Hurricane Isaias Floods the Panhandle, A Russian Oil Deal, ICE Shooting in New York

Ayesha Rascoe (0:02)

Hurricane Isaias came ashore last night and flooded the Florida Panhandle.

Scott Simon (0:07)

Hundreds of thousands of people have lost power, and now the storm is moving inland.

Ayesha Rascoe (0:12)

I'm Ayesha Rascoe.

Scott Simon (0:13)

And I'm Scott Simon, and this is Up First from NPR News.

Ayesha Rascoe (0:19)

So far, it's been a quiet season for hurricanes. Isaias is the first to hit the Gulf States in over two years with a bang.

Scott Simon (0:29)

Diesel fuel from Russia may start to flow at gas pumps in the US for the first time since Russia invaded Ukraine. President Trump says it's a way to lower gas prices.

Ayesha Rascoe (0:38)

And a New York man shot by ice while driving his five-year-old son home from school has rattled the city.

Scott Simon (0:45)

So please stay with us. We've got the news you need to start your weekend.

Ayesha Rascoe (0:59)

Residents along the Northern Gulf Coast are waking up today to assess the damage from Hurricane Isaias.

Now the remnants of the storm are drenching the southeast. It made landfall Friday near Destin, Florida as a category two hurricane.

Scott Simon (1:16)

And here's Debbie Elliott, is nearby in Crestview, Florida, and joins us. Debbie, thanks for being with us.

Debbie Elliott (1:21)

Oh, good to be with you, Scott.

Scott Simon (1:23)

What was it like?

Debbie Elliott (1:24)

Well, you know, I'm just north of where it came ashore. I'm about 30 miles inland, close to Interstate 10 here in the Florida Panhandle. Rain and wind gusts started picking up late yesterday afternoon. Most of the businesses all around here were long closed by then, including the Waffle House, I might add, which is famous for staying open in all kinds of circumstances. By nightfall, the pine trees outside my hotel window were just swaying with the wind gusts and they started whacking against the building. Sheets of rain were pounding the window like a fire hose. Wind gusts here topped 70 miles an hour. It almost sounded like there were waves lapping against the side of the building. I recorded a little bit of it.

So, you can imagine if it was that intense here, it had to be much worse down on the coast.

Scott Simon (2:18)

And what have you been able to learn about what happened there?

Debbie Elliott (2:21)

Well, the National Hurricane Center says Ayesha came ashore with 105 mile an hour winds, higher gusts in some places. You know, that's enough to snap trees and power lines, knock down street signs and rip awnings from buildings. And some of the early morning images we're seeing show just that. Some, you know, big, huge oak trees just uprooted. Power outages, last time I checked this morning, more than 800,000 customers are without electricity, mostly in Florida and Alabama, but also over in Georgia. According to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, crews headed out pre-dawn, they're going to get to work clearing down trees and debris from the roadways so that linemen and search and rescue teams can get out and get working.

He says people should be patient and let the emergency responders do their job today.

Ron DeSantis (3:11)

Just make sure you stay safe during this period of time. You can't unring the bell if you mess around with a downed power cord. Can't unring the bell if you end up driving in flooded waters and get into a wreck. And so just make sure you're safe. This is gonna pass, things are gonna get back. We're gonna get that done.

Debbie Elliott (3:31)

Some wind shear did now knock the storm back just before it made landfall. At one point, it was a category three hurricane over the gulf.

Scott Simon (3:39)

And Debbie, what other effects are people feeling from the hurricane?

Debbie Elliott (3:43)

You know, some problems like boil water notices in some communities. Local officials have said, you know, they were not able to respond to emergency calls in the height of the storm because it wasn't safe to be on the roads. And it might remain so until all the downed power lines are cleared. Some good news is the storm surge ended up being less devastating than originally forecast. It was as much as five feet near where the hurricane made landfall. You know, that definitely caused coastal flooding, but it didn't, you know, wash away entire structures or anything.

The area hit was under an evacuation order, so hopefully people escaped the worst. We'll know more later today as officials start checking out the damage. I should add that President Trump did approve disaster declarations for Alabama and Florida. That frees up federal resources to help in the response.