The 37-year-old from Edmonton won the first Ironman triathlon she entered, which punched her ticket for the biggie — Saturday's world championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.

"This race is a big deal," Findlay said.

The 3.8-kilometre swim, 180k bike and marathon run is still a new distance for Findlay, who has excelled at shorter triathlons.

She's won three straight North American half-Ironman titles, also called Ironman 70.3. Findlay has finished in the top three in those distances 22 times in her career.

Findlay also won the 2020 Challenge Daytona — a 2k swim, 80k bike and 18k run now called a T100 — at the Florida speedway against a stacked international field.

The two-time Olympian was also ranked the No. 1 woman in the world in that distance (1.5k swim, 40k bike and 10k run) in 2011.

Findlay saw her Ironman debut in Lake Placid, N.Y., in July as a successful experiment.

"I was having a lot of success at the shorter T100 and 70.3 and I sort of found that to be my sweet spot. I was making a good living at it," Findlay said.

"The Ironman just kind of scared me. It's just so long, so overwhelming and the training is completely different in some ways."

But she was also beginning to feel stale in the sport. Findlay wondered how many more years she wanted to be a triathlete.

She wanted to give Ironman a shot before she called it a career, so she entered Lake Placid.

"I went there just with the goal of seeing if I liked it, seeing if I liked the training for it and I ended up winning the race and actually loving the prep for it," Findlay explained.

"It's such an unknown distance to me. I knew I trained and prepared for it properly, but you never really know if you're ready for something that's twice as long than I've ever done.

"It rejuvenated my love a little bit for the sport. It was fizzling because I've just been doing it for 20 years."

Hawaii being the birthplace of Ironman almost 50 years ago, and the punishing heat, humidity and crosswinds that racers battle there, give it exalted status in the endurance racing community.

"Now that I'm racing it and prepping for it, I feel that for sure," Findlay said. "It's crazy how much more my sponsors care about it and my fans and my supporters.

"Everyone wants to, if you're not going to win it, just be there and do it because of this history that it holds and being such a harsh, crazy environment to do an Ironman, like an Ironman's hard enough already, but do it in those conditions is totally insane."

Toronto's Tamara Jewett and Danielle Fauteux of Kamloops, B.C., join Findlay in the women's pro field in Kona.

Brock Hoel of Kelowna, B.C., is the lone Canadian men's pro. He set a Canadian men's Ironman record time in Texas in April at seven hours 29 minutes 56 seconds en route to sixth place.

Kona's humidity last year put race temperature at 35 C. Taylor Knibb of the United States and Britain's Lucy Charles-Barclay were running first and second in the marathon when they pulled out, and Norway's Solveig Lovseth went on to take the women's crown.

Findlay, who lives in Bend, Ore., with husband Eric Lagerstrom, trained in Kona in September to help her acclimatize.

"I've prepped for the heat sort of artificially in my garage doing heat training, but I don't live in an environment like that," she said.

Findlay says Kona will be less about trying to beat other women to the finish line, which is her mindset in shorter distances, and more about managing hydration and nutrition in extreme conditions to maintain a steady pace and see where she ends up.

"I'm healthy, I'm fit, I'm prepared as best as I could, but I don't know where that will put me," Findlay said.

"It takes the pressure off to have that I've-never-done-this-before approach to it. People that have gone there and won or had a top five, all eyes are on them. I'm a little bit flying under the radar, which is cool, because every other race that's shorter, I am one of the favourites.

"It's cool to have the ability to do really well here, but not have any pressure to do well. It's kind of just up to me."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 8, 2026.

Donna Spencer, The Canadian Press

The Swedish Academy said the award was in recognition of Carson's "bold and inventive oeuvre."

A poet, essayist, classical scholar and translator, Carson is renowned as a master of esoterica whose body of work constitutes a genre unto itself.

With a bibliography of more than 20 books of poetry, essays, plays, libretti and translations of ancient Greek texts, Carson has defied literary conventions with her signature synthesis of the antiquities and the avant-garde.

