3:30 p.m., more than 275,000 of its customers statewide had experienced storm-related outages and that more than 60% of them had been restored. By 5:30 p.m., about 127,000 Alabama customers remained in the dark, most of them in the southern half of the state. Houston County had about 16,500 customers without power, Coffee County about 15,000 and Geneva County about 10,000. Nearly all of Conecuh County was still without electricity.

A utility spokeswoman said Escambia and Monroe counties in Alabama were particularly hard hit. Alabama Power said more than 5,000 additional crews were arriving from nearly 25 states to help with restoration.

“Significant trees and powerline damage,” said Jason Beaman, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Mobile. “Many of our inland counties were at a 100% power loss, and there was some heavy damage to the power infrastructure.”

Ivey’s statement noted that some roads were still closed because of downed lines. “There are still some road closures due to downed power lines, and our linemen are working to clear that as soon as possible,” it said. “In Escambia County, for example, our folks are still working on reopening a portion of US-31 north of Brewton.”

Mobile lifts curfew and begins cleanup

The city of Mobile’s general curfew, which ran from 7 p.m. Friday, ended at 6 a.m. Saturday, though city officials urged residents to use caution on the roads while cleanup crews worked. Early reports showed nearly 70 tree incidents and more than 200 unit calls handled by Mobile Fire-Rescue during the height of the storm. Downed power lines were still reported throughout the city Saturday morning, and more than 46 traffic signals remained out.

Damage around the city was scattered rather than severe. At the Circle K at Moffett Road and Snow Road, across from Mary G. Montgomery High School, the sign atop the gas pumps was partially torn away. Fencing around the construction site of the $17 million St. Louis Street Complete Street Initiative, which broke ground in September 2025, was knocked down.

Downtown, the scene was far calmer than many had feared. A few minor limbs were down in Bienville Square, nothing like the damage Hurricane Sally caused there in 2020, and a lamppost appeared to have blown over near the foot of Dauphin Street. The lawns of Cooper Riverside Park were pristine, a sign that there had been little or no storm surge on the waterfront, and the riverfront statues, including a new one of Jimmy Buffett, were untouched.

Restaurateur “Panini Pete” Blohme was on a ladder outside his Squid Ink restaurant Saturday morning, taking down a heavy wood-and-metal sign after one of the two threaded rods holding it flexed in the wind until it snapped. The restaurant never lost power, and Blohme said his bayfront restaurant in Daphne, The Waterfront, also came through unscathed.

“Man, I’ll tell you what,” Blohme said. “We were just blessed that it took a turn east. Yeah. You know, obviously, we hate it for the folks in Destin, Pensacola. But we’re grateful. The west side is the best side.”

Elsewhere in Mobile County, Prichard officials warned drivers that a downed tree was blocking Lott Road and Pine Ridge Road and urged them to find another route. Mobile County EMA said the three public shelters it opened Friday had closed after serving about 100 people.

Baldwin County reports no injuries

In an update Saturday morning, the Baldwin County Commission and Baldwin County EMA said, “At this time, no injuries have been reported within Baldwin County.” County departments and emergency partners continued to assess damage, clear debris and support utility restoration, and officials strongly discouraged non-emergency travel because of hazards that included numerous traffic signals without power, downed or damaged power lines and widespread fallen trees.

The storm still kept first responders busy. Between 6 p.m. and midnight Friday, Baldwin County authorities logged more than 100 calls to 911 reporting downed trees and power lines, along with at least three motor vehicle collisions. In Foley, two trees fell on mobile homes, causing damage but no reported injuries. Just after midnight, the Daphne and Spanish Fort fire departments responded to a fully engulfed house fire on Country Club Drive in the Lake Forest area. Five dogs reportedly died in the fire, but no people were hurt.

