Hurricane Isaias cuts power for more than 860,000 across US south-east

Florida and Alabama account for the bulk of reported outages

Hurricane Isaias knocked out power for more than 860,000 people as the storm moved inland across the US south-east, according to figures published in The Guardian’s live blog. The totals, drawn from the tracking site poweroutage.us, show Florida and Alabama absorbing the overwhelming share of the disruption.

Florida’s reported outages — 436,745 — exceeded the combined total of every other state on the Guardian’s list. Alabama registered 316,366, and Georgia followed at 87,334. Together, the three southeastern states accounted for the bulk of the 860,000-plus outages the Guardian tallied in its breakdown.

The Guardian’s state-by-state list also included lower counts in Washington (6,550), California (4,467), Texas (4,404), Ohio (3,827), and Idaho (1,549). poweroutage.us aggregates utility-reported outages nationwide, so the list captures the highest totals across the country at that moment rather than only states in the storm’s path. The Guardian described the entries as the “worst affected states” per the tracker.

The Guardian’s headline characterized the storm as battering the US Gulf Coast, and the outlet’s live coverage described the system as moving inland across the south-east. The Guardian’s reporting did not specify a landfall location, wind speed, or storm category at the time the poweroutage.us figures were published.

The Guardian’s live blog did not include estimates of structural damage, casualties, or power-restoration timelines in the passages made available to MSI. The poweroutage.us figures represent a snapshot at a single point in time rather than a cumulative total of outages since the storm arrived, and the numbers are expected to shift as the system continues inland.