Hurricane Isaias hits Florida Panhandle at 165 km/h, then downgraded

Hurricane Isaias struck the US Gulf Coast with winds of 165 km/h, cutting electricity to hundreds of thousands of people and raising fears of serious flooding, the Israeli news site Ynet reported. Ynet described it as the first hurricane to hit the United States in two years and said it reached the coast in the area where Florida meets Alabama. Residents had laid out sandbags and thousands of National Guard troops had been deployed, with high waves and very heavy rainfall expected.

Hours later the storm lost hurricane status. The foreign desk of the Israeli broadcaster N12 reported that the US National Hurricane Center had reclassified Isaias as a post-tropical cyclone and said it expected the system to weaken further. Ynet's alerts channel carried the same downgrade.

Where the storm came ashore

According to The Times of Israel, the storm's landfall came near Destin, Florida, making Isaias the opening hurricane of this Atlantic season. Destin sits on the Florida Panhandle, the narrow strip of northwestern Florida that runs along the Gulf of Mexico and borders Alabama. The Times of Israel described it as a low-lying coastal area known for white-sand beaches, holiday homes, waterfront bars and seafood restaurants.

The two descriptions of the landfall location are framed differently rather than in conflict: Ynet placed it in the Florida and Alabama border region, while The Times of Israel named Destin specifically. Both outlets said Alabama and the Panhandle were affected.

A photograph carried by The Times of Israel, taken on October 9, 2026, showed a US flag whipping in the wind over a deserted stretch of sand on Mon Louis Island in Alabama.

Damage reported so far

The Times of Israel said roads in Destin had flooded and that police in nearby Pensacola told residents to keep off the streets because debris was blocking roadways. Trees were brought down and roads were left underwater as the storm pushed inland, the outlet reported. Some counties in the Panhandle paused emergency response operations on Friday night because conditions were too dangerous for crews.

Forecasters also cautioned that the storm could produce tornadoes in parts of the Florida Panhandle and further afield in Georgia and the Carolinas, according to the same report. The Times of Israel noted that the full scale of the damage was not yet clear.

The US response

Ynet reported that thousands of National Guard soldiers had been sent out ahead of the storm. The National Guard is a reserve military force in the United States that state authorities commonly call on during natural disasters. Ynet's alerts service also reported that President Trump said the administration was following the hurricane closely.

What a downgrade means here

The National Hurricane Center is the US government forecasting office that tracks and classifies tropical storms in the Atlantic. Reclassifying a storm as post-tropical means forecasters no longer consider it a hurricane, which is a category based on the storm's structure as well as its strength. N12's report, citing the centre, said further weakening was expected. The downgrade does not by itself mean the hazards described in the earlier reports, such as flooding and possible tornadoes, had ended; none of the reports addressed that point directly.

Why Israeli outlets are covering it

All of the material for this report comes from Israeli news organisations, two writing in Hebrew and one in English, following a major weather event in the United States. Many Israelis have family and business ties in the US, and Florida in particular has a sizeable Jewish community. None of the reports, however, mentioned any Israeli or Jewish community specifically affected by the storm.

What the reports do not say

• No report gave a death or injury toll, and none said whether anyone was hurt.
• The power outage figure is given only as hundreds of thousands, with no exact number or breakdown by state.
• Ynet cited the 165 km/h wind speed, but none of the reports gave the hurricane's category at landfall.
• No rainfall totals, storm surge heights or flood levels were reported.
• The reports did not say when power was expected to be restored or when suspended emergency services resumed.
• It is not stated whether any tornadoes actually formed after forecasters issued their warnings.