She's amassed a devoted readership and a raft of critical accolades, including two Griffin Poetry Prizes, a Governor General's Literary Award, the T. S. Eliot Prize for Poetry, a MacArthur "genius grant" and a Guggenheim Fellowship.

But as her poetic profile has grown over more than three decades, the particulars of Carson's personal life have remained notoriously elusive.

Her public reticence is encapsulated by her scant book-jacket biography: "Canadian poet, essayist and translator of Greek mythology."

A representative for her did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Ingrid Carlberg, permanent secretary to the Swedish Academy, said she reached Carson Thursday in Iceland, where she was "listening to the wind."

Various accounts suggest that Carson was born in Toronto in 1950 and studied classics at the University of Toronto, and has held teaching positions at institutions including McGill University, Michigan University and Princeton University.

Carson made her publishing debut in 1986 with her academic essays on love, "Eros the Bittersweet."

She gained recognition with a series of genre-bending books in the 1990s establishing her style of culling from the literary canon to explore eternal themes. She invoked influences ranging from the Brontë sisters to the Greek poet Stesichorus in the early sixth century BC.

Carson cemented her reputation with her 1998 novel in verse, "Autobiography on Red," which recasts the legend of Hercules as a modern-day love triangle.

Carson became the inaugural Canadian winner of the Griffin Poetry Prize for "Men in the Off Hour" in 2001, and was awarded England's T. S. Eliot Prize for "The Beauty of the Husband" the same year.

In 2014, Carson took the Griffin again for "Red Doc>," a quasi-sequel to "Autobiography on Red."

At the time, she told The Canadian Press she was surprised to win, partly because she doesn't "really like the book" and partly because she'd already won the honour and "thought it wouldn't be fair" to get it again.

"I don't mean it's a bad book," she said. "I mean, I don't know if it's a good book or a bad book. I just have a vision when I start of what a thing is and sometimes it gets there and sometimes it doesn't."

She also prevailed in the poetry category at the 2020 Governor General's Literary Awards for "Norma Jeane Baker of Troy," which in trademark style blends the story of Helen of Troy with elements from Marilyn Monroe's life. She was shortlisted again two years later for "H of H Playbook," a retelling of Euripides’s Greek tragedy, Herakles.

Her more recent works include 2024's "Wrong Norma," her first original work since 2016. The collection of "poetic prose pieces" was published alongside her own illustrations.

Carson is the second Canadian woman to be named a Nobel laureate in the literature category, following short story master Alice Munro's 2013 win. The prize is worth 12 million Swedish kronor, or roughly $1.7 million.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 8, 2026.

Nicole Thompson, The Canadian Press

Meanwhile, Britain says it demoted its consulate in east Jerusalem to a mission and that 20 diplomats will leave the country, after Israel demanded its closure in response to the U.K. banning trade with Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. The consulate sign outside was removed.

Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Thursday. Read our full coverage here.

Explosions are heard in the Saudi capital

A witness says several explosions were heard in Riyadh on Thursday, including a large blast at the city's international airport.

Fire and ambulance crews were being deployed, and smoke was visible, the witness said.

The witness said that outgoing flights were halted, and that passengers were instructed to evacuate the airport. It was not immediately clear how many flights were disrupted, but the witness said the terminal was crowded with passengers and that people were instructed to leave all checked-in luggage behind.

The cause of the blasts was not immediately known. But the explosions came at a time when Houthi rebels have been targeting Saudi airports and oil installations.

Saudi authorities did not respond to requests for comment.

The witness spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

__By Josef Federman

British consulate in east Jerusalem forced to demote itself after Israeli pressure

Britain said it had reached an agreement with Israel's government to downgrade its consulate in east Jerusalem, and a small team of diplomats will continue to operate in what will now be known as the U.K. Mission.

Israel's government said last month it would close the consulate in response to the United Kingdom banning trade with Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said in a statement that the consulate had “ceased to function as a consulate.” He said twenty British diplomats will leave Israel, and that the building will continue to operate with seven diplomats engaged in limited activity.

