Isaias loses strength, but more than 700,000 are without power in Florida and Alabama

By Rhea Rose Abraham and Rajveer Pardesi

Oct 10 (Reuters) - Isaias weakened to a post-tropical cyclone on Saturday, having rapidly lost wind speed after hitting the ‌Florida coast as a Category 2 hurricane, the first of the 2026 Atlantic ‌season, the US National Hurricane Center said in its latest advisory.

The post-tropical cyclone, crossing over southern Alabama ​after making landfall earlier near Destin, Florida is about 55 miles (89 km) south-southwest of Montgomery, Alabama, with maximum sustained winds of 65 mph (100 kmh), the agency added.

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

The center warned of possible ⁠storm surges, urban and river flooding and flash floods across the region, with considerable impacts likely across much of southern Alabama and ⁠the Florida Panhandle into southwest Georgia.

A risk for tornadoes will also persist overnight across the Florida Panhandle and north Florida into southern Georgia, while the tornado threat will continue on Saturday ​across ​parts of the Florida Panhandle, Georgia, and the Carolinas, ​the agency said.

Alabama's emergency management agency ‌said the hurricane has downed trees and power lines, making 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. "These road closures will remain in effect until conditions are deemed safe for travel."

President Donald Trump, asked ‌about hurricane preparations, told reporters outside the White ​House, "We're watching it very closely, the hurricane," adding ​that it was "under control."

More than 430,000 ​people in Florida and nearly 297,000 in Alabama lost power as ‌the storm hit shore, according to power ​outage tracking firm PowerOutage.us.

"Emergency ​declarations have been approved in Florida and Alabama to ensure federal resources are available to respond to Isaias," Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said on X.

Florida's ​emergency services urged residents ‌to shelter in place and watch for hurricane conditions across the north of ​the state.

(Reporting by Rhea Rose Abraham and Rajveer Singh Pardesi in Bengaluru; ​Editing by William Mallard and Ros Russell)