Hurricane Michael’s aftermath

Our live coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Michael has ended. Go here or scroll through the posts below to read more about the storm.

A US Customs and Border Protection helicopter crew took these photographs of the devastation left behind by Hurricane Michael while conducting search and rescue operations near Panama City, Florida, on Thursday.

Here’s what they saw:

Mexico Beach Mayor Al Cathey said the damage from Hurricane Michael has devastated his town.  

Cathey said he doesn’t believe anyone is still trapped or needs to be rescued.

The town’s main concern now is clean up, he added.

“I’m worried about people trying to come back and getting in our way with this debris removal and clogging … our main street,” Cathey said. “We’ve got to clear the roads and people are going to have to just stop coming to take pictures.”

Inmates from Florida’s Walton County Jail worked to clear debris along the roads following Hurricane Michael, according to the sheriff’s office.

Five inmates had recently graduated from a heavy equipment operations class at the jail on Sept. 13, the Walton County Sheriff’s Office tweeted.  

As Michael rolled through, the inmates who recently graduated “volunteered to help their community following the storm because they’ve participated in programs to learn to use heavy equipment while incarcerated at the jail,” the sheriff’s office tweeted.

Tallahassee announced Friday afternoon that 90% of the traffic lights in the city are back online and power has been been restored to 38,000 customers.

Businesses are beginning to reopen, including Walmart, Target, Whole Foods, and various gas stations. Several restaurants, including Whataburger and McDonald’s, are open, and cinemas have reopened with a full schedule of movies.

The storm did leave its mark on the city. Here’s what happening:

However, recovery and cleanup seem to be going smoothly. City crews are restoring park facilities, 288 road closures have been resolved, and students may return to school as soon as Monday.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced Friday that they would speed up federal disaster assistance to Florida and provide support to displaced homeowners and low-income renters.

On Thursday, President Trump issued a major disaster declaration for five Floridian counties, allowing HUD to offer federal funding and assistance to those affected.

In a statement, HUD announced a series of relief measures including immediate foreclosure relief, as well as making mortgage and home rehabilitation insurance available to residents.

Read about HUD’s disaster relief programs here.

The South Florida Urban Search and Rescue team is using specialized equipment and a dog to look for survivors under the rubble left by Hurricane Michael in the beach city of Mexico Beach, Florida, a team spokesperson told CNN.

The team had to use equipment to extricate someone from a home.

They also helped rescue 15 other people from homes in the area.

The Gulf Specimen Marine Lab in Panacea, Florida, took a beating when Hurricane Michael hit. At least four feet of storm surge swept into the lab, employees told CNN affiliate WTXL.

The lab lost power, causing the oxygen pumps to fail and spelling potential disaster for more than 200 species of sea life that live inside.

Executive Director Cypress Rudloe had been sheltering in Tallahassee, but rushed back to Panacea on Wednesday night to save the animals.

“And I’ve been running around, frantically trying to put oxygen on my big cobia and all these bigger fish and my sharks and stuff like that and trying to get life support back up for these guys,” Rudloe told WTXL. “I’m very lucky and I’m just glad that I’m still here.” 

His efforts paid off – the aquarium is still standing, and he managed to save all the sea life.

A search is underway for a motorist who went missing during the storm Thursday, according to Jeffrey Stern, the director of the Virginia Department of Emergency Management Agency.

State police and local authorities are searching in Nottoway County, Virginia State Police Superintendent Colonel Gary Settle said.

“With regards to the missing motorist, we are still searching for that person. We realized at the time that there was someone in the vehicle that got swept away and we’ve now recovered the vehicle but we’ve not recovered the person that we know was in the vehicle,” Settle said.

Some of the most severe impacts were felt in Virginia, where authorities said five people had died — four of whom drowned.

President Trump tweeted Friday afternoon that he would be visiting Florida and Georgia next week.

“People have no idea how hard Hurricane Michael has hit the great state of Georgia,” he wrote, adding at the end, “We are with you!”

He last spoke about the hurricane on Thursday, when he vowed, “we will not not rest or wager until the job is done and the recovery is complete.”

At least 1,372,656 customers are without power across seven states as of 1:30 p.m. ET Friday, according to multiple utility websites and emergency management offices.

Here’s a breakdown of the outages:

(Sources: Florida State Emergency Response Team, NC Emergency Management, Georgia Power, Alabama Power, South Carolina Emergency Management Division, Virginia Department of Emergency Management and Maryland Emergency Management Agency.)

After Hurricane Michael tore through southeastern Virginia overnight, leaving at least four people dead from drowning, the state is now dealing with “flooding, downed trees, closed roads, and a lot of debris,” Gov. Ralph Northam said Friday.

“A wide swath of Virginia, from southwest to Hampton Roads, suffered flooding, high winds, and tornado damage from the storm,” Northam said, adding that crews are still assessing damage in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael.

Five tornados were reported in five counties: Amelia, James City, New Kent, Pittsylvania, Halifax, and Gloucester.

The state police also face a mammoth task of rescue and recovery. As of Friday morning, they had responded to approximately 300 traffic crashes and 230 calls for blocked roads and high water, Northam said.

He added that the state sent water rescue crews and some management staff to Florida and Georgia to help with Michael.

“We hope that the number of fatalities due to this storm do not increase,” Northam said.

A US Coast Guard helicopter crew rescued a mother and her children Thursday after they became trapped by downed trees near Wewahitchka, Florida, the US Coast Guard said.

The Coast Guard shared this photograph after the rescue:

At least 84 buildings that housed more than 2 million chickens were destroyed in the storm, according to the Georgia Department of Agriculture.

Cotton crops “suffered massive loss,” when winds drove the fiber to the ground or tangled it, the department said in the statement.

Farms, dairies and processing plants were also impacted by the storm.

The department is still assessing damage to the peanut and pecan industry.

“Early reports suggest that many of the processing plants and buying points for peanut and pecans have received significant damage,” the department said.

Portions of Highway 98 in Carrabelle, Florida, were severely damaged during Hurricane Michael.

The road was cracked and it appeared that portions of asphalt were washed out into the beach area.

The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office took a video of the damage.

Watch:

Tyndall Air Force Base opened a runway for air traffic Thursday after it suffered major damage during Hurricane Michael.

After clearing a runway, the base welcomed the first aircraft since the storm hit.

“This will allow support to facilitate humanitarian assistance to Tyndall Air Force Base. Tyndall Air Force Base received extensive damage in the wake of Hurricane Michael,” the base said in a statement.

Here’s what the base looked like before the storm:

Here’s what it looked like after:

Two people were killed in Marion, North Carolina, when their vehicle struck a tree that had fallen due to high winds, said Adrienne Jones, the deputy director for the McDowell County Emergency Medical Services. 

Jones said two vehicles actually struck the tree.

Two people inside that car called 911 to report the accident and when emergency responders came on scene, they found two vehicles that had crashed.

Of the two people in the first vehicle — one was determined to have died on the scene. The other occupant was airlifted to a hospital where that person succumbed to injuries from the accident.

The people in the car who reported the accident were both uninjured. 

 “It was a very large tree and required a lot of equipment from DOT,” Jones said.

This brings the death toll from the storm to 13:

William Williams snapped this photo of a collapsed bridge off of Cary Shop Road in Burkeville, Viginia.

With the fallout of Tropical Storm Michael causing flooding all over Virginia and North Carolina, there are several roads that are either collapsed or so full of water they cannot be driven on.  

This shows just one of them:

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said in a news conference today that Tropical Storm Michael “left behind a long track of damage” to the state.

He reported at least one death from the storm, with two other possible storm-related deaths that are pending confirmation.

“Sadly at least one life in North Carolina was lost to Michael’s fury. A man died yesterday in Iredell County when a tree fell on his vehicle when he was driving on US 64 and we mourn with his family and friends,” Cooper said.

“We also have reports of a vehicle running into a fallen tree that resulted in 2 other people being killed in McDowell County. We are waiting on official confirmation of that.”

Local first responders rescued nearly 100 people and evacuated many more in flash floods.

Thirty-one school systems closed today and 30 school systems had delayed openings.

Wind gusts reached up to 70 mph in the Outer Banks and they received nearly 10 inches of rain in Alleghany County.