“Israel will no longer turn its cheek to diplomatic attacks against it," he said.

British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband denied the building will close and said it will be known as the U.K. Mission. Miliband said the seven diplomats remaining will continue to work with Palestinians, but gave no details. The UK said based on the current agreement, it would not take reciprocal action such as expelling Israeli diplomats from London.

A tanker is struck off the coast of Qatar

The British military said late Wednesday that several projectiles struck a tanker off the coast of Qatar, causing multiple casualties.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center said the attack took place in the Persian Gulf, north of Qatar’s city of Madinat ash Shamal. The city is on the northern tip of Qatar.

The U.K. military did not identify the tanker and did not provide any details about the casualties. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack and no comment from Qatar.

Former military secretary accuses Netanyahu of trying to alter records of Oct. 7

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s former military secretary has accused the Israeli leader of altering official transcripts of phone calls from the morning of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks.

The accusations by Maj. Gen. Avi Gil came in a wide-ranging interview with the right-wing Israel Hayom newspaper.

In excerpts of the interview published Thursday, Gil accused Netanyahu of attempting to change records of their phone calls in the first hour of the attack, possibly in an attempt to shift blame for failures that morning from the prime minister to his advisers.

Gil said he reported the attempt, allegedly made by Netanyahu's chief of staff, to the attorney general. Gil served as military secretary from 2021 to 2024.

In the interview, Gil also confirmed that a senior Egyptian intelligence official had visited Israel shortly before the Oct. 7 attack. Asked whether there had been a warning, Gil said he did not know what message was relayed, but added: "Whoever met with someone or received something is still concealing it today.”

Gil’s full interview is expected to be published over the weekend, and an interview with an Israeli TV channel is also planned.

The report comes as Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving prime minister, is seeking re-election on Oct. 27. His Likud party told Israel Hayom that Gil's comments are part of an attempt to oust Netanyahu from power, the paper said.

___

This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.

The Associated Press

The Winnipeg Jets winger picked up his third goal of the season on Wednesday playing on the top line with Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor in a 3-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche.

“Just trying to complement them any way I can and be the best trio we can be,” said Perfetti, who also has three assists on the season.

“Obviously, those two have played together for a while and their chemistry is off the charts, their hockey sense is off the charts. For me just coming in as a new guy to the line, just trying to be the most effective I can and get them the puck because they'll make good things happen.”

Last season, Winnipeg's top line was Scheifele flanked by Connor and Gabe Vilardi, who's taken Perfetti's place on the second line.

Early in the 2026-27 campaign, Connor and Perfetti have been Winnipeg's scoring duo, accounting for eight of the team's 12 goals.

Connor's two against the Avs included the game-winner with one minute left. The tally extended the Jets' (3-0-1) season-opening point streak to four games.

Perfetti's goal against Colorado wasn't achieved with finesse. He went to the front of the net and the puck hit his skate and went in past Mackenzie Blackwood after a point shot by Dylan Samberg.

That's just fine with Connor.

“He does a lot of things well,” he said of Perfetti. “You see the (goal Wednesday), he just wins body position. It’s such an underrated thing for a player — to get to the net and find that lane.

“He makes plays and he’s smart, too. It’s real good. He’s adjusted great.”

Perfetti, a 24-year-old forward from Whitby, Ont., was selected by the Jets with the 10th pick overall in the 2020 NHL draft. He became a regular on the roster in 2022-23, but was hit by injuries and has only played 82 games once in 2024-25.

Last season, he missed 14 games with a high-ankle sprain. The five-foot-11, 185-pound product of the Ontario Hockey League's Saginaw Spirit started slow in his return, with just three goals over his first 27 games of the campaign.

Now times have changed for the better.

“It's fantastic,” Perfetti said. “Obviously, it was a long summer so I had time to heal and really get my body into the shape that I wanted it to be. I spent a lot of time in the gym and on the ice and worked on a lot of things. It's nice to know that it is off to a good start and paying off right now.

