Hurricane Isaias causes chaos throughout the southeastern U.S.

By: Cooper Hillman, Assistant News Editor

Throughout early October, a powerful tropical cyclone currently classified as Hurricane Isaias has swept through eastern Mexico and the southeastern United States, with heavy effects seen in Alabama and Florida. It originated from a low–pressure area over the Gulf of Mexico on Oct. 6. Over time, it slowly transformed into a tropical storm and mobilized towards the Gulf Coast. 

The storm eventually reached hurricane status on Oct. 8, and became the first major hurricane of this season, which reached its peak intensity on Oct. 9. The storm did slightly decrease in intensity before reaching land in Florida, and becoming a post–tropical storm the  next day as it moved over Alabama and eventually dissipated on Oct. 12.

The storm was anticipated to cause massive damage to the Gulf Coast, which led to preparations for the storm being issued early as Florida, Mississippi and Alabama saw evacuations in many areas of the states. An estimate suggested that 63% of the oil production in the Gulf of Mexico was put on pause once the storm began to roll in. The actual damage of the storm included flooding, mass power outages, downed trees and debris. There were also approximately 22 tornadoes recorded around the southeastern U.S. due to Isaias. Currently, nine deaths have been recorded involving the weather event, with six occurring in Florida.

Now that the storm has fully dissipated, relief and humanitarian efforts have started to clean up the heavily affected areas. Insured losses in the U.S. were anticipated to exceed $2 billion by many specialists, but in local communities many believe that the required aid was underestimated. Recently, Escambia County in Florida voted to have a third contractor involved with debris removal in the affected areas in order to speed up the cleanup efforts. Escambia County Administrator Wes Moreno stated, “The initial estimate was a third of what Hurricane Sally was. That had a lot to play into my decision to go with two instead of three.” 

Widespread cleanup is hoped to make more progress in the coming days as some citizens return to their homes to inspect the damage.