Nearly half a million homes and businesses are without power, the governor said.

Flash floods receded overnight but some rivers are still rising and there are two rivers that are forecasted to crest out of their banks today. Cooper said not much damage is expected from that.

Many fallen trees have been reported and there are hundreds of primary and secondary roads closed.

“We saw some powerful rushing waters yesterday,” Cooper said, adding that many roads are damaged as a result.

Despite the weather being beautiful this weekend, Cooper cautioned people to stay out of the water as there will be heavy surf and riptides caused by Michael.

Dozens of houses in the northern section of Mexico Beach are just gone. Hurricane Michael swept them away.

The greenery, too, is completely gone.

For more before and after imagery, click here.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

When Hurricane Michael blasted through Florida’s Panhandle, it downed power lines.

The absence of light at night is visible in the worst hits areas, even into Georgia.

It’s still too dangerous in many places for Hurricane Michael evacuees to return home.

But for now, they – along with their loved ones – can check on properties ravaged by Hurricane Michael with new aerial imagery from NOAA.

The photos are taken by planes, equipped with cameras, that take images from less than a mile above the devastation. The resulting images are used to observe which areas are the hardest hit, and also helps authorities determine where help needs to go.

The images are very clear, which allows people to not only see if their house is still there, but if it’s received roof damage.

They are updated daily, about every 12 hours, and can be viewed here. (Zoom in to your city and neighborhood.)

To find out how you can help the victims of Hurricane Michael, click here.

Tyndall Air Force Base, located just east of Panama City, Florida, “took a beating” and the base “requires extensive cleanup and repairs,” Colonel Brian S. Laidlaw, Commander of the 325th Fighter Wing said in a letter posted on their website. 

Photos from the base show at least one aircraft – which was not functional – upside down and seemingly in someone’s yard.

Laidlaw said the base remains closed as they restore basic utilities and clear the roads, “I know that you are eager to return. I ask you to be patient and try to focus on taking care of your families and each other. We can rebuild our base, but we can’t rebuild any of you.” 

The good news: Tyndall has had no reported injuries or fatalities.

The damage to the base, however, is extensive:

BEFORE MICHAEL

AFTER MICHAEL

Sen. Marco Rubio told CNN’s New Day that recovery from Hurricane Michael will be “a long-term thing.”

“This will take a long time for Panama Beach to recover, and a much longer time for Mexico Beach to get up and going,” he said. “Look, this is as bad as it gets. It is hard to envision it worse than this.”

Watch:

FEMA administrator Brock Long, who’s agency is in charge of the recovery, told CNN this morning that he expects the death toll to rise.

He added, “Bigger FEMA is not the answer. Better building codes, resiliency, pre-disaster mitigation is the answer if we want to overcome and reduce the impacts of disasters in those areas.”

Hurricane Michael tore through southeastern Virginia overnight and left widespread flooding, and already at least four people have drowned.

Two of the storm-related deaths were reported by the Central District of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of Virginia and three were reported by the Western District office, according to Maribeth Brewster, the communications director for the Virginia Department of Health.

Brewster confirmed that four were from drowning and the fifth was in a motor vehicle death.

A news release from the Hanover County Fire-EMS Department says Lt. Brad Clark was killed while responding to a two-vehicle crash when a tractor trailer struck his engine.

Corinne Geller with the Virginia State Police told CNN today that the Medical Examiner’s Office has declared Clark’s death storm-related.

See video of the flooding in Roanoke, Virginia (c/o Jim Harshaw):

**A word of caution: If you encounter flooding while driving like this video shows, officials recommend you do not try to drive through it – turn around, don’t drown.

CNN is in Mexico Beach, Florida, where it’s “utter devastation.”

CNN’s Miguel Marquez, reporting from the obliterated city, said “most of the homes and businesses along the ocean are gone. Wiped down to foundations.”

Marquez says there enormous numbers of law enforcement and search/rescue personnel started to arrive last night. Specifically, a large convoy from Orange County Sheriff came into the demolished town.

There are 165 search and rescue personnel going house to house and they can only search during daylight hours.   

There are dozens, maybe hundreds, of residents who either stayed here or were able to get back today, Marquez reports. The team has found about a dozen people who survived the storm. Some want to leave, but most don’t. 

As for provisions, the team came across several people at a convenience store who were eating food that had blown out of the store. They said they hadn’t seen any decent food in the last 24 hours.

CNN’s Dianne Gallagher just spoke with Scott Campbell, the CEO of Bay Medical Sacred Heart in Panama City. 

He rode out hurricane Michael in the hospital. He tells CNN that it was extremely frightening – and the damage is significant.

While no one was injured during the storm, Campbell tells CNN that the roof on the tower, where most of the patients would be, lifted up during a wind gust.

He says that it did not come off completely but it did lift enough to where water began pouring into the hospital.

They moved some patients into the hallways.

Campbell says the windows are all double paned, but the exterior panes on several of the windows did break and water started coming in.

The third floor maternity care unit was evacuated to another level due to flooding.

Hospital officials moved some of the ventilator patients to another area because the generator could not handle all of the patients at the same time without interrupting care. We are told that none of the patients, including the critical cardiology and pulmonary patients, had their care interrupted due to the hurricane.

There were no injuries or deaths attributed to the hurricane and the issues that arose from it.

The hospital had about 1,500 people –- doctors, nurses, staff, patient, patient’s families, some staff members families including Scott Campbell’s wife – inside the building when the storm struck.

At least 1,272, 235 customers are without power across seven states as of 7 a.m. ET Friday, according to multiple utility websites and emergency management offices.

Five Michael-related deaths are being reported in Virginia by the state’s verified Department of Emergency Management Twitter account.  

This brings the death toll from the storm to 11:

The VA Department of Emergency says they had 5 suspected tornados and are reporting 520,000 without power, and 1,200 roads are closed.

As Michael moves into the Atlantic, the days of misery are far from over in the coastal cities left devastated beyond recognition. There’s no water, no power and emergency officials have no access to many towns from the Florida Panhandle to Virginia.

Michael, one of the most powerful hurricanes to hit the United States, left the East Coast early Friday morning. Yet, parts of Virginia are still seeing dangerous wind gusts, the National Hurricane Center said.

Aerial footage shows coastal cities in Florida completely wiped out. Residents are walking through piles of debris, some assessing the damage and others trying to get out and find food.

By the numbers: 11 people are dead across 4 states as a result of Hurricane Michael. Nearly 1.4 million customers are without power in 7 states due to outages. Recovery efforts continue in Florida, Georgia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Maryland.

Read our latest report: Michael is leaving behind millions of people facing a daunting recovery in the days ahead

Tangie Horton and her husband should have been celebrating their 32nd anniversary on Wednesday. Instead, they watched Hurricane Michael descend upon the Florida Panhandle, leaving destruction in its wake.

The couple lives in Mexico Beach, but they rode out the storm in nearby Callaway.

On Thursday, they did not attempt to go to Mexico Beach, as search and rescue teams had sealed off the area to the public. Instead, they drove to a friend’s home along State Road 22 through Callaway, Parker and Panama City. Horton said she cried as they drove through the wreckage, “knowing everyone lost everything.”

Horton captured the drive on video. At one point, she said, “There are a lot of people out trying to dig through what’s left of what they’ve got.”

Watch:

Panama City resident David Sebastian stayed in his damaged townhome Wednesday night with his roommate and five dogs because he said they didn’t have cell service or electricity to figure out where to go.

The roof of his townhome was ripped apart as Hurricane Michael slammed into Panama City.

“We had lost service and data during the storm. We lost the roof to the house. The townhouse next to us fell in. The glass blew out the windows. Water was pouring in from everywhere. We barely managed to stay safe,” Sebastian said.

He continued: “We couldn’t get out last night because of the downed trees and power lines plus we had no data so no news about anything whatsoever. We had to stay in the house in two inches of water.”

Sebastian, his roommate and the dogs eventually made it out and headed to Panama City Beach.

Mississippi State University meteorology student Christopher Pipkin watched the hurricane pass through Marianna, Florida, before he made it out of the city Thursday morning.

“I’ve never seen anything like it before in my life. The feeling was overwhelming and terrifying,” Pipkin said. “I remember standing on the sidewalk watching transformers blow and trees snap before my eyes. Seeing the devastation happen before my eyes was absolutely horrifying.”