“It's nice to get that opportunity. It's always great to move up and get more and that's what every player strives for.”

Now in his sixth NHL season, Perfetti has 62 goals and 163 points across 294 regular-season games. In July, he signed a five-year, US$30-million extension that takes him through the 2030-31 season.

With points in all four of Winnipeg's games, he's having a career-best start to the season.

Connor leads the team with five goals and seven points. Perfetti is next with his three goals and six points.

Scheifele picked up his first two points of the season against the Avalanche, assisting on one of Connor's two goals and Perfetti's marker.

Jets head coach Scott Arniel said he gave Perfetti the opportunity on the top line for a variety of reasons, including his skill set and hockey IQ.

“(Scheifele and Connor) can really help people play well because they have the puck a lot, but they are also hard to play with,” Arniel said. “It takes some time.

“In the exhibition games, I know Cole was getting frustrated because he didn't know where to go, but K.C. and Mark spent time with him. When they're here, they'll tell him to go there, those types of things — being on the same page. Now he's got them figured out.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 8, 2026.

Judy Owen, The Canadian Press

The suspect, who was not named, is the seventh man bailed in the investigation of an apparent plot aimed at RAF Fairford air base, which has been used by American bombers to strike Iran.

British authorities have linked Tehran to the incident that led the U.S. to pull its bombers from RAF Fairford on Sunday.

The Trump administration believed the base faced Iranian threats intended to kill as many American troops and destroy as many U.S. planes as possible, according to a U.S. official, who was not authorized to comment publicly on the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said the U.K. sees “strong indications” that Iran played a part in the incident. He did not provide details about what the suspects were planning or why the U.K. thinks Iran was involved.

Iran has denied involvement, although it has previously said that it considers any base used to attack its territory a legitimate target.

Police are continuing to investigate the incident that led to scores of residents being evacuated from their homes near the base on Sept. 27 as armed police officers and army bomb-disposal experts swarmed the rural area.

Police later said they had found a quantity of an accelerant — gasoline — in three vans linked to the initial five suspects, but no explosives.

All the suspects arrested have been in their 20s and six have been British nationals while one is a dual U.K.-Iranian citizen.

The U.K.-owned base, 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of London, was used by American B-1 and B-52 bombers during the Iran war.

The British government allowed the U.S. military to use RAF Fairford for what it called defensive strikes on Iranian missiles and their launch sites following Iranian attacks on U.K. interests and Britain’s allies in the Gulf.

The Associated Press

Teddy Young, 24, has been charged with two offenses under the National Security Act, including preparing to disclose protected information between November 2024 and May 2025, London’s Metropolitan Police Service said. During the same period, Young allegedly obtained, copied, recorded or retained protected information for the benefit of a foreign power.

Young has been in police custody since he was arrested on Tuesday at his home in Bedfordshire, north of London. He will appear at Westminster Magistrate’s Court in central London on Thursday.

“These are very serious charges against a serving member of the armed forces,” Commander Helen Flanagan, head of counter terrorism policing in London, said in a statement. “We have worked extremely closely with relevant operational colleagues within the Ministry of Defense as our investigation has progressed to ensure appropriate measures could be taken to mitigate any potential risks linked to this matter.”

Police said the charges weren’t related to the recent security alert at RAF Fairford, a British air base from which U.S. bombers have launched strikes against Iran. Three suspicious vans were discovered near the base in the early morning hours of Sept. 27, triggering an investigation that has led to the arrest of seven men.

Young was previously arrested on May 21, 2025, and released on bail pending further investigation. His security clearance was suspended at that time and he was removed from his duties.

The Royal Navy issued a statement acknowledging the arrest of a service member.

“As legal proceedings are ongoing, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage,” the navy said.

Danica Kirka, The Associated Press

Government to exclude people who suffer solely from mental illness from access to MAID

The federal government faces criticism from many groups after announcing Wednesday two major decisions for the path forward in medically assisted dying.