Other developments in Baldwin County on Saturday included:

• All municipal curfews were lifted, and all bridges in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach reopened.
• Gulf Shores’ citywide curfew expired, and both the W.C. Holmes Bridge and the Alabama 161 South Bridge reopened to traffic.
• The Safer Place at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church closed at 10 a.m., and the Baldwin County shelter at the Coliseum in Robertsdale closed at 1 p.m. as sheltering needs decreased.
• The Flora-Bama, the landmark beach bar on the Alabama-Florida line, was open for business by early afternoon.

Evacuation order lifted; federal aid clarified

Ivey lifted her evacuation order late Saturday morning as Alabama shifted to recovery. Her emergency proclamation had required nonresidents to leave parts of Mobile and Baldwin counties.

Mobile County EMA also issued a clarification about the federal emergency declaration approved before landfall for Baldwin, Escambia and Mobile counties and the Poarch Band of Creek Indians. The agency said the declaration “provides limited federal assistance for certain preparedness activities ahead of Hurricane Isaias. It does not authorize federal disaster recovery assistance for Mobile County residents, businesses or local governments.” Additional federal action would be needed to make that kind of help available, and the EMA said it would announce any such assistance if it is approved.

Rain and damage across inland Alabama

Because wind shear pushed most of the storm’s rain east of Mobile Bay, rainfall totals varied sharply across the state. Counties in southwest Alabama received about 2 inches, while areas farther east got about 8 inches. Enterprise recorded 7 to 8 inches. Roads in Houston County, in the state’s southeastern corner, were closed because of downed trees and power lines.

As of early Saturday afternoon, there had been no reports of tornadoes in Alabama. Northeast Alabama remained under a high wind warning until 7 p.m. Saturday, and northwest and central Alabama were under a wind advisory until the same hour.

Heavy damage in the western Florida Panhandle

The worst structural damage was east of the state line, near where the eyewall came ashore. Storm surge overtopped fences and beach walkways in Destin. Heavy rain and gale-force winds bent stop signs in Fort Walton Beach and thrashed trees on Okaloosa Island, and an Okaloosa County parking garage flooded.

• In Milton, the roof was ripped off the Playa Blanca Apartments.
• In East Milton, crews found a convenience store with its roof gone and its rear wall collapsed, with debris blown into the neighborhood next door.
• In Pensacola, a gas station on West Cervantes Street appeared to lose its roof, winds tore part of the roof from a hotel, and trees came down along Palafox Street.
• Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves said the city’s airport “took some damage.”
• The Pensacola Beach sign was damaged, with its new “Gulf of America” lettering ripped off.

DeSantis said all state-owned bridges and major roads in Florida had reopened, but he warned that the danger was not over in areas east of the storm’s track, where rain was expected to continue. “The risk of flooding is still high,” he said. “Sometimes these things happen a day or two days after the storm goes through. So the flooding story is not over.”

Cleaning up safely and protecting your claim

For thousands of households, the work now shifts to cleanup and insurance claims. Officials and storm-recovery guidance offer these reminders:

• Stay away from downed lines. Treat every fallen wire as energized, keep children and pets away and report lines to your utility or 911.
• Run generators outdoors only. Keep them well away from doors, windows and vents, and never operate one in a garage, as the Florida death showed.
• Sort your debris. Escambia County, Fla., emergency managers advise separating debris into five piles at the curb: vegetation, construction materials, appliances, electronics and hazardous waste. Check your own city’s or county’s rules before setting debris out.
• Document before you clean. Photograph and video damage inside and out, including roofs, fences, vehicles, furniture, appliances and standing water.
• Keep an itemized list of damaged items, and don’t throw anything away until your insurance adjuster approves.
• File promptly. Contact your insurance company as soon as possible to start the claims process.

Mobile residents can report city service problems through 311 and should move storm debris to the curb for pickup, while Baldwin County residents can follow county EMA updates as damage assessments continue. The full extent of Isaias’ toll is not yet known, but damage has been reported across at least three states, and utility crews expect to keep working through the weekend to bring the last customers back online.