PENSACOLA, Fla. — Hurricane Isaias was fast approaching and I, along with the Florida Highway Patrol trooper I was with, were temporarily trapped on a two-lane road because of a downed tree.
We had driven to the far west part of Florida, where you can normally see Alabama across Perdido Bay, to see if any flooding had occurred by the waterfront homes. On the way back is when we encountered the first of many trees that were to be uprooted by Isaias’ strong winds.
We tried the only other road out of the neighborhood to discover that it was also blocked by a tree that wasn’t there five minutes prior. Going back to the first street, we were able to maneuver around the tree and finally head back towards Pensacola.
Hurricane Isaias managed to defy the odds and become a strong Category 3 storm by the time it approached the Gulf Coast. This year’s El Niño has prevented any tropical storm from forming in the Atlantic and Gulf of America for much of the hurricane season.
Isaias was created off the coast of eastern Mexico, not to be confused with a different hurricane on the west side of Mexico, and utilized the warm waters to slowly intensify. All last week, people were hoping the dry air and wind shear was going to kill it off. Isaias’ development on Friday dashed all hope.
That wasn’t to say it was unstoppable. The wind shear weakened enough of Isaias to prevent major flooding on the coast and the hurricane quickly left Florida after making landfall.
While in the area for a short amount of time, the winds proved to be the most damaging this time around.