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Four dead as Isaias weakens to post-tropical cyclone after striking Florida panhandle

At least four people were reported dead on Saturday amid Isaias after it made landfall late on Friday on Florida’s panhandle as a category 2 hurricane, according to authorities. The storm also took down trees, knocked out electricity for hundreds of thousands and flooded highways – but as Saturday evening approached, the region was reopening. Two of the deaths reported during Isaias occurred in Escambia county, Florida, and two others were reported in Alabama, as the storm moved inland, local officials said. Of those deaths, one each occurred in Escambia and Birmingham, Alabama, when trees fell on homes. Another person whose death was linked to Isaias was found in a closed garage with a running generator in Escambia county. Four members of that person’s family have been transported to the hospital with carbon monoxide poisoning, the Escambia sheriff’s office said. “Don’t run any generators inside your home, it can be very, very hazardous,” Florida governor Ron DeSantis said in a press conference. In Alabama, governor Kay Ivey said Isaias – predicted to dissipate on Sunday – “cannot clear fast enough”. Meanwhile, though it had weakened on Saturday to a post-tropical cyclone, Isaias still posed flooding and tornado threats as it moved inland, forecasters and officials warned. “Remember, there can still be flooding from rising rivers,” Jared W Perdue, the secretary of Florida’s state transportation department, said at a news conference. “I’m just going to remind all of you – please, if there’s standing water or flowing water on top of a road, please do not drive through it. “It does not have to be that deep, and it can wash away your car, it can wash away a human, it can become very dangerous very quickly.” More than 679,000 customers were without power across Florida, Alabama and Georgia on Saturday afternoon as those in the path of the storm began the cleanup process, according to PowerOutage.us. Though still high, the number of outages was down from more than 900,000 earlier on Saturday. Storm surge and tropical storm warnings associated with Isaias by then had been discontinued, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned there would still likely be “considerable impacts” associated with Isaias across much of southern Alabama, Florida’s panhandle and south-western Georgia. “Flash, urban and river flooding is possible across the region,” the NHC said in a Saturday-morning advisory, adding that there was a considerable potential for flash flooding and landslides across the southern Appalachians. “A risk for tornadoes will persist … through [Saturday] afternoon across parts of the eastern Florida panhandle, Georgia and the Carolinas.” Isaias through Sunday is expected to produce rainfall amounts of 4-8in across southern Alabama, Florida’s panhandle and Big Bend regions, and south-west Georgia. Localized totals up to 15in are possible, particularly within rain bands across the Florida panhandle and Big Bend. Across much of the remainder of the south-east US, rainfall amounts of 2-5in are expected, and localized higher amounts up to 10in are possible, especially across the southern Appalachians and coastal Carolinas. Isaias made landfall near Destin, Florida, on Friday as a potent category 2 hurricane. It was an atypically late-forming first Atlantic hurricane of the season and lashed the US Gulf coast with heavy rain, fierce winds and life-threatening flooding. Hurricane Milton’s strike on Florida in October 2024 was the last time a hurricane hit the mainland US before Isaias. The hurricane’s maximum sustained winds were 105mph (169km/h). That was intense enough to sound like “a train whistle”, Tim Mowry told the Associated Press after enduring the storm as his home in Pensacola, Florida. Mowry described losing power on Friday afternoon but said could rely on a generator. He said his son tried to drive to his home after his place about 15 minutes away lost power but had to turn around because downed trees and power lines blocked the road. All things considered, Mowry said he was “really fortunate” with respect to how he fared during Isaias. Ashley Weeks, a resident of Crestview, Florida, told the news station WEAR that a tree from her backyard fell on top of her house, damaging the the roof near her daughter’s bedroom and turning the ceiling into piles of debris. It was “just scary – everything, my whole life is in the house”, Weeks said. “We heard a loud … like a bomb went off in the house. It was so loud. And I got up and [saw] the tree through the roof, and it was – freaking out.” While the stronger El Niño seemed to limit the number of hurricanes in the Atlantic for the year so far, Isaias forming in October with maximum sustained winds of 105mph marked a stark contrast from historical trends. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) predicted a quiet year in terms of hurricanes at the beginning of a season that officially begins annually on 1 June. Noaa anticipated between three and six hurricanes, well below the average of seven. An August forecast from Noaa cut the expected number to between two and six. Isais is one of the two latest-forming Atlantic hurricanes on record, tying a record set on 8 October 1905. Otherwise, the second-latest date for the first Atlantic hurricane was 11 September – in 2002 and 2013. None of the eight previous named storms of the 2026 Atlantic season intensified above tropical storm status. The Associated Press contributed reporting

