Hurricane Isaias struck Florida “like a freight train” as the storm made landfall over the state’s Panhandle and left more than 420,000 without power Friday night into Saturday morning, Lt. Gov. Jay Collins said.
“This thing hit like a freight train. It was fast. It came in like a Mike Tyson punch,” Collins told Fox News on Friday night. “It’s real, I’m sure there is going to be real damage.”
Collins shared an estimated 900,000 people had heeded the warnings to leave Isaias path before it made landfall near Destin, Fla. as a Category 2 storm.
“While some might have ridden it out, if you have please hunker down, stay safe, let’s not put our first responders at risk and they’ll get to you as soon as humanly possible, but let’s let them do their job and remain safe as well.”
Isaias was downgraded to a Category 1 storm at around 10:30 p.m. as it unleashed maximum winds of 90 mph, according to the National Weather Service.
“I don’t think we’re going to have a Michael-like event here, we’re its just going to sit and have pockets of rain, thank goodness,” Collins said, referring to the deadly Category 5 that whalloped the Florida Panhandle on Oct. 10, 2018.
Preliminary reports didn’t show any catastrophic damage to the Sunshine State but Collins warned the storm isn’t over.
“The real extent of the damage as this thing crested and it hit shore, I think you’ll start to see good feedback coming through,” he said “We’re not hearing anything dire at this moment, God willing thats how it stays.”
The Republican leader, who has been in office since August 2025, revealed only power outages and radio damage have been reported.
Roughly 425,000 Floridians were without power as of 2 a.m. Saturday, according to tracker PowerOutage.US.
“We pushed really hard to have people listen to the evacuation orders, its just not worth the risk to you and yours,” Collins said. “You got to listen, got to lead and you’re going to live. It’s that simple.”
Collins applauded his leadership along with Gov. Ron DeSantis during the state’s preparations for the storm.
“We’ve led from the front. We have prioritized response in making sure we are on top of this,” he said.
Collins said over 5,000 National Guard were on standby along with 400 state guard.
Over 6,000 utility vehicles and people were prepared to help with power outages across the Panhandle.
“You got to remind people, once the storm is passed the risk is not over,” he said. “Don’t go out there, don’t get in water puddles or exposed water. Look out for power lines and remain safe. Use extreme caution.”
