DeSantis: Isaias a ‘major event, potentially a lot of damage’
Ron DeSantis, Florida’s governor, said he anticipates landfall of Hurricane Isaias at about 11pm ET tonight as a major category 3 storm.
Speaking at an emergency briefing currently under way in Tallahassee, DeSantis also gave an update to the storm’s predicted track, which he said now carries the center of Isaias east of Pensacola:
It very well may make landfall as a major hurricane, so that’s a major event.
It’s something that we prepared for, but folks who are in the path of this storm should know that this is not just going to be a random tropical system. It’s going to be a strong hurricane, and it’s going to potentially do a lot of damage.
DeSantis said there was “more and more confidence” that the storm’s center would come ashore somewhere in Santa Rosa or Okaloosa counties, east of the city of Pensacola:
If it does shift to the east of Pensacola, it’s possible that the water in the bay there is actually pushed out, and you could actually have negative storm surge.
Anything to where it hits into the east of it is going to generate significant storm surge. If does come in that area around Fort Walton Beach, Santa Rosa, those areas, Destin, obviously, you’re going to have a potential surge event.
Key events
We expect to be hearing shortly from Florida’s governor Ron DeSantis in what is likely to be his final press conference before Hurricane Isaias makes landfall somewhere along the state’s panhandle later on Friday.
DeSantis, along with the governors of Alabama and Mississippi, has already declared a state of emergency for Florida, and will undoubtedly give an update on final preparations for the storm’s arrival, and resources that will be in place for rescue and recovery missions in its aftermath.
We’ll also be listening to hear if DeSantis, a Republican, has brushed up on the correct pronunciation of Isaias, a common Spanish-language name he called “weird”.
“I don’t know how to pronounce this because it’s not normal. So, you know, I’m calling it ‘Isaiah’. You guys can call it what you want,” he told reporters at a briefing on Thursday.
Some seasoned hurricane watchers have their own measures to gauge how severe a storm is likely to be. One is the arrival in town of Jim Cantore, meteorologist for the Weather Channel, whose presence is seen in some quarters as a harbinger of not very good things to come.
As with previous storms, sightings of Cantore ahead of Hurricane Isaias quickly caused a stir on social media.
His Wednesday night arrival at Pensacola airport was posted on Facebook with the unflattering caption “the Grim Reaper has reared its ugly head”, and among the more than 900 comments was one that said: “When I saw that guy on my plane, I knew nothing good was going to happen”.
Cantore is anchoring the Weather Channel’s hurricane coverage and recorded one of his trademark segments from windswept Miramar Beach, Florida, on Friday morning, against a backdrop of rough waves.
Another indicator is the so-called Waffle House index, a kind of semi-official metric used by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) to help assess where resources are likely to be needed most.
Waffle House restaurants have developed a reputation for staying open late before a storm, or reopening quickly afterwards.
As of Friday afternoon, dozens of Waffle House locations in the Florida panhandle were closed, according to the restaurant’s website, reported by the Associated Press.
Isaias still major category 3 hurricane, 145 miles from coast
The National Hurricane Center has just published its 2pm ET advisory on Isaias’s position and intensity. The center of the storm is about 145 miles (235km) south of Pensacola, Florida, and about 125 miles south east of the mouth of the Mississippi river.
It remains a major category 3 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 120mph, and is moving north north east at about 16mph.
Tropical storm force conditions are already being felt along the northern Gulf coast, the update said. Landfall is expected between 8pm and 10pm ET.
“Preparations against life-threatening storm surge and devastating winds should be completed in the next couple of hours,” the update said.
While deadly storm surge and hurricane-force winds are the biggest threat to life close to the cyclone’s center, other impacts from Isaias could reach states much further away.
AccuWeather, the online forecasting service, is warning of tornadoes far from the hurricane’s core, and deep inland. While the highest risk will be near and to the east and southeast of the center of the storm, the service said, tornadoes can extend out for hundreds of miles.
This short video clip shows the outer bands of Hurricane Isaias already reaching into Georgia and the Carolinas, even while the center of the storm is still churning in the Gulf of Mexico.
