Latest / EM Morning Brief / Florida, Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi order evacuations and declare emergencies; Gulf oil production nearly two thirds shut in

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Florida, Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi order evacuations and declare emergencies; Gulf oil production nearly two thirds shut in · EM Morning Brief

• 0:00
  Cedric: Good morning, I'm Cedric and this is your EM Morning Brief for Friday, October 9, 2026.
• 0:06
  Cedric: Hurricane Isaias is closing on the northern Gulf Coast as a strong Category 2 storm.
• 0:12
  Cedric: The National Hurricane Center's 4:00 a.m.
• 0:14
  Cedric: Central advisory puts the center near 26.4 north, 88.0 west, about 200 miles south-southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River, with maximum sustained winds of 110 miles an hour, a central pressure of 963 millibars, and movement north-northeast at
• 0:32
  Cedric: 15 miles an hour.
• 0:34
  Cedric: A Hurricane Warning runs from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, east to the Bay and Gulf county line in Florida.
• 0:41
  Cedric: A Storm Surge Warning covers the mouth of the Mississippi River east to the Suwannee River, and a Storm Surge Watch continues from the Suwannee River to Yankeetown.
• 0:50
  Cedric: Forecast surge reaches 5 to 7 feet from Dauphin Island, Alabama, to Indian Pass, Florida, and 4 to 6 feet in Mobile Bay.
• 0:59
  Cedric: Rainfall of 4 to 8 inches is expected across southern Alabama, the Florida Panhandle and Big Bend, and southwest Georgia, with localized totals to 15 inches.
• 1:10
  Cedric: Landfall is expected inside the warning area tonight or early Saturday, and the tornado threat begins this evening along the coast.
• 1:18
  Cedric: Offshore energy operations are largely idled.
• 1:22
  Cedric: Federal offshore regulators report 62.9 percent of Gulf oil production shut in, about 1.28 million barrels a day, and 57.4 percent of natural gas production offline.
• 1:34
  Cedric: Operators have evacuated 121 of the 371 manned production platforms.
• 1:40
  Cedric: Five non-dynamically positioned drilling rigs have been evacuated, and four dynamically positioned rigs have moved off the storm's track.
• 1:48
  Cedric: On the federal side, FEMA published public preparedness guidance for the Isaias warning area on Thursday, directing residents to follow the instructions of local officials.
• 1:59
  Cedric: Let's run through the states.
• 2:01
  Cedric: Alabama.
• 2:01
  Cedric: Governor Kay Ivey ordered a mandatory evacuation Thursday for non-residents, tourists, and visitors in Baldwin County south of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, including Gulf Shores and Orange Beach, and on Dauphin Island in Mobile County.
• 2:17
  Cedric: Dauphin Island officials are urging residents to leave voluntarily, with emphasis on the western end of the island, and county officials in Loxley are urging voluntary evacuations as well.
• 2:27
  Cedric: State offices and buildings in nine counties, including Baldwin and Mobile, close Friday at noon Central.
• 2:34
  Cedric: The state of emergency now covers 40 counties, and the Governor issued a first supplemental declaration Thursday.
• 2:41
  Cedric: The Hurricane Warning reaches the Alabama coast in full, with 4 to 6 feet of surge forecast from Ocean Springs to Dauphin Island and the same range inside Mobile Bay.
• 2:53
  Cedric: Florida.
• 2:54
  Cedric: Executive Order 26-202 extends the state of emergency to 27 counties, up from the 25 named when the order was first issued.
• 3:03
  Cedric: Roughly 5,000 National Guard members are expected to be mobilized by Friday and pre-staged across the impact area, alongside nearly 400 Florida State Guard soldiers assigned to damage assessment, route clearance, distribution points, and search and rescue.
• 3:20
  Cedric: More than 6,000 linemen and restoration personnel are on standby.
• 3:25
  Cedric: Mandatory coastal evacuations are in effect in Okaloosa, Walton, Escambia, Santa Rosa, and Franklin counties, with a voluntary order in Bay County covering two zones plus mobile and manufactured homes countywide.
• 3:38
  Cedric: Special needs shelters are opening in seven Panhandle counties.
• 3:42
  Cedric: Public schools are closed Friday in 15 counties, and four state colleges have closed.
• 3:48
  Cedric: Pensacola International Airport closes to commercial flights Friday morning.
• 3:52
  Cedric: Tolls are suspended on the Mid-Bay Bridge, Spence Parkway, and Garcon Point Bridge to support evacuation traffic.