Justice Minister Sean Fraser said Ottawa will not allow people suffering solely from mental illness to access MAID, but does plan to decriminalize advance requests for people at risk of losing their capacity to consent.

Conservative MP Michael Cooper has accused Fraser of sowing division by tying an indefinite pause on the mental-illness expansion to the separate issue of advance requests, despite a looming March deadline.

Advocacy group Dying With Dignity Canada called it a "profoundly disappointing day," and its CEO Helen Long decried the decision to let provinces set their own rules.

---

Tumbler Ridge conspiracy complaint puts focus on messaging and social media firms

The leader of British Columbia's NDP says tech companies simply won't do the right thing unless they have legal obligations.

David Eby's remarks follow new details from the FBI in Seattle about extensive online conversations between the Tumbler Ridge mass shooter and an alleged co-conspirator in Bellingham, Washington.

The F-B-I says the pair spent months discussing tactics, locations and weaponry for the attack that saw the shooter kill eight people, including her mother and brother, before turning the gun on herself.

Eby is calling for social media and other tech companies to be held accountable for reporting online chats about causing harm.

---

Traveller costs must stay down in airport privatization plan: industry group

As aviation leaders descend on Ottawa for a conference today, the head of the country’s main airline industry group says any plan for private investment in airports should keep a lid on costs for travellers.

Jeff Morrison of the National Airlines Council of Canada says more details need to emerge about Ottawa’s move to partially privatize airports before he adopts a firm stance, but that affordability is key.

Prime Minister Mark Carney said last month he wants private investors to take over operations at Canada’s four largest airports, while the federal government would retain oversight and ownership.

Australia handed control of its airports to private investors between 1997 and 2003 in a move that brought billions of dollars in capital investment, but saw increased fees for carriers at the country's four biggest airports, which were often passed on to customers.

---

Oil and gas emissions dropped in 2025 despite increased production: report

A new report says Canada's oil and gas sector accounted for a lower level of emissions in 2025, despite boosts in production.

The Canadian Climate Institute says the country's total emissions increased to 691 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2025 — the equivalent of 161 million gas-powered vehicles driven for one year.

Canada's current target under the Paris agreement is to cut emissions to 40 to 45 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030, and hit net-zero by 2050.

The government's own figures show Canada's total emissions have gone down by just over 10 per cent compared to 2005 levels — making it the worst-performing country in the G-7.

Ross Fraser-Minten from the institute says at the rate things are going, Canada might be as much as 20 years behind on achieving its 2030 target.

---

Connor scores two, Winnipeg Jets edge Colorado Avalanche 3-2

Kyle Connor scored his fifth goal of the season with one minute left in regulation to lift the Winnipeg Jets to a 3-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday.

Mark Scheifele went down the side of the boards with the puck and sent a quick pass over to Connor, who beat Blackwood with a wrist shot that stood up as the game winner.

New linemates Connor and Cole Perfetti have scored eight of the Jets' 12 goals this season.

The Avalanche play the Flames in Calgary tonight, and the Jets host the Anaheim Ducks on Friday.

---

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 8, 2026.

The Canadian Press

The Conservatives say interim leader Lorne Doerkson will be in Surrey to make a policy announcement a day after being in the city to roll out promises for businesses that include eliminating the PST on some equipment.

Surrey is British Columbia's second-largest municipality and includes 10 of the 93 electoral ridings that are up for grabs when voters go to the polls on Oct. 24.

The region was in the election spotlight in 2024 when Garry Begg won Surrey-Guildford by just 22 votes, securing a one-seat majority in the legislature for the NDP.

NDP Leader David Eby was in Surrey on Wednesday to roll out promises including loans of up to $1 million for small and medium-sized businesses affected by tariffs.

The Conservatives won six of Surrey's 10 seats in 2024, though one of those legislators, Elenore Sturko, is now on the ballot as leader of the rival CentreBC party.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 8, 2026.

