Hurricane Isaias continued its northward movement on Sunday, bringing moderate to heavy rainfall across the central Appalachians and the mid-Atlantic region.
Nearly 396,000 customers across the Florida Panhandle and southern Alabama remained without power.
Heavy rainfall associated with the storm could bring isolated flash flooding and strong wind gusts and remain a threat across the south-eastern US, especially near the southern Appalachians, according to the National Weather Service. That could bring scattered power outages and downed trees and power lines.
Life-threatening surf and rip current conditions were expected to continue along the Gulf and south-eastern Atlantic coasts.
Parts of the Carolinas and Virginia, including Raleigh, Richmond and Washington DC were under threat of tornadoes on Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.
At least four deaths were linked to the storm, including two people killed when trees fell on to homes in Florida and Alabama. Forecasters warned that flooding could stretch into the Appalachians.
Isaias came ashore as a category 2 hurricane on Friday near Destin, Florida, a Gulf Coast vacation spot filled with high-rises and tourist shops. This has been the first hurricane to make landfall in the continental US in two years, since Milton struck western Florida in October 2024.
Despite warnings of storm surges ahead of the storm, several major routes along the coast were open by daybreak on Saturday and free of downed trees and power lines typically seen after major hurricanes.
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.
In Florida’s Escambia county, a woman was killed when a tree fell on her home and a man died of carbon monoxide fumes from a generator running in his garage. Four of the man’s family members, ranging in age from four to 72, were treated but were expected to survive, according to the sheriff.
In Alabama, one person died when a tree fell on a house in Birmingham, the city’s fire chief said. A second storm-related death in Alabama was attributed to a motor vehicle crash involving a downed tree in Barbour county, according to the state’s emergency management agency.
Authorities in Mobile reported numerous downed trees and power lines along Alabama’s Gulf coast.
Donald Trump approved an emergency declaration for Georgia after the president did the same for Florida and Alabama, allowing for federal aid.
The US 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 National Weather Service said parts of Georgia and the Carolinas could see heavy rain capable of causing flash floods.
Meanwhile, in the Pacific, Simon strengthened to 155mph, only just below the threshold for becoming a category 5 storm, as it approached Mexico’s coast. Simon was expected to bring heavy rainfall beginning on Sunday to parts of south-western Mexico with life-threatening flooding and mudslides.
Forecasters say that conditions brought by Simon are spreading northward along a stretch of coastline that includes Puerto Vallarta. Rain could average 8-16in over sectors of south-western Mexico, with as much as 30in possible in places across Michoacán, Colima and Jalisco through Monday.
A woman, a man and their dog in Burke county, North Carolina, were rescued on the Catawba River after their camping trip was overflown by the rising water brought by remnants of Simon that caught them off guard.
Tropical storm Rachel was also expected to bring heavy winds and rain to northern Mexico and southern California. The National Weather Service has issued a flash flood warning in parts of San Diego, Riverside and Imperial counties. Officials issued mandatory evacuation orders for some residents in the Long Beach peninsula through Tuesday.
Eight buildings have been red-tagged, or deemed unsafe to enter, and one has been yellow-tagged amid conditions from Rachel. Long Beach officials have provided about 11,000 sandbags for the storm to protect homes from the rising tide.
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