Emergency Officials Prepare for Isaias Arrival

Article reposted with permission from The News Service of Florida.

Florida emergency management officials are bracing for life-threatening storm surge and damaging winds across the Panhandle from Hurricane Isaias.

Utility companies and the state are staging across the region for Isaias, the first hurricane of the season, which is expected to strengthen and become a major hurricane when it approaches the northern Gulf Coast on Friday.

Having already declared a state of emergency for 25 counties across the Panhandle and Big Bend, Gov. Ron DeSantis said preparations are underway for a Category 3 landfall, which on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale has sustained winds of 111 mph to 129 mph.

“The way this is tracking, we're looking at impacts in terms of the eye of the storm,” DeSantis said at the state Emergency Operations Center on Thursday.

Storm surge is expected across the state’s Gulf coast, with an increased risk of tornadoes to the east side of the system.

DeSantis and Emergency Management Director Jared Perdue said they are overpreparing.

“I hope it weakens,” DeSantis said. “But our assumption is that it's going to hit strong, as probably a lower-end Category 3.”

Tolls have been lifted on the Garcon Point Bridge in Santa Rosa County, the Mid-Bay Bridge in Okaloosa County and Spence Parkway in Destin.

Counties across the western Panhandle were opening shelters, announcing school closures for Friday, and canceling weekend activities, while Okaloosa County issued a mandatory evacuation on Thursday for residents on Okaloosa Island and coastal portions of Fort Walton Beach, Destin, Mary Esther and Niceville.

The state has activated 175 members of the Florida State Guard and around 5,000 members of the Florida National Guard, including former state Sen. Bryan Avila, the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor. About 6,000 utility workers are also being stationed in the region.

Florida Power & Light President and CEO Scott Bores said the company is coordinating with local officials, securing restoration personnel from other utilities and electrical contracting companies, and positioning its own crews and resources to quickly restore power for customers.

“We’re prepared and ready to respond,” Bores said in a statement. “We urge our customers to prepare, too. Please take this time to review your emergency plans, closely monitor the storm and follow guidance from local and state officials.”

A storm surge warning is in effect from the mouth of the Mississippi River to Suwannee River, with hurricane force-winds expected over portions of the Florida Panhandle from the Bay and Gulf County line west.

As of Thursday afternoon, Isaias was carrying 80 mph maximum sustained winds while located about 350 miles from the Louisiana coast. The system was moving to the east-northeast at 10 mph.

“The east side of the storm is the dirty side of the storm,” DeSantis said in Miami on Thursday. “So, if it hits Mobile Bay, you know, we're going to get a lot of storm surge in Pensacola, Santa Rosa, probably like even Okaloosa, maybe bring some storm surge in Panama City.”

The state hasn’t been directly hit by a named storm since Hurricane Milton landed at Siesta Key on Oct. 9, 2024 as a Category 3 system after it had rapidly intensified up to a Category 5 hurricane with sustained winds of 180 mph.

The meteorological company AccuWeather noted that Isaias is now the latest first-forming hurricane in the Atlantic Basin among seasons that produced at least one hurricane. Isaias reached hurricane strength about 3.5 hours earlier than the prior record that had been in place since 1905.

“We’ve gone from a historic stretch without a hurricane to a potentially destructive storm threatening the Gulf Coast in a matter of days,” said AccuWeather expert meteorologist Dan Pydynowski. “El Niño has helped suppress hurricane activity across the Atlantic this season, but it hasn't eliminated the threat. Even in an unusually quiet season, it only takes one hurricane to have devastating consequences for communities in its path.”