Hurricane Isaias kills 4, moves into Tennessee Valley, Georgia, Carolinas, Hurricane Simon set for landfall, Tropical Storm Rachel hits California

Hurricane Isaias left trail of damage tearing away rooftops and building facades along Florida’s Panhandle before moving inland, bringing torrential rain and the threat of flash flooding and tornadoes across the Southeast. At least four deaths were linked to the storm, including two people killed when trees fell onto homes in Florida and Alabama. Forecasters warned that flooding could stretch into the Appalachians.

Meanwhile, in the Pacific, Simon strengthened into a Category 4 hurricane as it approached Mexico’s coast. Simon was expected to bring heavy rainfall beginning Sunday to parts of southwestern Mexico with life-threatening flooding and mudslides. Tropical Storm Rachel was also expected to bring heavy winds and rain to northern Mexico and Southern California over the weekend.

Hurricane Isaias


Isaias came ashore as a Category 2 hurricane Friday near Destin, Florida, a Gulf Coast vacation spot filled with high-rises and tourist shops. The storm weakened overnight but remained dangerous. Despite warnings of storm surges ahead of the storm, several major routes along the coast were open by daybreak Saturday and free of downed trees and power lines typically seen after major hurricanes.

Within the first hours after landfall, nearly 900,000 customers were without power, mostly in Florida and Alabama.

Hurricane-force winds in the Florida Panhandle blew the roof off a Pensacola hotel, and the city’s mayor said the airport “took some damage.” The storm flattened a boathouse in Destin and ripped away part of the facade of a high-rise in Panama City Beach.

Federal Aid for Florida, Alabama

President Donald Trump approved an emergency declaration for Georgia after earlier doing the same for Florida and Alabama, allowing for federal aid.

The U.S. Energy Department authorized emergency exchanges of crude oil from the nation’s strategic petroleum reserve to address disruptions in supply because of the storm. The Atlantic hurricane season has been unusually quiet this year, and Isaias was the first hurricane to hit the eastern U.S. since 2024.

The National Weather Service advised that parts of Georgia and the Carolinas could see heavy rains capable of causing flash floods. The storm was expected to move into the Tennessee Valley and then the mid-Atlantic on Sunday.

Hurricane Simon

Hurricane Simon will be “be near or just inland” of Mexico’s west-central coast on Sunday, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said. The hurricane could drop 20 inches of rain on parts of southwestern Mexico, with some areas in the states of Michoacan, Colima and Jalisco receiving up to 30 inches.

Convenience stores, hotels and other businesses in Puerto Vallerta, a popular tourist destination in Jalisco, boarded up their windows ahead of Simon’s arrival.

“Let’s hope it doesn’t hit us, right? That it doesn’t affect us,” Jesús Gómez said outside a store as he handed out candied peanuts to passersby. He said he plans to keep working until authorities tell him to take shelter.

The hurricane center expects a dangerous storm surge carrying large, destructive waves “along the immediate coast near and to the east of where the center makes landfall.”

The hurricane will make landfall early on Sunday, but tropical storm-strength winds could arrive much sooner.

Simon is expected to bring heavy rainfall to parts of southwestern Mexico, possibly concentrated along Jalisco’s coast and in parts of Michoacan, Colima and Nayarit.