As he and his friends left Marianna Thursday morning, they captured the damage along Interstate 10. They eventually headed west when they realized the I-10 was impassable to the east.

“Cell towers went down around 12 a.m. last night, and all of the interstate was covered in trees,” he wrote on Facebook, posting images of power poles snapped in half and forests demolished.

A US Coast Guard aircrew rescued a Florida woman whose Panama City neighborhood was inundated by flood waters from Hurricane Michael Wednesday evening.

The aircrew was conducting search and rescue operations, when they were “signaled by flashlight from good Samaritans who were concerned for their neighbor in distress,” the Coast Guard said in a statement.

The woman was hoisted to safety and taken to Bay Medical Sacred Heart hospital, the Coast Guard said.

Southern Virginia is beginning to flood as Hurricane Michael, now a tropical storm, moves across Georgia and South Carolina.

The storm has brought heavy rain, high winds and flash flooding to parts of North Carolina and Virginia, particularly in the states’ mountainous regions.

Emily Waddell of Simpsons, Virginia, has gotten the brunt end of it. Her property, Rainbow Rock Farmstead, has been hit by the flash flooding. Waddell lost a chicken coop and four of their six gardens.

“We didn’t expect it to get this bad, this creek flooded with Florence but only about a quarter of this amount,” she told CNN via Instagram. 

Michael is expected to dump four to seven inches of rain from South Carolina to Virginia. Strong winds are expected to move across North Carolina and Virginia Thursday night.

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar declared a public health emergency in Georgia due to damage from Hurricane Michael, according to a release from HHS.

The declaration will help ensure those who rely on Medicare and Medicaid have access to the care they need, according to the release.

HHS has moved 400 medical and public health personnel and equipment into impacted areas of Georgia and Florida to assist with storm recovery.

Some neighborhood streets in Salem, Virginia, were inundated by flood water Thursday as the storm moved across the state.

Sara Warren took this video of a flooded street in her neighborhood.

Warren said although this street does gather rain, she and her neighbors were not expecting this much flooding.

Watch:

At least 1,085,356 customers were without power across six states following Hurricane Michael, according to multiple utility websites and emergency management offices.

Here’s a breakdown of the outages:

One thing to note: It is unclear when these outages were initially reported and if they can all be directly attributed to Hurricane Michael. Not all utility providers are accounted for in this list.

(Sources: Florida’s State Emergency Response Team, NC Emergency Management, Georgia Power, Alabama Power, SCEG, Dominion Energy, and Appalachian Power)

Sharon Barrier is doing OK right now in Dalkeith, Florida, so she’s giving back.

“If you need water, you may come to our home and get some from us,” she wrote on Facebook. “We have the well running off the generator. Please don’t go without.”  

Hurricane Michael may have devastated parts of the South, but it didn’t destroy its Southern hospitality.

Barrier said the storm was horrible.  

Her mother-in-law, Anne Barrier, who resides in Port St. Joe, stayed with her and her husband during the storm.

After the storm, they went back to Port St. Joe to check on her mother-in-law’s house. She said it looked like “a war zone.” 

The doors had been blown into the damaged home, which was still standing.

“The smell is horrible and I started to cry,” she said. “It is really just sickening to think about.” 

Bay, Gulf, Franklin and Washington counties are still under a mandatory curfew because of Hurricane Michael, according to an emergency alert.

The curfew extends from sunset to sunrise. People were urged to returned their shelters by 7 p.m. ET, according the alert.

The Florida Department of Transportation reported that Interstate 10 reopened in both directions, Gov. Rick Scott tweeted.

Read his tweet:

Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, speaking at a news conference Thursday, said the city was dealing with power outages and thousands of downed trees.

The mayor said the city is currently assessing the damage and that no major injuries were reported in their city.

Gillum added that 88% of pump stations were off the power grid system and an estimated 150,000 gallons spilled from the wastewater stations during the storm.

The spillage was reported to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, he said.  

Vice President Mike Pence addressed the aftermath of Hurricane Michael on Thursday afternoon at the US Department of Agriculture.

“President Trump has taken decisive action to make sure that the full resources of the federal government are available to people in Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas that have been impacted on this historic storm,” Pence said at the news briefing, while sitting next to Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue.

“I want to assure all those looking on that we’re going to continue this government-wide effort to help Americans in the city and on the farm,” the vice president said.

Pence then spoke directly to people impacted by the hurricane and said, “From the heart of the American people, we are with you, we will stay with you.”

Scott Cawthron, a Mexico Beach resident who, up until yesterday, had a home there, says he survived Hurricane Michael huddled with his mother in a closet as the floodwaters rose and the roof flew off its foundation.

“The flooding occurred and it was much more than the initial report of six to nine feet. It was 9 to 12 easy. It was outside my bedroom window upstairs. It started flooding downstairs. I told my mother, who is 72 years old, come upstairs and we hid in a closet. The floor started sinking away from us, and the roof truss fell on the floor and I couldn’t get out of the closet,” he said.  

“God gave me the strength to get the door open, and get her on the door that we were pushing open, and the sheet metal wedged on my head so I can protect her from the wind. She has a bad gash on her foot, but we’re okay.

He added that he hoped the rest of his family is OK, but he hasn’t heard from them.

Alex Forbes, a Mississippi State University meteorology student, and his classmates rode out Hurricane Michael in Marianna, Florida, to experience it firsthand.

He took this video during the storm:

Forbes also shot this video of the hurricane’s damage.

The Gulf Coast Regional Medical Center in Panama City, Florida, is evacuating 130 patients Thursday to neighboring hospitals, according to a hospital spokesperson.

The most critically ill patients will be moved first, according to Ed Fishbough, assistant vice president of communications for HCA Healthcare.

“Until we can be certain of stable public power, water and sewage systems, our patients will be safest in our neighboring hospitals,” the hospital said in a statement.

As Hurricane Michael swept across the Florida Panhandle, it left a trail of destruction and widespread power outages across numerous states.

As of Thursday afternoon, there are currently 486,827 utility customers without power in Georgia, Florida, the Carolinas, and Alabama.

Here’s a breakdown of the outages:

The number could rise as the storm moves northeast toward Virginia. Meanwhile, the US Army Corps of Engineers has deployed a team to work on providing temporary power in Florida.

The death toll from Hurricane Michael rose to six Thursday after a new death was reported in North Carolina. 

A 38-year-old man was killed Thursday when a large tree fell on his vehicle on Highway 64, east of Statesville, North Carolina, according to Iredell County Fire Marshal David Souther.

In Florida, four people were killed in Gadsden County as a result of the hurricane, according to Lt. Anglie Hightower, spokesperson for Gadsden County Sheriff’s Office.

A child was killed in Seminole County, Georgia, Wednesday after a metal carport crashed into the roof of her home. 

President Trump just spoke briefly about Hurricane Michael during a human trafficking event at the White House.

He expressed his sympathy for victims of the hurricane, and for “the many families who have been displaced and the businesses that have been affected by this devastating hurricane.”

He thanked state and local authorities, as well as first responders and law enforcement, for their work in the hurricane’s aftermath.

He also emphasized the federal administration’s full support. “FEMA and first responders are on the ground, and we have teams currently conducting search and rescue missions,” he said, adding that the “incredible” Coast Guard had “saved many lives.”

At the end of his remarks, he said the hurricane moved so fast that “it went through like a bullet, but it was a devastating bullet. It was winds about as big as we’ve ever seen in history. We’ve never had anything like this.”

At least five people were killed after Hurricane Michael slammed into the Florida Panhandle and portions of Georgia.

Four people died in Gadsden County, Florida, as a result of the hurricane, according to Lt. Anglie Hightower, spokesperson of the Gadsden County Sheriff’s Office.

One man died after a tree fell on a home near Greensboro in Gadsden County Wednesday, Hightower said. She does not yet have more details on the other three deaths, reported Thursday.

One child died in Seminole County, Georgia, on Wednesday after a free-standing metal carport was lifted into the air by the wind and crashed into the trailer, according to Travis Brooks, the director of Seminole County Emergency Management.

Michael is still a tropical storm with sustained winds of 50 mph, according the National Hurricane Center’s latest advisory.