The Canadian Press

Those are among the findings in the Canadian Climate Institute's annual national emissions report, released Thursday.

The institute, which receives three-quarters of its funding from the federal government, is releasing early estimates of Canada's year greenhouse gas emissions. Ottawa's estimates for 2025 are expected in April.

The institute found Canada's total emissions increased in 2025 by about one per cent in 2025 to 691 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, which is equivalent to the emissions produced by 161 million gas-powered passenger vehicles driven for one year.

"It's not a huge increase but it means that Canada is even further from its emission goals," said Ross Fraser-Minten, the acting director of 440 Megatonnes, a division in the climate institute tasked with analyzing Canada's emissions output.

"There's a widening gap to the targets that Canada has set for itself. We might be as much as 20 years behind on achieving our 2030 target."

Canada's current target under the Paris climate change accord is to cut emissions to 40 to 45 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030, and hit net-zero — where all emissions are captured by nature or technology — by 2050.

The government's own figures show Canada has achieved an emissions reduction of only 10.3 per cent below 2005 levels, with total emissions down 78 million tonnes in 21 years — making it the worst-performing country in the G7.

The Canadian Climate Institute's latest report says Canada's emissions are only 9.5 per cent below 2005 levels.

The report found emissions from the oil and gas sector dropped by 0.2 per cent last year from 2024 levels — that despite Statistics Canada reporting in June that Canada had produced record amounts of crude oil in 2025, about four per cent more than in 2024.

While emissions from the oilsands were 844,000 tonnes higher in 2025 than the year before, a reduction of 1.3 million tonnes in emissions from conventional oil and gas extraction and downstream activities more than offset the increases from upstream producers.

"Much of that progress is related to fugitive methane emission reductions," said Seton Stiebert, a senior fellow at the climate institute. He said the sector's higher rate of efficiency per unit produced is also driving down emissions, meaning the oil and gas sector is finding ways to use less energy to extract, store and ship oil.

The report says buildings, including homes and commercial structures, were the main drivers of Canada's emissions increase in 2025. Fraser-Minten said a colder winter in 2025 is to blame.

"The fact that our buildings are so sensitive to temperature is a reflection of how much the sector still uses fossil fuels," he said.

"If the sector was electrified, it would be less sensitive to that weather effect."

The other big driver behind increased emissions was electricity generation, which has tended to be the main source of emission reductions over the last 20 years.

"That's chiefly down to higher natural gas use. Where we have added new energy demand in the past 20 years, most of that demand is going to natural gas," Fraser-Minten said.

"We've significantly reduced our use of coal, we're using fewer other refined petroleum products, and natural gas is less emissions-intensive than those than those fossil fuels. But it's still a fossil fuel. And higher natural gas use puts a floor on what emissions reductions we can accomplish."

The federal government earlier this year unveiled a national electricity strategy which largely relies on natural gas to help double the size of Canada's grid by 2050.

The government said at the time some jurisdictions prefer natural gas generation because it's affordable and quick, and allows output to be ramped up or down depending on demand.

The emissions increases in 2025 were almost exclusively a result of federal policies under Trudeau, and Fraser-Minten said new policies under Prime Minister Mark Carney's government risk moving Canada in the wrong direction.

In a video released in June, Carney said the Trudeau-era policies were “too expensive and divisive" and acknowledged the country’s emissions would be higher “in the next few years” than projected.

Fraser-Minten pointed to weakened industrial carbon pricing and the delayed implementation of stronger methane regulations as two areas where Ottawa risks seeing emissions rise.

"A third change is it looks like the government may not apply or may even eliminate the clean electricity regulations," Fraser-Minten said. "The electricity sector has made a lot of progress in the past couple of decades, but that progress is slowing down and maybe even reversing.

"The clean electricity regulations were intended to send a long-term, consistent signal to keep us decarbonizing the grid, to deepen the cleanliness of our grid. The removal of the clean electricity regulations might unwind that progress."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 8, 2026.