“The combination of a zone of warm and humid air near the ground and a wedge of dry air at mid-levels of the atmosphere may pave the way for severe thunderstorms capable of producing tornadoes,” AccuWeather chief meteorologist Jon Porter said in a statement.
Tornado risk will be highest in Alabama, Florida and Mississippi to southeastern Alabama and southern Georgia on Friday night into Saturday as the storm makes landfall and moves inland, AccuWeather said.
Through Sunday and Sunday night, the risk will extend from central Georgia to much of South Carolina, North Carolina and southern Virginia.
Airports close as Isaias approaches
Alabama’s Mobile regional airport will close in the next hour to commercial flights as Isaias gets closer, authorities announced in a social media post.
Delta, American and United airlines all operate from the airport, which said air traffic had already been disrupted by worsening weather conditions. The airport will close at 1pm CT (2pm ET).
Florida’s Pensacola international airport closed its passenger terminal at 10am CT Friday, and the smaller, regional Destin-Fort Walton Beach airport halted operations on Thursday night “until further notice”.
With Hurricane Isaias expected to make landfall later on Friday or early on Saturday, Gulf coast residents boarded up houses and shops and secured belongings to protect them against the coming storm. Residents in Mobile, Alabama, were picking up sandbags at a local recreation center.
These are some of the latest images from the newswires as people prepare for the hurricane:
The 11am ET update on Hurricane Isaias from the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami brought unwelcome news in that predicted wind shear that had been expected to weaken the storm ahead of landfall might not materialize in time.
Isaias is currently churning in the northern Gulf of Mexico as a major category 3 hurricane with sustained wind speeds above 111mph (178kph). According to the NHC, it could still be one as it comes ashore.
A series of regional models, NHC hurricane specialist Robbie Berg wrote in the latest advisory, “all suggest that Isaias could maintain major hurricane intensity up until its landfall this evening.
“Weakening will occur after landfall, but sustained hurricane-force winds will likely occur near and along Isaias’s track up to 100 miles inland from the coast into southern Alabama, and gusts to hurricane force could extend even farther north into central Alabama.”
The Saffir-Simpson scale that grades tropical cyclones characterizes a category 3 hurricane as one in which: “Devastating damage will occur. Well-built framed homes may incur major damage or removal of roof decking and gable ends.
“Many trees will be snapped or uprooted, blocking numerous roads. Electricity and water will be unavailable for several days to weeks after the storm passes.”
Forecasters at AccuWeather are equally cautious.
“Isaias is in a race against the clock,” its expert meteorologist Tyler Roys said in a statement.
“Strong winds high in the atmosphere are expected to disrupt the hurricane before landfall, but if those winds arrive even a few hours later than expected, Isais could maintain its Category 3 strength.
“Regardless of whether it makes landfall as a Category 2 hurricane or Category 3 hurricane, communities along the Gulf Coast face a serious threat from life-threatening storm surge, damaging winds and flooding.”
Gulf coast braces for category 3 Hurricane Isaias to make landfall
Welcome to our live coverage of Hurricane Isaias, the first Atlantic hurricane of the 2026 season, which picked up power Friday morning as it turned northwards through the Gulf of Mexico.
Isaias is expected to make landfall Friday evening or early Saturday somewhere along the northern Gulf coast.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is warning of life-threatening storm surge, damaging hurricane-force winds, and flooding in parts of Florida, Mississippi, and Alabama.
Emergency declarations have been issued in all three states.
The storm strengthened into a major Category 3 hurricane overnight, with sustained winds in excess of 111mph (178kph). The National Hurricane Center in Miami said Friday morning it was no longer confident that upper-level wind shear will arrive in time to weaken Isaias before landfall.
I’m Richard Luscombe in Miami, and I’ll bring you developments as they happen. Meanwhile, here’s our latest news story as coastal Gulf residents prepare for impact.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/oct/09/hurricane-isaias-path-landfall-florida-category-3-storm-latest-updates
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