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Hurricane Isaias made landfall in Florida on Friday evening, bringing 105 mph (around 169 kph) winds as it struck near the city of Destin.
Video footage on social media shows high winds and heavy rain battering the area, with one hotel appearing to have its roof ripped off by the storm in Pensacola, just along the coast from Destin in the Florida Panhandle.
The US’ National Weather Service (NWS) has warned a life-threatening storm surge is now expected from Dauphin Island, Alabama, to Suwannee, Florida, and urged residents in the warning area to continue to follow advice from local officials.
“Extremely dangerous and damaging hurricane-force winds, especially in gusts, are expected over portions of the Florida Panhandle and southern Alabama where a Hurricane Warning remains in effect,” the NWS said in an update late on Friday.
“Residents in these areas should have a safe room to ride out the storm and prepare for long-duration power outages,” it added.
Strong winds are likely across large parts of the southeastern US, with Isaias also expected to bring heavy rainfall to much of the wider region over the weekend.
“Considerable flash and urban flooding, along with significant river flooding, will be possible. Landslides are also possible across the Southern Appalachians,” the NWS said.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said that around 260,000 customers were without power as the category 2 hurricane made landfall.
The outages spanned from Pensacola to Panama City and the state capital, Tallahassee, he told reporters, adding that restoration crews would be mobilised after the storm had passed.