Isaias leaves 800,000 without power in southern US

Isaias left more than 800,000 US customers without electricity on Saturday morning as the weakened post-tropical cyclone moved north from Florida into the southeastern United States, according to PowerOutage.com.

Officials reported two deaths related to the storm, both from trees falling on homes: one near Pensacola, Florida, and another in Birmingham, Alabama.

The National Hurricane Center said Isaias made landfall late Friday near Destin, Florida, as a Category 2 hurricane with sustained winds of 105 miles per hour, or 165 kilometres per hour, before weakening overnight.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said the centre of the storm had moved out of Florida but the flood threat remained. The National Hurricane Center warned that some areas in the southeast could receive more than 10 inches of rain and said flash flooding and landslides were possible across the Southern Appalachians.

AFP reporters travelling from Pensacola to nearby Destin saw relatively minor damage, with electricity workers repairing power lines along mostly clear roads. Streets were largely deserted in coastal communities after mandatory evacuations ahead of the storm.

Isaias was the first hurricane of the Atlantic season and the first hurricane since 2024 to hit the US mainland, according to the supplied information.