Hurricane Isaias Slams Gulf Coast, Knocks Out Power To 830,000 As Major Refineries Are Spared

Hurricane Isaias knocked out power to about 830,000 homes and businesses across Florida, Alabama, and Georgia and disrupted oil and natural gas operations in the Gulf of America, but the good news: it narrowly missed major refineries.

The Category 2 hurricane made landfall near Destin, Florida, at 8:30 local time, with sustained winds of 105 miles per hour before weakening into what the National Hurricane Center calls a “post-tropical cyclone.” Strong winds damaged roofs, toppled trees and downed power lines, while flooding was reported across Florida and Alabama.

Gulf oil production fell sharply late in the week as Isaias forced offshore platform evacuations and drilling rig relocations. A slight eastward shift in the storm’s track spared Chevron’s Pascagoula refinery in Mississippi, reducing the risk of a major refining disruption. The focus today now shifts to damaged infrastructure assessments and the pace of offshore production restarts. 

According to the utility tracker website PowerOutage, 430,000 customers in Florida are without power, 300,000 in Alabama, and another 106,000 in Georgia.

Torrential rain and tropical storm conditions were expected to persist Saturday as the storm moved north through Alabama toward the Tennessee and Ohio valleys.