Governor of Alabama Kay Ivey issued a mandatory evacuation for all non-residents, tourists and visitors in key counties likely to be heavily affected by the storm.

On Saturday, Homeland Security Secretary Markwaynet Mullinan  said the US president had approved emergency declarations for the two states to “ensure federal resources are available” for support.

Hurricane Isaias is the first hurricane in the Atlantic’s hurricane season, which largely has been delayed due to El Niño conditions in the Pacific.

It marks the first time in more than 30 years that a hurricane did not form before October.

Ahead of the storm, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned it was likely to bring “life-threatening storm surge” to the US Gulf Coast.

All warnings pertaining to Isaias had been discontinued on Saturday morning, the NHC said.

The post-tropical cyclone is currently moving north and is expected to cross Alabama and into the Tennessee Valley later on Saturday and Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.

Hurricane-force winds on Friday evening extended outward up to 35 miles (55 km) from Isaias’ centre, and tropical storm-force winds extended as far as 205 miles (335 km).

On Saturday morning, more than 400,000 were in the dark in Florida and just over 300,000 customers in Alabama were experiencing outages, according to PowerOutage.us. In Georgia, more than 100,000 customers were without power.

Ahead of the hurricane, Pensacola resident John Guoth, told the BBC that he and his wife would remain at home despite the rest of his street having already left.

“It’s a hurricane, we get them all the time… we kind of knew that when we moved here,” he said, explaining that they have “battened down” anything that “can fly”.

Guoth said he put his ducks and chickens in the bathroom and weighed down his boats and trailers so “nothing flips over”.

A few households remained in the area, describing themselves as “long-term locals” who are “going to protect our homes”.

People in the Florida city who had “seen bad storms before” were still “bunkering up”, Brandin Ruth said. She told the BBC: “You don’t want to underestimate a storm like this”.

One indicator of a storm’s severity to southern communities was Friday’s closure of Stalwart restaurant chain, The Waffle House.

A Waffle House spokesperson confirmed to the BBC that the chain had already closed a number of locations in the hurricane’s path and “will continue monitoring conditions”.

US President Donald Trump also cancelled plans to attend a major American football college game in Tuscaloosa, Alabama because of the hurricane, shifting plans to attend a rally in Tennessee instead.

Two other storms are also forecast to batter North America this weekend.

Hurricane Simon is bearing down on the Pacific coast of Mexico as a category one hurricane. It is set to pick up speed and become category four by Saturday, eventually making landfall near Puerto Vallarta on Sunday, according to Reuters.

Further north, Tropical Storm Rachel, a downgraded hurricane, is heading toward landfall around the US-Mexico border, along the Pacific.

While, Rachel is expected to reach the coast late on Saturday, the impact of the storm is already being felt due to high tides in southern California.

Video footage and photos show several streets under water in Newport Beach, California, through a combination of the tropical storm swells at sea and high tide.

Posting on its account on X, the City of Newport Beach advised people to “avoid the Balboa Peninsula due to street flooding caused by recent storm conditions and elevated tides”.

It also urged people not to drive through flooded streets. Bulldozers have been shoring up the beach to try and prevent further flooding.

(BBC)

Ajinkya Shinde, the CJP’s new designated leader while the others are in detention, released a video telling protesters that “if Delhi Police tries to stop you, wherever they stop you will become your Jantar Mantar”.

Student activist Neha Bora, who had also been detained by Delhi Police, urged demonstrators to “hold the line”.

The large number of protesters expected to descend on Delhi were unable to get anywhere close to Jantar Mantar due to the heavy security presence and road blocks.

Announcements could be heard across the city, asking people to co-operate with the police.

One protester, Sabika Muzaffar, told the BBC she and her mother expected to be detained.

“On the way to the protest site, instead of reciting hymns and verses as we usually do, my mother and I were rote learning our lawyer’s number,” she said.

(BBC)