Monday 12 October 2026 · Edition of the day

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The Skeptic's Daily

The day's biggest stories, taken apart. For each one: what is actually established, what is only asserted, the questions worth asking — and a plausibility score for the central claim, given everything currently known.

Stories
1
Average plausibility
94%
How to read the score
It rates how well the core claim is evidenced — not how important the story is, nor whether it is good or bad news.
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01ScienceNorth America

Isaias leaves at least four dead and widespread US power cuts

Three outlets report destructive storm effects, with Florida and Alabama facing outages and clean-up work.

BBC News reports four deaths and thousands without power after Hurricane Isaias struck the US on Friday evening and weakened to a post-tropical cyclone. The Guardian reports at least four storm-linked deaths, outages in Florida and Alabama, and warnings of flash flooding as the remnants moved north. Al Jazeera reports a major clean-up effort in the two states and hundreds of thousands without power.

What holds up

  • ✓The BBC and the Guardian report four or at least four deaths associated with the storm.
  • ✓All three outlets report widespread power cuts; the Guardian and Al Jazeera specifically identify Florida and Alabama.

What doesn't yet

  • ?The excerpts do not provide a common timestamp or geographical scope for outage totals, so the differing levels of precision cannot establish a trend.
  • ?No underlying casualty records are supplied, and warnings of further flooding should not be read as confirmation that it occurred.

Ask before you share

  • →When were the death and outage counts last updated?
  • →Which areas face confirmed flooding, and which remain under warnings?

Sources & original reporting

  1. [1]BBC News · Published 10 Oct 2026 · bbc.co.uk
  2. [2]Al Jazeera · Published 12 Oct 2026 · aljazeera.com
  3. [3]The Guardian · Published 11 Oct 2026 · theguardian.com