Rick Scott urged people in designated areas to leave as Hurricane Isaias made landfall Friday night along the northern Gulf Coast of Florida. He posted, "DO NOT WAIT! Get out NOW!" as the Florida hurricane was later downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone.
Florida and Alabama had mandatory evacuations for thousands of people, and Florida, Alabama and Georgia each issued states of emergency. The storm was the first hurricane of the 2026 Atlantic season, and as of Friday evening hurricane-force winds extended up to 35 miles from its centre while tropical storm-force winds reached as far as 205 miles.
Melissa Watson and Florida warnings
Melissa Watson, a Florida-based meteorologist at the National Weather Service, said people who had not left should keep receiving alerts. She said the main thing was having "multiple ways to receive warnings" and told people near the coast to focus on "being able to move to higher ground," while warning, "We want people to remain inside and safe while the hurricane is moving through."
On Saturday morning, all hurricane warnings had been discontinued, but a storm surge warning remained in effect for parts of Florida and a tropical storm warning remained in effect in Florida and east Alabama. That left a split picture for readers on the ground: the strongest hurricane warnings were off, while the water and wind hazards had not ended.
Kay Ivey evacuation order
Kay Ivey ordered a mandatory evacuation for all non-residents, tourists and visitors in key counties likely to be heavily affected by the storm. The storm surge warning carried the risk of up to 9 feet of flooding in some areas, and Florida's evacuations included coastal communities in direct aim of the storm.
Hundreds of thousands of people were without power in the country's southeast even before landfall, and the centre of Isaias was forecast to move across Alabama and into the Tennessee Valley on Saturday and Sunday. Florida and Alabama residents who were told to leave were dealing with the storm's shift from a hurricane to a post-tropical cyclone, not the end of the hazard.
Watson also warned, "We want people to be safe, so don't go out there trying to look for damage... to post on social media," a reminder that the most immediate concern after landfall was still exposure to water, wind and blocked roads. The unanswered question now is how much flooding and power loss followed the landfall in Florida and beyond.