• 4:00
  Cedric: The Department of Corrections has evacuated four Panhandle work release and work camp facilities.
• 4:06
  Cedric: Forecast surge runs 5 to 7 feet from Dauphin Island to Indian Pass and 4 to 6 feet from Indian Pass to the Steinhatchee River.
• 4:15
  Cedric: We have more to cover this morning, but first, a quick word from our sponsors.
• 4:20
  Cedric: Thanks for supporting our sponsors who help make EM Morning Brief possible.
• 4:24
  Cedric: Now, back to this morning’s updates.
• 4:28
  Cedric: Support and medical operations are shifting with the storm.
• 4:32
  Cedric: Two South Florida urban search and rescue teams are staging in Tallahassee, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement has embedded staff in the Pensacola Regional Operations Center.
• 4:43
  Cedric: The Department of Transportation has about 900 staff working preparations, with 260 pieces of heavy equipment, nearly 1,000 generators, and 100 pumps staged.
• 4:55
  Cedric: The Agency for Health Care Administration has lifted early refill limits on Medicaid maintenance medications across the emergency counties, and the Department of Health is running warehouse operations around the clock.
• 5:08
  Cedric: Veterans Affairs clinics in Pensacola, at Eglin Air Force Base, and in Panama City close Friday.
• 5:14
  Cedric: At Eglin the installation commander issued a limited evacuation order covering service members, civilian employees, and dependents living in evacuation zones across Okaloosa, Walton, and Escambia counties, and Hurlburt Field ordered a mandatory evacuation of privatized military family housing and
• 5:33
  Cedric: its campground over projected wastewater and utility outages.
• 5:38
  Cedric: Georgia.
• 5:40
  Cedric: Governor Brian Kemp declared a statewide state of emergency Thursday covering all 159 counties, replacing a narrower order and freeing emergency managers to position resources ahead of the storm.
• 5:52
  Cedric: The Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency activates the State Operations Center early Friday afternoon.
• 5:59
  Cedric: Forecasters expect strong wind gusts, heavy rain statewide, spin-off tornadoes, downed trees and power lines, and flooding, with impacts continuing through Saturday.
• 6:09
  Cedric: Southwest Georgia falls inside the 4 to 8 inch rainfall footprint, and the tornado threat extends across Georgia into Saturday.
• 6:18
  Cedric: Hawaii.
• 6:19
  Cedric: The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory kept Kilauea at Volcano Alert Level WATCH and aviation color code ORANGE in its Thursday update.
• 6:27
  Cedric: The north vent produced minor spatter overnight and both summit vents are glowing and degassing, with six shallow earthquakes recorded in the preceding 24 hours.
• 6:38
  Cedric: The observatory describes the summit as highly pressurized and says fountaining, an intrusion, or a new vent remains possible.
• 6:45
  Cedric: Sulfur dioxide emissions during pauses between fountaining episodes run 1,000 to 5,000 tonnes a day, and forecast south to southwest winds could carry vog into communities around the summit.
• 6:59
  Cedric: Louisiana.
• 7:02
  Cedric: A Tropical Storm Warning covers the coast from the Jefferson and Plaquemines parish line east to Ocean Springs, Mississippi, and the Storm Surge Warning begins at the mouth of the Mississippi River.
• 7:13
  Cedric: Forecast surge is 1 to 3 feet on Lake Pontchartrain and 1 to 2 feet from Morgan City to the river mouth.
• 7:20
  Cedric: Mississippi.
• 7:22
  Cedric: Jackson County Emergency Services Director Earl Etheridge issued a voluntary evacuation Thursday for Zone A, the area south of Highway 90, along with low-lying and flood-prone areas, properties along rivers, bayous and creeks, and residents of travel trailers and other
• 7:38
  Cedric: substandard structures.
• 7:40
  Cedric: Five emergency shelters open Friday morning across George, Hancock, Harrison, and Jackson counties, with most closing at noon Saturday.
• 7:48
  Cedric: The Hurricane Warning begins at Ocean Springs and runs east, and forecast surge is 3 to 5 feet from the mouth of the Mississippi River to Ocean Springs and 4 to 6 feet from Ocean Springs to Dauphin Island.
• 8:02
  Cedric: That wraps today's EM Morning Brief.
• 8:04
  Cedric: New episodes drop Monday through Friday in the 5:00 AM hour P.T., so the day starts with clarity instead of catch-up.
• 8:11
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• 8:14
  Cedric: EM Morning Brief is an EOC Voices Podcast.
• 8:17
  Cedric: Stay Safe.