At this moment, northeast South Carolina is experiencing tropical storm conditions.

Flash flood watches have also been issued for much of the Carolinas and Virginia. Flash flooding is occurring in the states’ mountainous regions.

Strong winds will move across North Carolina and Virginia Thursday afternoon and into the night.

Michael is expected to dump four to seven inches of rain from South Carolina to Virginia.

Flash flood watches track up the coast to Boston, where heavy rain is expected. A cold front pushing across the country will also move into the Northeast. This front is also one of the upper level elements helping steer Michael out into the Atlantic.

Tornado watches have also been issued for the east side of the storm.

A few tornadoes are likely with a couple of intense tornadoes possible across the watch area, the National Weather Service said.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper urged residents to remain vigilant as Michael, which is now a tropical storm, moves northeast.

After slamming Florida and lashing Georgia, Michael is now threatening the storm-weary Carolinas. Tornadoes, dangerous winds and more flooding are possible in many of the same areas still recovering from Hurricane Florence.

Michael is expected to dump 4 to 7 inches of rain from eastern Georgia to the southern mid-Atlantic and up to 9 inches of rain in parts of North Carolina and Virginia, the National Hurricane Center said.

Panama City Beach US Coast Guard’s AIRSTA Savannah aircraft is currently conducting response operations in the wake of Hurricane Michael, and they posted this video showing a storm-damaged neighborhood.

Numerous homes had their roofs torn off and sand from the beach appears washed up on the road. Some buildings were totally obliterated, others, miraculously, appear untouched.

See it:

The US Coast Guard Southeast released these aerial photos of the coastal area near Apalachicola, Florida.

The Coast Guard said it took these photos while crews were assessing the hurricane’s damage. In one photo, a boat appeared to be turned on its side.

Here’s what it looks like:

Nearly 8,000 Hurricane Michael evacuees stayed in American Red Cross shelters in Alabama, Georgia and Florida, according to FEMA.

Red Cross and other communities organizations were also preparing meals for those affected by the devastating storm, FEMA said in a statement.

Here are some of the efforts underway right now:

Jeff Byard, FEMA’s associate administrator for the Office and Response and Recovery, said crews were focused Thursday on rescue efforts in communities affected by Hurricane Michael.

“Priority one today is continuing our search and rescue efforts. The state of Florida is doing an outstanding job. We hope to have the initial search done, which is a wide area in the next 72 hours or so,” he told CNN.

Byard said it’s too early to say how many people are unaccounted for.

“We want to get to those survivors and unfortunately, you look at the devastation and the strength of the storm. The evacuation rates that were not realized. Those fatalities may very well be realized, but what a job search and rescue does and all levels as a tough job. Right now, we want to get to as many survivors as we possibly can,” he said.

FEMA, he said, is also “planning for a very long-term recovery effort in Florida, Georgia, and other states.”

Watch:

Residents across the Florida Panhandle woke Thursday morning to survey the devastation wrought by Hurricane Michael.

Among them were Frank Knight and his wife Terri, who rode out the storm along with most of their neighbors in a mobile home park in Panama City.

“Just like everybody else, didn’t want to leave what we had,” Knight said when asked why he and his wife chose to stay. “Basically, I had no choice. Everything I have is right there. It’s just the choice we had to make.”

Downed trees lay across their home Thursday morning as Michael – now a tropical storm with winds of 70 mph – plowed north to the Carolinas.

“Everything we have is right there – gone,” said Knight, pointing at his home, now a mangled wreckage of twisted metal and splintered wood.

The Knights and other residents of the park told CNN they were waiting for chainsaws to cut up the trees that fell on their homes and cars.

“Now I’ve got to start today with a sledgehammer and … start pulling it apart,” he said. “Try to salvage what I can.”

See more.

A man who rode the hurricane out as it directly impacted Mexico Beach, Florida, just told CNN’s Brooke Baldwin what he experienced. His name is Scott.

Why he stayed: “We thought that the hurricane was not going to increase, but decrease. We tried to stay until the day before yesterday, and then, after the bridges all closed and everything, we knew we had to stay here and bunker down.”

What he heard: “When the surge came in and stuff, it was so tremendous that once it came in, you couldn’t do anything besides hear all the homes and everything just tumbling and crashing.”

What he saw: “What we seen was first the cars started floating by and stuff and all the debris was in the air and the wind was just so strong and stuff. The next thing, the water. When the water came in, houses started floating in front of our home and stuff. And then once you seen that, then everything went black. You couldn’t see anything anywhere. The storm was so strong.”

On the pieces that remain: “You could see behind me. This is their homes and belongings and everything, that we’re standing in. There’s that mattress. We had furniture in our house that wasn’t even our furniture. The surge had brought stuff in so bad. It’s like the walls collapsed and everything and stuff. The only thing I could find of ours was my briefcase.”

Watch the interview:

St. Dominic Catholic Church in Panama City, Florida, has suffered significant devastation.

The church’s Parish Hall, the congregation’s main gathering space for fellowship and activities, and its bookstore were destroyed.

Lori Ubowski, the church’s director of music and social media posted these photos to the church’s Instagram account. Ubowski evacuated to Orlando with her family.

She says the church’s sanctuary and religious education classroom building have also suffered damage, and part of the roof was ripped off of the Rectory.

Ubowski says they have not been able to reach many members of the church who did not evacuate.

“We are truly concerned for their safety and hope to be able to connect with them soon. Those who evacuated or have cell/data service have been communicating via Facebook and text, and like so many all over Panama City, are asking for help locating loved ones who stayed to ride out the storm.”

“Despite the devastation, as a parish family, we remain hopeful and pray,” she said.

President Trump on Thursday talked up the early response efforts after Hurricane Michael pounded the Florida Panhandle, saying FEMA and first responders are getting “rave reviews.”

 The President said the hurricane was “unbelievably destructive and powerful” and said wind speeds reached “almost 200 miles per hour,” noting it was one of the most powerful hurricanes to hit the US.

“I’ll tell you FEMA has gotten rave reviews,” Trump said, adding that “unbelievable large amounts of water and food” are already being distributed in the affected areas and power companies are quickly working to restore power.

The President added that he spoke today with Florida Gov. Rick Scott and said Scott is “very happy” with the federal response so far.

Mandi Jackson’s security camera recorded Hurricane Michael’s surge as it turned her house’s front yard on St. George Island into the Gulf of Mexico.

Mandi Jackson told CNN: “It’s a total loss for us. They are assessing the damage on the island now. They are letting people with passes back on the island today, so we shall see.”

Watch it:

Andrew Gillum, the Tallahassee mayor who is running to be the next governor of Florida, just spoke to CNN and described the damage as “severe.”

“I fear based of the images we’re seeing, the damage is just so severe that this is going to be a long recovery process,” Gillum said. He sends his “thoughts and prayers” to those affected.

Michael remains a Tropical Storm with sustained winds of 50mph, as of the 11 am update from the National Hurricane Center. The storm continues to produce heavy rain and tropical storm force wind gusts up to 60 mph.

The Tropical Storm continues to leave a path of damage through North and South Carolina, knocking down trees and power lines in its path. Michael is moving over some of the same areas that were hard hit by Hurricane Florence nearly one month ago. 

Continue to track Michael as it moves across the Carolinas

Weather instruments captured Hurricane Michael’s most powerful gusts and highest surges as it made landfall Wednesday afternoon.

Here is a compiled list of some of the worst conditions observed. 

**Note: Due to equipment failure or the lack of gauges there are some estimations based off of radar data and the proximity to other gauges.

Beach locations near landfall

Panama City

Mexico Beach

Apalachicola

Destin

Crawfordville

Inland locations

Tallahassee

Albany, GA

CNN’s Brooke Baldwin is flying over Mexico Beach, Florida, which took a direct hit from Hurricane Michael.

“It’s gone. It’s gone,” Baldwin said, reacting to the damage.

“It’s obliterated and it’s awful. It’s awful to look at,” she said, noting the damage is as far as the eye can see.

Speaking at a briefing this morning, Federal officials said it is too early to tell if enough people followed evacuation instructions. “Mexico Beach took the brunt,” FEMA Administrator Brock Long said. “That’s probably ground zero.” 