Nick Murray, The Canadian Press

Isaias was forecast to intensify rapidly and bring strong winds and a life-threatening storm surge to the Florida Panhandle, southern Alabama and southern Mississippi when it makes landfall on the northern Gulf Coast late Friday or early Saturday. Heavy rain with the risk of flooding was possible into the weekend as far inland as the Tennessee Valley.

The hurricane had maximum sustained winds around 80 mph (129 kph) and was moving east-northeast at 9 mph (15 kph) early Thursday morning, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said. It was centered about 420 miles (676 kilometers) south-southwest of the mouth of the Mississippi River.

Coastal communities moved quickly to prepare. Some Gulf oil wells paused production, and at least four Florida school districts canceled classes for later in the week while Okaloosa County announced mandatory evacuations for some coastal areas. Governors in Florida and Alabama declared a state of emergency for dozens of counties.

The National Weather Service told communities from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, to Gulf County, Florida, to prepare for the possibility of “long-duration power outages.”

The hurricane formed late in the season

Isaias developed more than four months into the Atlantic hurricane season and was short by one day of tying a 121-year-old record for the area’s latest-forming hurricane. According to the National Weather Service, the record dates to 1905, when the year’s first Atlantic hurricane formed on Oct. 8.

The Atlantic hurricane season has been unusually quiet this year because of a strong El Niño, which disrupts storm formation over that ocean. Storm activity has been above average in the Pacific, where Tropical Storm Simon formed Wednesday off Mexico.

Isaias is expected to strike a swath of coastline that’s familiar with major hurricanes.

One of the 20th century’s worst storms, Hurricane Camille, killed more than 250 people after hitting land near Waveland, Mississippi, in 1969. Hurricane Katrina in 2005 razed neighborhoods in Mississippi, flooded New Orleans and killed nearly 1,400 people. And Hurricane Michael leveled homes and buildings near Panama City, Florida, in 2018.

Oil production and tourism already affected

Ahead of the storm, oil and gas producers shut down a significant share of offshore production in the Gulf, which accounts for almost 15% of crude pumped annually in the U.S.

As of Wednesday about 25% of the oil production in the region was temporarily halted, taking about 511,000 barrels a day off the market, according to the Marine Minerals Administration. It said eight of the Gulf's 371 manned oil platforms were evacuated.

With oil prices already high, the production cuts are steep enough to affect markets, though other Gulf hurricanes have caused larger disruptions, said Jim Burkhard, global head of crude oil market research for S&P Global Energy. More concerning, he said, is whether Isaias strikes as a powerful storm near refineries.

As it moves inland, Isaias might also disrupt Saturday’s college football showdown between rivals Georgia and Alabama, a game President Donald Trump has planned to attend.

In Alabama, the cities of Gulf Shores and Orange Beach issued a statement encouraging people in low-lying areas to voluntarily evacuate.

Gulf Shores resident Maranie Adams gathered water and other supplies as her family moved belongings, including a hot tub motor, to higher ground. Her family planned to ride out the storm at home, roughly a half-mile from shore, sheltering indoors alongside their flock of chickens.

“We’re having to get crates to bring them into the house so they don’t blow away,” Adams said. “It’s going to be noisy.”

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey issued a state of emergency for 40 counties, while Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declared one for 25 counties in the Panhandle and Big Bend regions. The state also planned to deploy a Miami-based urban search and rescue task force.

In Pensacola, electric utilities were pre-positioning crews to quickly repair any power outages. City officials provided sand for residents to fill sandbags to protect their homes against flooding. And Mayor D.C. Reeves urged people to check on older adult neighbors and others who might need help.

“Obviously no need to panic at this point,” Reeves told a news conference. “This is really about preparation.”

___

Rico reported from Atlanta, Collins from Hartford, Connecticut, and Golden from Seattle. Associated Press journalists Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, and Julie Walker in New York contributed to this report.

R.j. Rico, Dave Collins And Hallie Golden, The Associated Press