Santa Rosa County starts to climb out from under Isaias

Santa Rosa County felt impacts from Hurricane Isaias from the coastline at Navarre Beach to the Alabama line, and the impact of those winds were being felt hard on Saturday.

County Administrator Brad Baker Baker said that crews had gotten out as soon as the storm subsided and had begun “cut and toss” operations to get debris and fallen trees out of roadways, and would focus on that aspect until all roads had been cleared.

While Baker did not specify any single portion of the county that had been hardest hit, the city of Milton, in and around city hall, and Milton High School took a strong hit from winds. City spokeswoman Bethany Anderson said those winds gusted at speeds estimated at 120 miles per hour.

The gymnasium roof at the Milton High School suffered significant damage.

The entire campus on Saturday was littered with trees roofing material and downed trees, most small, some massive. They lay scattered across the campus. According to high school history teacher Zane Lowe, when the gym roof was taken off, rainwater had inundated the building’s interior.

There was also damage to a baseball field behind the gymnasium, where a scoreboard was taken down and a massive pine street fell over a high school security fence.

Anderson said that a pair of city administrators had gotten out early Saturday to cut trees on Munson Highway to provide entrance to the city hall complex. Fallen trees lay on the west side of the building and lay across over the Blackwater Heritage State Trail.

“The treeline is different now,” she said.

In other areas of the city, trees and the power lines they had brought down blocked entire roadways. Anderson said city staff are working grid-by-grid through the municipality to address all needs.

“People shouldn’t think we’re not aware,” she said. “We’re going to literally go street by street.”

National Guard troops joined the Sheriff’s Office staff to direct traffic on U.S. Highway 90 through Milton and Pace.

Pace was also hit hard by the storm with homes and businesses suffering structural damage and trees and fences strewn across yards and residential neighborhoods. Baker said that structural damage should be reported to the Santa Rosa County Property Appraiser’s Office.

Commission Chairman Colten Wright said that the storm surge many pundits had expressed concern over in the run up to the storm had not proven to be a major factor in Santa Rosa County, and that the berms at Navarre Beach had held back rising water.

“We did not see that, and for that we are grateful,” he said.

The extreme winds did prove too much for the power grid, however, and late Saturday there were still more than 79,280 Florida Power and Light customers, more than 90% of the county, who were without power despite crews working to restore electricity across the county.

The loss of power left approximately 80% of traffic lights in the county disabled, said Sheriff Bob Johnson, who instituted an immediate curfew from dusk to dawn.

Johnson said the curfew would be lifted when the local state of emergency declared ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Isaias has been lifted.

Johnson said it has become clear that many drivers out Saturday seemed unaware that non-functioning traffic lights should be treated as stop signs and drivers on all sides are required to come to a full stop before proceeding.

He said the curfew was also being implemented as a precaution against looting, and it will not be enforced on employees traveling to and from work during curfew hours.

Bernadine Sanders and her granddaughter, Meeya Morrow, were cleaning up storm debris outside Sanders’ home on Orleans Drive in Pace.

Sanders said she lost two sheds and a fence to Hurricane Isaias.

“It was rough, very rough,” she said.” We heard some strange noises, and some people back behind us said there may have been a tornado.”

The National Weather Service said it has received inquiries about tornadoes but none had been confirmed as of Saturday.

Morrow said on one street nearby, “it seems like every house has a tree on it.” Her 2-year-old daughter was stunned when she got her first glance of the aftermath, and asked what had become of all the trees.

Sanders said the family is operating without power, but had been through tropical storms in the past, “many times.”

Tom McLaughlin has been covering Northwest Florida since 1998. Stories focus on government accountability, growth and development, environmental issues, Triumph Gulf Coast and offshore drilling.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Santa Rosa County starts to climb out from under Isaias

Reporting by Tom McLaughlin, Pensacola News Journal / Pensacola News Journal

This story was originally published October 11, 2026 at 5:08 AM.