Today, federal officials are focused on rescues and assessing the needs for clearing roads. “Today is a big day for us when it comes to helping people,” Long said.  

However, “Power is not going to be on for a while,” Long said.  

Watch the flyover:

Hurricane Michael made landfall Wednesday afternoon in Mexico Beach, Florida as a Category 4 storm at 155 mph, causing widespread flooding and destruction. It has since been downgraded to a tropical storm.

What we’re watching today: Federal and state officials are expected to provide a series of updates throughout the morning as first responders and those returning to their homes begin to sort through the damage.

So, where’s Michael: Michael is now a Tropical Storm with winds of 70 mph. The center continues to move through central Georgia, and is located 30 miles from Macon. Dangerous winds and heavy rain continue as the storm progresses towards the northeast.

Two lives lost: A man died after a tree feel on a home near Greensboro, Florida, Wednesday night, and a child died in Seminole County, Georgia when a free-standing metal carport was lifted into the air by the wind and crashed into her trailer.

Widespread power outages: There are more than 350,000 reported power outages between some of the largest electricity providers in South Carolina and Georgia. Some 250,000 outages are reported between Gulf Power, City of Tallahassee and Duke Energy in Florida. The actual numbers are expected to rise.

It’s 100 miles inland, but the devastation in Albany Georgia is devastating.

“It looks bad, it’s horrible,” mayor Dorothy Hubbard told CNN’s Scott McClean. “On my way here, I was not able to get out of subdivisions. I had to turn around because of wires being in the streets.”

Hubbard says there’s fallen trees on houses and cars across town.

The Mayor says there are no injuries or deaths that she is aware of at this time.

Officials are still assessing the damage in Apalachicola, Florida; they still don’t know how bad it is.

“I’ve been through them before but not like this,” Apalachicola Police officer Ginger Creamer told CNN. “In my lifetime we’ve never had a [category] four come at us.”

Several roads remain closed, including Highway 98 towards Eastpoint and Tallahassee.

Creamer said although “quite a few people evacuated,” 10 or 11 people rode out the storm in the shelter set up at the police and fire station.

Police have conducted some welfare checks, including on people that require oxygen.

“With electricity being out they needed manual pumps,” Creamer said. “So, we would go out and help them set up the manual pumps.”

There have been no reported fatalities and no rescues that Creamer knows of. 

Tropical storm Michael has moved out of Florida, but it’s still unsafe to be out and about.

Florida Governor Rick Scott is asking residents to keep off the roads so authorities and utility crews can continue their work.

Michael continues to move quickly through the Southeast and has weakened to a tropical storm.

The storm will move through the Carolinas today, bringing tropical storm force winds and heavy rain to the region hardest hit by Hurricane Florence.

The storm will likely remain a tropical storm as it moves back into the Atlantic later today or early Friday morning.

Dangers continue

Panama City Mayor Mike Thomas spoke with CNN’s John Berman and tells him that the city suffered damage but not anywhere near what they were expecting.

Recently built buildings in the city are up to hurricane code and “the new codes have made a lot of difference.”

Mayor Thomas says the city’s police, fire department and sheriff’s department are all experiencing phone service problems.

The Florida Highway Patrol has closed 81 miles of Interstate-10. It’s the only interstate in the area and is a vital thoroughfare for moving through the Panhandle from east to west.

Hurricane Michael is the strongest storm to make landfall in the US since 1992 with winds of up to 155 mph.

Michael weakened to a tropical storm after making landfall, but was still expected to bring “unprecedented wind damage” as well as rainfall and potential brief tornadoes.

Megan McCall hasn’t heard from her relatives in Alford, north of Panama City, since Wednesday afternoon. That’s when she spoke to her brother on the phone who told her the weather was getting worse.

When she called later, nobody answered, and soon her calls were going straight to voicemail, McCall said.

“I just need to know he’s OK,” she said. “If the house and the cars are destroyed they can be replaced. … I would do anything to just know he’s OK.”

More than 500,000 customers lost power in in Alabama, Georgia and Florida, and McCall is one of a number of people who haven’t been able to reach loved ones since Michael made landfall Wednesday.

Brandon and Sydni Troupe were planning to open a new kids’ store in Panama City this weekend. But Hurricane Michael destroyed their plans, sending a tree crashing through the roof of the building.

“I wished I was dreaming,” Brandon Troupe said of seeing their planned project in ruins. “But it was real … I still can’t believe it. I’m still trying to process it.”

Thousands of people were evacuated across the Florida Panhandle as Michael approached. But when they are given the all-clear to return home, the dangers aren’t over.

People are advised not to drive through floodwater, to watch out for debris and check their homes carefully for damage, gas leaks or contaminated floodwater.

Returnees should throw away any food that may have come into contact with storm water and anything that does not look, smell or feel like it should.

Sharon Dejean posted a video on Twitter of damage to houses in Continental Oaks 2, Tallahassee, Florida, after Tropical Storm Michael hit the area.

“We are without power but doing well,” she told CNN.

“Thankfully there is no damage to our property but with some of my neighbors that’s not the case.”

Stunning video shot by StormChasingVideo.com shows the moment Hurricane Michael’s eye wall passes over Mexico Beach, Florida, where the storm made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane.

The National Weather Service has issued a series of tornado warnings in South Carolina as Tropical Storm Michael approaches the state. Residents have been warned to get inside and move to interior rooms.

Warnings are in affect in the cities of Spartanburg and Union, while a warning for Laurens has expired.

NASA has released a pair of satellite images showing Hurricane Michael from space.

The photographs show the storm at about 1 p.m. ET, about 30 minutes before Michael made landfall as a powerful Category 4 Hurricane. It’s now a tropical storm, hovering over Georgia and expected to make its way to South Carolina soon.

Tropical Storm Michael is continuing to weaken, according to the National Weather Service, with its maximum sustained winds slowing down to 60 miles per hour.

The storm is now located about 25 miles east of Macon, Georgia, continuing to move northeast 20 miles per hour and heading to South Carolina.

Though the storm system is losing intensity, it’s expected to gain a bit of strength again as it gets closer to the East Coast, hitting some of the areas affected by Hurricane Florence last month.

“The rainfall amounts are going to be pretty impressive for some of these regions,” said CNN meteorologist Pedram Javaheri.

Javaheri says another thing to watch out for is the potential for storm surges hitting bigger populations close to the Delaware Bay as the storm makes its way off land.

Hurricane Michael made landfall as the worst storm the Florida Panhandle has seen in a century.

It uprooted trees, destroyed homes and flooded streets. In some places, the waters have still yet to recede.

Photographs from the scene show just how powerful the storm was when it made landfall.

Read more:

President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump and Florida Gov. Rick Scott, tour a neighborhood affected by Hurricane Michael, Monday, Oct. 15, 2018, in Lynn Haven, Fla. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

gallery

Related gallery Photos: Hurricane Michael strikes Florida Panhandle

A child was killed by the destruction wrought by Tropical Storm Michael in Seminole County, Georgia,

Travis Brooks, the county’s emergency management director, said that the child was believed to have died after something fell on a home he was visiting. Details remain unclear because authorities have not been able to reach the home yet.

The child is the second person to be killed by the storm, which was just downgraded from a Category 1 hurricane. A man was killed Wednesday by a tree that fell on a home near Greensboro, Florida.

Michael is no longer a hurricane after weakening as it traveled over land.

As of early Thursday morning Eastern Time, Tropical Storm Michael was located about 30 miles from Macon, Georgia, and is expected to move northeast at about 20 miles per hour. It’s packing maximum sustained winds of about 70 miles per hour, with gusts even higher than that.

But despite weakening since it made landfall Wednesday, authorities say the storm could continue to affect Georgia until Thursday evening, bringing “unprecedented wind damage” as well as rainfall and potential brief tornadoes.

Rep. Neal Dunn, whose district includes Panama City, says “it looks like a bomb went off on every single block.”

Dunn told CNN communications are mostly down in the area. The county has told residents they need to boil water before drinking it following the storm.

“We’re doing everything we can to assist recovery, but we do need some help,” Dunn said.

Storm chaser Mike Theiss filmed a train that had been blown off its tracks by Hurricane Michael in Panama City, Florida.

“At first, I didn’t know what I was looking at because as you can see in the video it’s kind of dark,” he told CNN.

