Hurricane Isaias killed two Alabamians, cut power to nearly 300,000 customers statewide and battered the Wiregrass over the weekend after a late shift east spared Alabama’s beaches a direct hit.
By Sunday afternoon, crews had restored power to more than 80% of those customers.
Isaias made landfall near Destin, Florida, around 8:30 p.m. Friday as a Category 2 hurricane with sustained winds of 105 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Earlier in the week the track had pointed closer to the Alabama-Florida line. The storm weakened to a post-tropical cyclone over Alabama early Saturday. At least four deaths were reported across Alabama and Florida.
Governor Kay Ivey confirmed the two Alabama deaths Saturday morning. She said heavy winds took down trees and knocked out power across the state.
“This storm cannot clear fast enough,” Ivey said in a statement. “Unfortunately, we have also learned that two Alabamians have lost their lives,” Ivey said.
One person died when a tree fell on a home in east Birmingham early Saturday, according to Shea Hess, an emergency management officer with the Jefferson County Emergency Management Agency.
A second person was rescued from the house. In Barbour County, a driver died after a wreck involving fallen trees, said Josh Johnson, who works in external affairs for the Alabama Emergency Management Agency.
Ivey spoke Saturday with Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Cameron Hamilton, her office said, and reported that all major roadways in the state had reopened.
She also rescinded the order that had required visitors to leave parts of Mobile and Baldwin counties.
Crews restore power to more than 80% of affected customers in a day and a half
Alabama’s electric providers restored power to more than 80% of the customers Isaias knocked offline in about a day and a half.
PowerOutage.us identified 297,684 Alabama customers without electricity Saturday morning. By Sunday afternoon the number was 50,800.
Alabama Power had staged more than 5,700 outside workers from 25 states before landfall and raised that force above 6,400 as the storm moved inland. The Birmingham-based utility said more than 267,000 of its customers lost service.
More than 130,000 were back on by 11 a.m. Saturday, hours after Isaias crossed the state.
About 31,000 remained out late Sunday morning, Alabama Media Group reported from the company’s outage map. Alabama Power said it expects at least 95% of outages restored by midnight Sunday.
Rural electric cooperatives moved just as fast.
Summerdale-based Baldwin EMC restored more than 49,000 meters by Sunday morning, about 95% of those knocked out, with nearly 300 contract and mutual aid line workers from other cooperatives on the job.
“Having extra boots on the ground helps us get those resolved faster,” said Mark Ingram, Baldwin EMC’s vice president of corporate services and public relations.
Hartford-based Wiregrass Electric Cooperative and Andalusia-based Covington Electric Cooperative each lost service to about two-thirds of their members, according to the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.
Wiregrass Electric cut its outages in half by Sunday, from about 18,000 to about 9,000.
The Alabama Emergency Management Agency said Sunday that restoration work had pushed outages well below the storm’s peak.
The agency traced the worst damage to a “sting jet” of wind that brought down trees across southwest Alabama. Ivey thanked the crews positioned around the state to clear debris and restore power.
Wiregrass and inland damage
Winds approached 70 mph in southeast Alabama, WTVY reported. About 16,700 Dothan Utilities customers were without power Saturday morning. The city had about 3,000 outages left Sunday morning.
Dothan Mayor Mark Saliba compared the damage to Hurricane Michael in 2018. He wrote on Facebook that the city took “a hit that was surprisingly worse than Michael.”
Bellwood, in Geneva County, recorded 12.97 inches of rain in 13 hours, the highest total in early Weather Prediction Center reports published by the Weather Channel. Geneva County EMA Director Brian Smith said the Choctawhatchee River at Geneva is expected to crest Monday at 27.5 feet. Flood stage is 23 feet. Geneva County Schools will be closed Monday because of power outages.
A Dale County sheriff’s deputy suffered minor injuries when a tree fell on him at a crash scene. In Greenville, a tree fell on a home and trapped a family inside. No serious injuries were reported. Greenville Police Chief Justin Lovvorn described it as “a situation that could’ve gone really bad real quick.”
No tornadoes had been reported in Alabama as of Sunday morning.
Beaches and Port of Mobile reopen
Gulf Shores & Orange Beach Tourism announced Sunday that the beaches had reopened with minimal damage. The state lifted mandatory evacuation orders for Gulf Shores, Orange Beach and Fort Morgan. A 75 mph gust was recorded near Orange Beach.
“We dodged a bullet, and we thank God for that,” Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon said.
Gulf Shores Mayor Robert Craft said many businesses reopened Saturday.
The Port of Mobile, closed to vessel traffic since early Friday, reopened Saturday afternoon after the U.S. Coast Guard set Port Condition Normal. Mobile County lifted its local state of emergency at noon Saturday.
Tuscaloosa
The storm canceled President Donald Trump’s trip to the Alabama-Georgia game and moved ESPN’s “College GameDay” inside Coleman Coliseum. The game was played Saturday night in a full Bryant-Denny Stadium, where No. 2 Georgia beat No. 6 Alabama 20-17.
Isaias was the first hurricane of the 2026 Atlantic season and tied a 1905 storm for the latest first hurricane of a season on record. It was the first hurricane to make landfall on the U.S. mainland since Milton in October 2024.
Ivey’s state of emergency for 40 counties remains in effect through Wednesday unless she extends it.
Grayson Everett is the editor in chief of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on X @Grayson270.
