Hurricane Invasion Killed People: ‘Very and Very Dangerous’

Despite warnings of storm surges ahead of the storm, several major routes along the Florida coast were open by dawn Saturday and free of the fallen trees and power lines that are commonly seen after severe hurricanes.

Two of the deaths reported during Hurricane Isayas occurred in Escambia County, Florida, and two more were reported in Alabama when the storm moved inland, officials said. One of those deaths occurred in Escambia and Birmingham, Alabama, when trees fell on homes. Another man whose death was linked to the hurricane was found in a locked garage with a working generator in Escambia County. Four members of the man's family were taken to hospital with carbon monoxide poisoning, the Escambia Sheriff's Office said.

“Don’t turn on generators in your home, it can be very, very dangerous,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis told a news conference.

Meanwhile, although the hurricane weakened on Saturday and turned into a post-tropical cyclone passing through central Alabama, Isayas still posed a flood and tornado threat as it moved inland, forecasters and officials warned.

Hurricane winds in Florida ripped the roof off a hotel in Pensacola, and the city's mayor said the airport "had some damage." The storm leveled a boating in Destin and tore off part of the facade of a high-rise building in Panama City Beach.

“Remember that flooding is still possible due to rising river levels,” Florida Department of Transportation Secretary Jared Perdue told a news conference. “I just want to remind all of you – please, if there is standing or flowing water on the road, please don’t drive on it.” It doesn't have to be that deep and it can flush your car, it can flush a person, it can get very dangerous very quickly.

On Saturday afternoon, nearly 550,000 consumers across Florida, Alabama and Georgia were still without power as those in the hurricane's path began the clean-up process. Despite still high levels, the number of outages has dropped from more than 900,000 earlier on Saturday.

By then, warnings of storm surges and tropical storms associated with Hurricane Isaias had been lifted, but the National Hurricane Control Center (NHC) warned that “significant impacts” associated with Hurricane Isaias would still be seen across much of southern Alabama, the Panhandle area of Florida and southwest Georgia.

The maximum wind speed during the hurricane reached 169 km / h. It was so strong it resembled a “train whistle,” Tim Mowry told The Associated Press after surviving the storm at his home in Pensacola, Florida.

Mowry said the power went out Friday afternoon but said he could count on a generator. He said his son tried to drive to his home by car after the power went out in his home, about 15 minutes away, but was forced to turn around because fallen trees and power lines blocked the road.

Donald Trump has authorized the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) to provide resources to Georgia to help manage the ongoing storm, including possible tornadoes, the agency said Saturday. According to local media, several roads around Atlanta are already blocked by fallen trees. Trump has declared a state of emergency in Florida and Alabama ahead of Hurricane Isayas.