“That was probably one of the most impressive displays of the power of wind that I’ve seen in the aftermath of a hurricane,” Theiss said.

A Tallahassee couple gave viewers an inside look at the crawl beneath their house where they sought refuge from the brunt of Hurricane Michael’s wrath.

Loretta Denes said her husband prepared the space, alleviating her fear of spiders by vacuuming and and prepared it with lights, and a little bit of alcohol.

Nearly 6,700 people have flocked to 54 shelters to weather the worst of Hurricane Michael, according to Florida Gov. Rick Scott.

The storm made landfall as a strong Category 4 storm, the strongest to hit the continental United States since Hurricane Andrew. The storm has weakened to a Category 1 and is now moving inland through southern Georgia.

Authorities are warning citizens to stay inside until local officials give the all clear.

Nine counties have enacted full or limited curfews so that people stay off treacherous roads.

FULL CURFEWS: Bay, Calhoun, Gadsden, Gulf, Jackson and Liberty counties
LIMITED CURFEWS: Franklin, Taylor and Walton counties

Thousands of emergency responders are ready, Scott said. Florida authorities activated 3,500 soldiers and airmen for coordination and planning ahead of landfall. They’re focusing on high water search and rescue operations.

Nearly 1,000 state law enforcement officers are ready to deploy to affected areas, an d 19,000 power restoration personnel were pre-positioned to respond to outages.

“We got punched in the mouth on this one,” says Wakulla County Sheriff’s Captain Chris Savary describing the storm’s impact on the county.

Savary says the sheriff’s office just got their deputies into the field to assess the damage. Says they are concerned about the damage to the coastal communities Panacea, Shellpoint Beach, St. Marks, Ocholockonee Bay, and Spring Creek after a 9-foot storm surge. 

Savary says he’s dealt with tropical weather systems for 20 years and “never seen a storm surge this quick or this violent.”  Says Wakulla County Sheriff’s office made a list of people who stayed behind for the hurricane and will begin the process of checking on them. Says the sheriff’s office has lost their internet connection and can’t send out social media messages. 

Savary says the neighboring sheriff’s department in Franklin County is fairing much worse. He’s heard they’ve lost several communication towers.  

Aerial video shows just how strong Hurricane Michael was when it tore through a school basketball gym in Panama City, Florida.

The building’s sides were ripped off by the storm and its windows blown out.

There are nearly 500,000 customers are without power across Alabama, Georgia and Florida as a result of Hurricane Michael according to utilities and emergency management.

Key thing to know: It’s important to note these are customers. If there are eight people living in a house, for example, that’s just one customer, but a whole lot more people who don’t have air conditioning, a means to charge their phones, or a working refrigerator tonight.

Hurricane Michael is now a Category 1 storm with winds of 90 mph. 

The center continues to move through southwest Georgia, and is located 20 miles from Albany, GA. 

Dangerous storm surge, hurricane force winds, flash flooding, and possible tornadoes continue according to the National Hurricane Center.

But the powerful and historic Category 4 hurricane that slammed into Florida’s coast is no more.

Governor Kay Ivey requested an emergency declaration from President Donald Trump for Hurricane Michael recovery according to a tweet from Ivey.

The declaration would allow for preemptive federal assistance for debri removal, generators and other resources according to the tweet.

The White House shared a photo just now that shows President Trump talking to Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal on his way to a rally in Erie, PA. It also sent a photo of Trump talking to Alabama Governor Kay Ivey.

Earlier, the President said that while some had suggested he cancel tonight’s rally, it wouldn’t be fair to those that were in line to see him speak.

The White House said he would be taking calls on the plane, so this appears to be proof that that’s exactly what the President did while en route.

The fast and furious strengthening of Hurricane Michael in recent days caught some off guard but National Weather Service Director Louis Uccellini wasn’t surprised.

“It was going to develop very rapidly over very warm waters over the Gulf of Mexico. I think people have gotten used to seeing hurricanes come across the Atlantic and have five, six, seven days to be working with this.”

Gulf storms, however, intensify much more rapidly, especially in the fall.

“It doesn’t give you those four, five, six days as a hurricane to prepare for either as an agency or an as an individual,” he said.

Uccellini added, “This story isn’t over yet in terms of the impact that this storm is going to have.”

Reid Garrett’s apartment building in Panama City, Florida, is still standing, but he said his neighborhood was damaged by the storm.

Garrett told CNN his building was stable.

“We are safe. Just a lot of damage to every building around here. It’s really, really bad. Now the flooding is starting,” he told CNN.

Wind gusts blew out windows in homes and office buildings, including the First Federal Bank and Medical Sacred Heart.

The hospital said it is running off of generators and patients have been moved to safe areas of the facility.

In Panama City Beach, the siding was ripped off this building.

The center of the storm is moving toward Albany, Georgia, at 13 mph.

It is still dangerous storm packing winds of 100 mph, which is Category 2 on the Saffir Simpson Scale.

Albany, Georgia, just reported a wind gust of 67 mph and Tallahassee 60 mph.

Dangers continue through the evening with strong winds, possible tornadoes and flash flooding across Georgia.

Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio urged state residents in the path of Hurricane Michael to not let their guard down.

“My top concern is that somebody’s out there hearing that this thing passed through and now it’s the time to go back and check it out and then you get the storm surge come in,” he told CNN.

Wait until authorities say it’s safe to venture out, Rubio said.

“It’s a time of incredible caution,” he said. “Every time we have these storms, somebody loses their life in the aftermath for a lot of different reasons.”

A tornado warning was issued for metro Atlanta until 7:00 p.m. ET Wednesday, as Hurricane Michael continues to churn through the South.

The warning is associated with an outer band of Hurricane Michael.

A man died after a tree fell on a home near Greensboro, Florida, on Wednesday, according to Gadsden County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Sgt. Anglie Hightower. 

Hightower said there has been one additional injury reported in Gadsden County. 

Deputies, she said, were having major communications issues with radios. Hightower said telephones were down.  

She described the damage in her county as “catastrophic.” 

Hightower said the worst damage appeared to be near the community of Chattahoochee, where they believe a tornado hit. She added that deputies have not been able to enter the area to assess the damage. 

Hurricane Michael is now the first Category 3 storm to track into Georgia since the 1800s.

Since moving into Georgia, the storm’s strength has weakened and now has wind speeds of 115 mph.

The storm is moving at 13 mph through southwestern Georgia, 50 miles southwest of Albany, Georgia.

One thing to note: An unnamed hurricane occurred in 1898.

Mexico Beach councilwoman Linda Albrecht told CNN’s Brooke Baldwin that her worst nightmares were being realized as Hurricane Michael continued to pummel her Florida beachside community.

Fighting tears, she added that she feared she might not have a home to return to.

Albrecht went on to describe her hasty exit from Mexico Beach. She said she gathered essentials as well as “a few crazy things,” including a decorative Swedish coffee pot, a reminder of her Swedish heritage.

“I am hearing on TV, as all of us go home, it will be like a war zone,” she added. “That’s the only thing I can imagine.”

Watch:

Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum said about 50,000 of the capital’s 120,000 utility customers — including the emergency operations center — have no power.

The operations center, though, is now running on emergency generators, he told CNN Wednesday afternoon.

Utility crews will not be able to get out to repair and restore power to customers until the winds subside, Gillum said.

The strongest winds were expected until about 8 p.m. ET Wednesday, according to the mayor.

“What we want our folks to do is to remain in place, remain in shelter … until this storm makes its way through and its impact can be assessed and then we can make sure we clear roads and streets for emergency vehicles,” he said.

The storm “sort of a crept up” on the state, he said.

“Sunday I was at a different part the state on a different mission and, all of a sudden, we saw these projections coming in that it looked like it was going into the Gulf and potentially up our way,” he said. “We were not all the way certain and communities had to act really quickly.”

President Trump will travel to Florida early next week, the White House said Wednesday.

“At the request of Gov. (Rick) Scott, he will travel to Florida early next week as to not interfere with on going rescue efforts,” White House spokesperson Lindsay Walters said.

She said Trump would speak to Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal and Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey while on Air Force One.

She didn’t answer reporters’ questions, other than to say that the President already gave his reason for not canceling Wednesday night’s rally in Pennsylvania. 

