Isaias Leaves Thousands Without Power, Kills at Least 4 People

(Bloomberg) -- Downpours spread across the Appalachians and Mid-Atlantic as Isaias’ remnants headed north after knocking out power to hundreds of thousands in three states and killing at least four people in Florida and Alabama.

Two people died after trees fell onto their homes Friday night — one in Birmingham, Alabama, according to Jefferson County Emergency Management Officer Shea Hess, and another in Escambia County, Florida, according to Governor Ron DeSantis. A third person died inside their garage from apparent carbon-monoxide poisoning after they were found with their generator running indoors, DeSantis said Saturday afternoon. Alabama Governor Kay Ivey said another person from her state died as a result of the hurricane, but didn’t give further information. 

Remnants of the former hurricane were expected to “produce widespread moderate to heavy precipitation” from the Upper Ohio Valley, Central Appalachians, Mid-Atlantic, Northeast and coastal North Carolina, the US Weather Prediction Center said Saturday. 

Isaias was expected to put about 12.6 million people from Florida to Virginia at a level two risk for severe thunderstorms, which can bring downpours and spawn tornadoes, through the weekend, the US Storm Prediction Center said.

The storm also hit energy production across the Gulf of Mexico during the week and 685,000 homes and businesses remain without power as of Saturday 3:30 p.m. New York time, according to PowerOutage.com. That’s 22% fewer homes without power than Saturday morning.

Oil output in the Gulf of Mexico plummeted as the storm approached the US coast, as companies evacuated crews from platforms as a precaution and drillers sailed rigs out of its path.

The Category 2 storm made landfall at 8:30 p.m. Friday near Destin, Florida, with top winds of 105 miles (169 kilometers) an hour. It quickly degraded into a post-tropical cyclone, according to the US National Hurricane Center.

It was the first hurricane to hit the US in almost two years and was expected to bring widespread rain of as much as 8 inches (20 centimeters) across the region, with as much as 15 inches seen in some localized areas.

While the tropical risks subside in the east, western Mexico and the US Southwest face twin threats from Tropical Storm Rachel and Hurricane Simon. 

Rachel is forecast to strike near the US-Mexico border in northern Baja California late Saturday and then bring flooding rains across the US Southwest, including parts of California, Arizona and Nevada, the US National Hurricane Center said. 

There are rare tropical storm watches up across Southern California, including for San Diego.

Further south, Simon is forecast to strike near Manzanillo, Mexico, the country’s busiest Pacific port, overnight as Category 4 hurricane on the five-step, Saffir-Simpson scale, packing winds of 155 miles per hour. As much as 20 inches of rain may fall widely, with isolated spots getting up to 40 inches. 

“Catastrophic wind and life-threatening storm surge impacts are likely along a portion of the west-central coast of Mexico,” the US hurricane center said. The rains “will produce life-threatening flooding and mudslides.”