00:00The Atlantic Ocean waited almost the entire year, and then it exploded.
00:04On Friday night, October 9th, a monster storm slammed into Florida's coast,
00:09the first hurricane of the entire 2026 season.
00:12Its name is Isaias, and it just broke a record that stood for 121 years.
00:17At around 8.30 in the evening, local time,
00:20Isaias came ashore near Destin, Florida, as a Category 2 hurricane.
00:24Its sustained winds reached 105 miles per hour,
00:27strong enough to rip roofs, clean off buildings.
00:30Just hours before landfall, it had briefly reached Category 3 strength,
00:34with winds of 120 miles per hour.
00:37Storm surge pushed up to 9 feet of water onto the coast
00:40between the Alabama-Florida border and Grayton Beach.
00:43In Pensacola, wind gusts topped 100 miles per hour,
00:47while in Destin, streets vanished underwater.
00:49Videos shared online showed the full roof of a hotel being torn off by the wind.
00:54At least four people lost their lives,
00:56two in Florida and two in Alabama.
00:59Several killed when trees crashed through their homes.
01:02Nearly 900,000 homes and businesses lost power across Florida, Alabama, and Georgia in the first hours.
01:08By Saturday evening, more than 400,000 customers were still sitting in the dark.
01:13Now here's the part that stunned meteorologists.
01:16Isaias is the first hurricane of the entire 2026 Atlantic season to reach the United States.
01:21That makes it the latest first hurricane landfall in 121 years,
01:25a record set back in 1905.
01:28The 2025 season saw zero hurricane landfalls at all.
01:31The Atlantic had gone quiet.
01:33Until it wasn't.
01:35Forecasters blamed the El Nino phenomenon,
01:37which filled the Atlantic with shearing winds that strangled storms before they could grow.
01:42Isaias formed late in the Gulf of Mexico and intensified with shocking speed,
01:46catching many off guard.
01:47Florida's governor declared a state of emergency in 27 counties.
01:51Alabama and Georgia followed.
01:53The federal government approved emergency declarations for Florida and Alabama,
01:57unlocking disaster aid.
01:58Alabama ordered tourists and non-residents out of parts of the coast,
02:02then closed the evacuation window early as winds made travel deadly.
02:06But this storm was never just about wind.
02:09Forecasters warned of up to 15 inches of rain,
02:11enough to trigger flash flooding for hundreds of miles inland.
02:14Tornado warnings spun up across the Florida panhandle, Georgia,
02:18and the Carolinas as the storm marched north.
02:20The storm also punched the energy industry.
02:23About 1.3 million barrels of oil per day were shut in as Gulf platforms were evacuated.
02:28For coastal families, the math was brutal.
02:31Boarded windows, flooded roads,
02:33and emergency crews who temporarily could not reach them.
02:3616,000 utility linemen were staged before landfall,
02:39one of the largest pre-deployments in recent memory.
02:42And yet, no search-and-rescue requests came in right after landfall.
02:46A sign, the governor said, that preparation saved lives.
02:50By Saturday morning,
02:51Isaias had weakened into a post-tropical cyclone,
02:54but its danger was far from over.
02:56Heavy rain and flash flooding spread across the southeast and the southern Appalachians.
03:01Flood watches stretched from Florida to the mid-Atlantic,
03:03with dangerous travel conditions expected into Monday.
03:06The storm's remnants were forecast to push into the northeast by Sunday night.
03:10Officials warned residents to stay away from downed power lines and rising water.
03:14Utility crews raced to restore power,
03:17working around debris and flooded substations.
03:19Scientists say seasons like this may be the new pattern.
03:22Long, strange lulls, then sudden, violent arrivals.
03:26The question now,
03:27was Isaias the season's last surprise,
03:29or just the first of a new kind of storm season?
03:33Four lives lost,
03:34nearly a million without power.
03:36A 121-year record shattered.
03:40Hurricane Isaias proved that a quiet season can still deliver a deadly punch.
03:45Stay prepared,
03:46stay informed,
03:47because the Atlantic is not done with us yet.
03:49If you want the world's biggest stories explained fast and verified,
03:53subscribe to News Plus Globe,
03:55and never miss what matters.
03:56And then we'll be back in dep hopeful Straighten Daunt digress.
03:57Thank you,