Here’s what the President said:

Florida is prepared to deploy 1 million gallons of water, 1.5 million meals and 400,000 pounds of ice to families impacted by the storm, Gov. Rick Scott tweeted. 

Scott told CNN 19,000 utility workers are ready to work when conditions become safer, and 1,000 rescue workers are prepared to respond.

He said the Coast Guard will assist with rescues and more than 7,000 law enforcement officers also offered to help.

“I just pray everybody is alive,” Scott told CNN.

A man was rescued Wednesday after his boat capsized and washed ashore during the hurricane, according to the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office.

Okaloosa sheriff’s deputies, along with Okaloosa Island first responders, received a call for a capsized boat at the Gulf Island National Seashore.

When they arrived, they found the man, who had been living on the boat.

Hurricane Michael is now a Category 3 storm with winds of 125 mph, according to the latest weather advisory.

The center of the storm is now moving into southeastern Alabama and southwest Georgia. Life-threatening storm surge and catastrophic winds continue.

Hurricane Michael is already a historic storm for it’s sheer power. But how powerful? Here are a few key stats to put this storm in perspective.

Michael is the strongest hurricane to strike the FL Panhandle on record. Michael is the strongest storm to make landfall in the continental US since Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Michael’s pressure (919 millibars) was lower than Hurricane Andrew and the third lowest pressure ever measured in a hurricane making landfall in the US. Tropical-storm-force wind speeds stretch for more than 320 miles. More than 30 million people are under Hurricane or Tropical Storm Warnings or Watches. Watches and Warnings for the storm extend to six states: MS, AL, FL, GA, SC, NC.

Parker Destin, a sixth generation Floridian and direct descendant of the founders of the northwestern city of Destin, says the region’s seafood industry is “getting their clocks cleaned right now” by the hurricane.

Destin, whose family runs seafood restaurants, told CNN’s Brooke Baldwin that the city was largely spared because it sits west of the hurricane’s eye.

But the northern shore of the peninsula of Destin was getting “a real good pounding” from the storm’s heavy winds, with waves pummeling residential areas and restaurants.

“Luckily for the city of Destin, we are getting a reprieve to a certain extent,” he said.

Still, he voiced concern for fishing businesses in Panama City Beach, Apalachicola and other communities.

“This whole Gulf Coast area, all the way down past Apalachicola, feeds about 50% of the entire seafood industry in the state of Florida and they’re getting their clocks cleaned right now,” Destin said.

Hurricane Michael’s powerful winds and devastating storm surge has wreaked havoc along the shore ever since making landfall earlier Wednesday afternoon.

The extremely dangerous center of Michael crossed near Florida’s Mexico Beach, the National Hurricane Center said, but that wasn’t the only town to take what looks like a pretty direct hit.

Here’s a look at the damage so far:

Panama City Beach: A woman checks on her vehicle after the hotel canopy had just collapsed.

A hotel employee held up a glass door after it shattered from flying debris.

Shell Point Beach: The storm surge from Hurricane Michael pushed into the homes.

St. Marks: The Cooter Stew Cafe was inundated with floodwater from the storm.

Hurricane Michael remains a Category 4 with sustained winds of 140 mph, according to the latest position update from the National Hurricane Center.

The eye of the storm is nearing I-10 in the Florida Panhandle and is moving northeast toward Georgia.

A tornado watch has been issued by the Storm Prediction Center for much of northern Florida and south and central Georgia until 2 a.m. ET. 

Hurricane Michael and its outer bands will be spreading northeast into the region, which are capable of quickly spinning up tornadoes.

Hurricanes that move in from the Gulf of Mexico can be prolific tornado producers, capable of over 100 tornadoes in 1-2 days following landfall.

The right-front quadrant of the storm is where the majority of hurricane-induced tornadoes occur.

Teddy Rawlings rode out Hurricane Michael Wednesday afternoon with his fiancée, his children and other relatives in the garage of his home in Calloway, a suburb of Panama City.

The storm ripped apart the garage of a home across the street, he told CNN. Heavy rains and winds appeared to move parked cars. Trees were down.

For now, he said, they were sitting in the garage, watching the storm pass. He did not expect such ferocity.

“The first thing I thought was, ‘It’s Panama City. We never really get hit,” he said. “Then we learned this one was going to touch down right on our doorstep. Our first thought was, ‘Are we going to make it?’ Our second thought was, ‘We need to be with family.’”

So far, he said, his home — and garage — were holding up. For the most part. A large pine tree did tumble onto part of his home, damaging his bedroom. Then the winds blew to the same tree into his grandmother’s nearby home. Her bedroom was also damaged.

“That seems to be the worst of it,” he said.

Some coastal counties in Florida are under a curfew because of Hurricane Michael. 

Here’s a breakdown of those counties:

Now that the storm has made landfall it will begin to weaken. But that’s all relative. It’s still an extremely powerful storm with winds of 150 mph, the National Hurricane stated in their 3p ET update. That’s just 5 mph weaker than those it had at landfall.

It will now move northeast across Florida’s Panhandle.

The storm continues to produce life-threatening storm surge and catastrophic winds, according to the NHC, so if you’re in its path stay hunkered down, above ground and away from windows.

Hurricane Michael, with 155 mph winds at landfall, is the strongest storm to make landfall in the continental U.S. since Hurricane Andrew in 1992.

However, Michael’s pressure (919 millibars) was lower than Hurricane Andrew. 

This pressure makes Michael the third lowest pressure ever measured in a US landfalling hurricane behind only the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 and Hurricane Camille in 1969.

A wind gust of 130 mph was reported near Tyndall AFB close to Panama City before the instrument failed.

Hurricane Michael rapidly intensified 45 mph in the 24 hours leading up to landfall.

The scene in Mexico Beach, Florida, is a dire one – houses are almost completely underwater, debris is floating in the streets, wind is whipping and Hurricane Matthew, which made landfall here earlier this afternoon, is still wreaking havoc.

President Trump just spoke about Hurricane Michael ahead of a signing ceremony at the White House.

He called the hurricane a “really devastating storm” and said that it was “one of the biggest storms ever to hit our country.”

Trump later noted that it’s the “most powerful recorded storms to strike the Florida Panhandle ever.” 

Trump warned about “tremendous winds,” storm surges, and flash flooding, saying that his administration is in constant communication with Florida Gov. Rick Scott and various authorities.

“We’re very well prepared for it,” he said, touting “massive amounts of food” and first responders “all over,” as well as “over a thousand trucks” staging for electrical repairs.

He cautioned that additional rainfall is expected in Florida, as well as Georgia, Alabama, and North and South Carolina, which are both recovering from last month’s storms and flooding.

 “I just say, ‘God bless everyone,’ cause it’s going to be a very rough one,” he said.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott said he is “scared to death” for residents who didn’t evacuate.

“Our biggest concern is … the people that chose not to evacuate,” he told CNN Wednesday.

“I spent time the last few days going up and down the coast getting people to evacuate but this is a horrible, horrible storm – 150-plus mph (winds), at least 12 inches of rain. But the thing I think people don’t realize is the storm surge. Whether it’s six feet or 14 feet, it’s all deadly. And I’m very concerned that people are not taking that into consideration,” Scott added.

Rescue teams manned by more than 1,000 people were prepared to help once the storm passes, along with members of the National Guard and US Coast Guard, he said.

“But I am scared to death for people that chose not to evacuate,” the governor said, mentioning 50 residents who refused to evacuate one of the barrier islands in Franklin County.

“I worry about them every second and I hope there’re no children there who didn’t have the choice on their own to make these decisions,” Scott said. “I’m just praying for them and, as soon as this passes, we will be out there doing everything we can to rescue everybody … We will take care of each other.”

Cameras outside the International Space Station took these images of Hurricane Michael as it moved toward the Florida Panhandle.

The videos were shot at 12:58 p.m. ET from an altitude of 255 miles:

CNN’s John Berman is in Panama City Beach, Florida, right now as Hurricane Michael pummels the Florida coast.

He said the rain felt “like powerful razor blades” on his face.

Berman also saw powerful winds sweep up a rake.

Berman also directed viewers to a piece of metal railing crumbing under the pressure of intense winds.

“This wind is pushing that metal railing over, and I don’t think it’s going to be able to stand up much more,” he said.