Man dies after jumping into tiger enclosure at Yorkshire zoo

A man has died after being attacked by a tiger after jumping into its enclosure at a zoo in Yorkshire, police have said. Yorkshire Wildlife Park was evacuated shortly after the incident and the site will remain closed on Sunday. South Yorkshire police said that at 1.35pm it received reports of an individual entering the enclosure at the zoo near Doncaster. The force said the attack “resulted in serious injury”. The statement added: “Emergency services attended and sadly, despite the best efforts of medical personnel, the man was pronounced dead at the scene. “The man’s family is aware and is being supported by specialist officers. Our thoughts are with them at this distressing time. “Regarding rumours surrounding the condition of the tiger, the animal was uninjured and remained in the enclosure following the incident and there is no wider risk to the public.” The force earlier said: “We are aware of videos circulating online and we would encourage people not to share this distressing footage.” Yorkshire Wildlife Park said a “serious incident” occurred inside the enclosure. It said in a statement: “Our emergency response procedures were immediately activated, and emergency services are currently attending the scene. “We are working closely with the authorities to ascertain exactly what happened.” It added that the “safety and wellbeing of visitors, staff and animals remain our highest priority”. Footage shared on social media appeared to show a man wearing a black jumper sitting on the ground of the enclosure and being attacked by a tiger. A Yorkshire ambulance service spokesperson said it sent a number of resources to the scene including two ambulances, Yorkshire air ambulance and a doctor.

Dozens reported injured in Yemeni Houthi attack at Riyadh airport

Yemen’s Houthis have launched a missile attack on Riyadh’s international airport in Saudi Arabia, with dozens reported wounded and a witness describing panic in the terminal. Donald Trump told reporters he was evaluating whether the US should join Saudi strikes against the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in neighbouring Yemen. “We may. We’re going to look at it,” Trump said. “We just found out about the recent attack. So we’ll make a decision. We move very quickly.” Saudi authorities did not confirm any new attack or evacuation, but one witness reported hearing an explosion while waiting to board a flight, and another said they saw a strike that left people wounded. “I was on gate 403,” at the domestic terminal, the witness told Agence France-Presse. “I saw [gate] 401 hit, I saw injured [people] in front of my eyes. Everyone was running.” A source at a local hospital told the news agency that five people were in intensive care after being wounded at the airport, and “dozens” more had been injured. The relative of one injured person said they had been wounded in the shoulders and arms by shattered glass and taken to hospital. Witnesses said people were being evacuated from the airport. Saturday’s incident comes amid an escalation of missile strikes by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi ⁠on the kingdom. The airport has already been attacked twice this week, leaving four people dead and ‌others wounded, and ‌badly damaging an aircraft. The Houthis have repeatedly attacked Saudi airports, oil facilities and tankers after a truce in their long-running war with Yemen’s Riyadh-backed government unravelled in July. The attack came as forces allied to the UN-recognised government in Yemen claim to have mounted a successful offensive to retake the Bab al-Mandab strait from Houthi rebels, but accounts vary as to whether the push has been repelled. A Houthi spokesperson said forces from the Saudi-backed government based in Aden “were targeted with a large number of ballistic missiles, artillery support and heavy weapons, resulting in the destruction of more than 22 armoured vehicles and the killing and wounding of dozens, including a number of commanders. “More than 30 ambulances arrived in Aden to transport the dead and wounded from the Saudi enemy’s mobilisations.” By contrast, the Saudi ambassador to Yemen, Mohammed al-Jaber, said: “Blessed Friday and victory for every Yemeni and Arab. Bab al-Mandab has been cleared of the remnants of the Houthi terrorist militia.” The exposed 5 sq mile (13 sq km) Perim Island straddles the strait, acting as a lookout point for all traffic from the Red Sea into the Gulf of Aden and towards the Indian Ocean. Aidarous al-Zubaidi, the president of the Southern Transitional Council (STC), one of the main political forces in the south of Yemen, claimed the island and coastal area had been recaptured from Houthi hands. An official military spokesperson for the UN-recognised government forces qualified the claim, saying only half the area had been recaptured so far. Waddah al-Dabish said newly established Houthi defensive lines had been broken on the land next to the strait, leading to the death of thousands of Houthi fighters. It is thought that as many as 500 Houthis fighters are stationed on the island, and Saudi Arabia is desperate to be able to report that the strait has been reclaimed to show that the land counteroffensive it launched at the beginning of the week is advancing. The report came as the United Nations’ special envoy to Yemen, Hans Grundberg, admitted to the UN security council in New York that Yemen – the poorest country in the world – had lapsed back into full-scale war and said the first victims would be women and children. The Houthis seized control of the strait two weeks ago and said no Saudi-linked commercial traffic would be permitted to go through the narrow waterway. The Houthis are waging a war to remove Saudi influence from Yemen, and have been mounting missile attacks on Riyadh in support of this objective. There have been previous premature reports of military breakthroughs by the Saudi-backed Yemeni government since it launched its counteroffensive at the start of the week, but the recapture of the land by the strait and Perim Island (also known as Mayyun Island) is a military prize western governments desperately need.

Ukraine hit by deadly Russian strikes as ‘thanks’ for Trump diesel deal, Zelenskyy says

Russia launched deadly strikes on civilians in Ukraine as “thanks” for a deal cut by Donald Trump with Vladimir Putin to buy large quantities of Russian diesel, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said, accusing Washington of helping fund Moscow’s war. The Ukrainian president has expressed outrage at the agreement announced by Trump on Friday, which the US president said was needed to reduce diesel prices, and comes ahead of November’s midterm elections in which fuel costs are a key voter issue. The deal, which appeared to blindside Kyiv as it was announced while Ukrainian negotiators were in Miami for peace talks, was described by Zelenskyy as a “gift” to Russia’s president. He said Russia would use the money it raised from the fuel sales to invest in its war and that “any easing of sanctions” would play into Russia’s hands, “allowing it to kill more, wage war for longer”. That prediction was realised hours later, when Ukrainian officials announced that a barrage of Russian strikes on the country’s south-east early on Saturday had killed 20 people, including three children. “Today, Russia expressed its thanks for the lifting of sanctions on diesel exports by dropping five glide bombs on residential buildings in Zaporizhzhia,” Zelenskyy said on social media on Saturday. “Last night confirmed once again that in Russia, they take any easing of pressure to mean they can keep fighting, to mean they can keep dropping bombs on cities. Different signals are needed,” he said. There were also “large-scale power outages” in the capital, Kyiv, the country’s largest private energy provider said. Trump further stoked the fire on Saturday, saying it was time for Ukraine to get a new president, suggesting Zelenskyy has not done enough to end his country’s war with Russia and blaming him for high diesel prices in the US. “I suggest they get a new leader who can make a deal because he could have made many deals and for some reason he never does,” Trump said. Andy Burnham reiterated his “complete solidarity” in a call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the leaders agreed to meet in person in the coming days to continue talks. The prime minister said he recognised the past day had been “difficult for Ukraine” and the two talked about the importance of keeping up pressure on Russia, No 10 said. In stark contrast to Zelenskyy’s open frustration with Trump, a Kremlin readout of Friday’s call between the US president and Putin was glowing, with the Russian ⁠news agency Interfax ⁠quoting an aide as saying it was “very substantive and friendly”. “Neither wanted to be the first to hang up,” the Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said of the two leaders. “They hung up simultaneously, literally at the same time.” Zelenskyy has previously said Putin is playing games with Trump. The diesel deal disrupts four years of western financial pressure on Moscow and leaves Kyiv’s allies in Europe and Nato scrambling to adapt their sanctions plan. The EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, said the diesel deal “provides Moscow with more revenues to wage war”. “This is not the time to ease pressure on Russia, and Europe won’t,” she said on Saturday. “On Monday, EU foreign ministers intend to approve the biggest set of sanctions listings targeting Russia’s war machine since the start of the war.” She was referring to plans to formally add 1,600 new individuals and entities to the EU’s sanctions blacklist. Major European governments have attempted to balance their diplomatic and trade relationships with a mercurial Trump and their support for Ukraine. The German government spokesperson Stefan Kornelius said Berlin “remains committed to the sanctions imposed on Russia and is working with its European partners on further sanctions”, adding that support for Ukraine “remains unwavering”. Ulf Kristersson, the Swedish prime minister, expressed “regret” at the US agreement, saying energy revenues were “a vital source of funding Russia’s war of aggression”. Zelenskyy said on Saturday that Russia “must feel its losses” and has promised to respond. In the Russian-occupied ‌Luhansk ‌region, Ukrainian attacks in the past 24 hours had killed four ⁠civilians and wounded ⁠five, the region’s ‌Russian-installed governor, Leonid Pasechnik, said on Saturday. Zelenskyy said that Ukraine was ready to take “de-escalatory steps” in the war but only if Russia did the same. Russia’s fuel production has become a key point of contention between Zelenskyy and Trump, who has attempted to stop Ukraine from bombing Russian refineries, which he says exacerbates a global diesel shortage. The Ukrainian leader has rejected such requests unless Russia stops attacking Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. The Financial Times reported that during the talks in Miami, Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner raised the possibility that US intelligence sharing could be cut off if Kyiv did not halt the strikes.