Teddy Jaison Rawlings stepped outside his house in Callaway, Florida, as Hurricane Michael’s eye passed overhead.

He took out his phone and recorded a 15-minute Facebook Live video showing what it’s like during that strange, uncomfortably calming moment bookended by extreme weather.

Trees appear to be leaning off kilter, a few roofs appear to be damaged and the neighborhood is flooded. Everyone, for the most part, appears to be in good spirits.

Watch (note: there is some adult language):

Walton County Sheriff Michael Adkinson Jr. has encountered a few people on the beaches as Hurricane Michael unleashes its fury. Obviously, that’s not a safe place to be – for them, or the first responders they would call if they find themselves in trouble.

Here’s video from one of the beaches. As the office’s Twitter account puts it, “Get. 👏🏼 To. 👏🏼 Shelter. 👏🏼”

Hurricane Michael has officially made landfall near Mexico Beach, Florida, as a powerful, high-end Category 4 storm, the National Hurricane Center just announced.

It brings with it a life-threatening storm surge, hurricane-force winds, and heavy rainfall all throughout the Florida Panhandle.

How meteorologists define landfall: The “landfall” designation is not made until one half of the eye is over land.

See the moment:

FEMA Administrator Brock Long told President Trump Wednesday that Hurricane Michael could be the “most intense” storm to hit the Florida panhandle since 1851.

Trump met with Long and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen at the Oval Office.

“Unfortunately, this is a Gulf Coast hurricane of the worst kind,” Brock said. “Storm surge estimates are anywhere between nine and 14 feet. Storm surge is going to be the worse where eye makes landfall – just to the east or south of where the eye makes landfall … Coupled with that you have over 145 mph winds. Structures built before 2001 are not designed to handle that type of wind, typically.”

Brock expressed concern that too many people in the path of the storm have not heeded evacuation orders.

“Yesterday we were concerned,” Brock told the President. “We did not like the level of evacuation activity that we were seeing … Unfortunately, first responders may not be able to go in and rescue those who dial 911 at this point.”

The President said some communities in the storm’s path “very poor,” making it more difficult for some to evacuate.

“It’s not so easy for some of these people to leave,” Trump said. “Some of these areas are very poor.”

Nielsen also said utility companies from 14 states were prepared to move in and begin work downed power lines once the storm has passed.

“We’ve got food supplies, food chains, we’re working with all of the states,” Trump said.

Parts of the Carolinas could experience flooding due to heavy rains, Brock said.

Bobby Varnes, police chief of Apalachicola, Florida, said the winds are as bad as he’s ever seen in 39 years of living there.

Barnes estimated that around 60% of people there stayed to ride out the storm.

Watch:

With Hurricane Michael quickly approaching the Florida Panhandle, President Donald Trump was asked what his message is to the people in the storm’s path.

FEMA Director Block Long amplified Trump’s message, saying the “window to evacuate has … come to a close.”

The President said it was “very sad” that some of the areas in the storm’s path are poverty-stricken, adding again that many people are “unable” to evacuate.

“More than we would like,” Trump said. “You have people that are stuck, they’re just stuck there.”

The President said the government has been helping some people evacuate, but he said others “don’t want to go out.”

“They will be ok,” Trump said. “They are strong, smart, wonderful people.”

The strongest winds of Hurricane Michael are coming ashore along the coast of the Florida Panhandle between St. Vincent Island and Panama City.

In the latest forecast, the National Hurricane Center said landfall is imminent.

The sheets of rain feel like needles falling from the sky.

“We’re getting some very strong bands of wind and rain that are coming through right now here in Panama City Beach,” CNN correspondent Dianne Gallagher reports. “This is definitely the strongest that I’ve felt all day long … The rain drops almost feel like little needles on my exposed hands right now. It’s so intense.”

Trees and palms swayed in the heavy wind behind her.

Marc Weinberg, a reporter with CNN affiliate WDRB, just tweeted this video showing a new home that was under construction toppling in Hurricane Michael’s powerful winds.

See it:

A state of emergency has been declared in 108 counties throughout Georgia.

That’s up from the 92 counties previously reported, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal said during a news conference Wednesday.

Deal warned that Hurricane Michael was a dangerous storm.

At least 51,000 customers are without power along the Florida panhandle.

Here’s a breakdown of the power outages:

One thing to note: These are utility customers, which likely means many more people are impacted by these outages.

The waterfront city of Mexico Beach, Florida, lost power late Wednesday morning, according to Mayor Al Cathey.

Sustained winds were reaching 50 mph, with gusts in the 60 mph range. There were heavy rains.

“It certainly is deteriorating rapidly here,” he told CNN.

Of the city’s 1,200 residents, all but about 280 people have evacuated, Cathey said.

“Not everyone left and we’re just hoping for the best here.”

President Trump tweeted support for Florida as Hurricane Michael strengthens and prepares to make landfall this afternoon.

“We are with you Florida!” he tweeted.

The storm’s center had maximum sustained winds of 150 mph this morning. About 3.8 million people were under hurricane warnings in Florida’s Panhandle and Big Bend regions, along with parts of southeastern Alabama and southern Georgia. Tropical storm warnings cover 15.9 million people in several states.

Read his tweet:

Don’t be lulled by the relatively calm winds.

That’s the message for Bay County, Florida, residents from Bradley Monroe, deputy chief of emergency management operations.

Still, winds and debris were already preventing first responders from going out on emergency calls, he said.

“This is awfully tough for our first responders,” Monroe told CNN Wednesday. “But it’s just too dangerous to put them out there.”

Hurricane Michael will be the strongest hurricane to strike the Florida Panhandle on record (more than 150 years of record keeping) The forecasted landfall of 150 mph would be the strongest storm to make landfall anywhere in the Continental US since Hurricane Charley in 2004 hit SW Florida (stronger than Katrina, Irma, Harvey, etc) There are more than 30 million people across 6 states under a Hurricane or Tropical Storm Warning/Watch (FL, GA, AL, MS, SC, NC) The tropical-storm-force wind speeds stretch for more than 320 miles, which, for example would stretch from New York City to Pittsburgh.

The St. George Island bridge, located just a few miles from Apalachicola, Florida, is closed now.

Anyone staying on the barrier island will be trapped until authorities reopen the bridge.

The National Weather Service office of Tallahassee, Florida has issued an Extreme Wind Warning for Gulf County, Southern Bay County, and Southwestern Franklin County in the Big Bend and the Panhandle of Florida until 2:15 p.m. ET.

These are issued to warn the public to take immediate shelter in an interior portion of a well-built structure. On rare occasions, the warning will be issued for up to three hours.

Extreme Wind Warnings are special warnings issued only when certain criteria are met:

The current wind warning has been issued for three hours due to the strong nature of Hurricane Michael and may be reissued as needed after 2:00 pm EDT.

Michael’s strength may reflect the effect of climate change on storms. The planet has warmed significantly over the past several decades, causing changes in the environment.

Human-caused greenhouse gases in the atmosphere create an energy imbalance, with more than 90% of remaining heat trapped by the gases going into the oceans, according to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Association. There’s evidence of higher sea surface temperature and atmospheric moisture, experts say.

While we might not get more storms in a warmer climate, a majority of studies show that those that do form will get stronger and produce more rain. Storm surge is worse now than it was 100 years ago, thanks to sea level rise.

According to Climate Central, a scientific research organization, the coming decades are expected to bring hurricanes that intensify more rapidly, should there be no change in the rate of greenhouse gas emissions.

“Rapid intensification” took Michael from a tropical storm with sustained winds of 40 mph at mid-day Sunday to a Category 1 hurricane with sustained winds of 75 mph by mid-day Monday. It experienced a second bout of intensification on Tuesday, going from a 100 mph Category 2 to a dangerous Category 4 storm with 145 mph winds by Wednesday morning.

According to a special update from the National Hurricane Center, Hurricane Michael has strengthened to 150 mph. 

Michael is a high-end Category 4 storm, and would need to increase to 157 mph or higher to reach Category 5.

Apalachicola airport recently reported a 72-mph wind gust, as Hurricane Michael’s center is currently 55 miles west-southwest of Apalachicola.

The water levels continue to rise quickly according to the NHC. Apalachicola recently reported over 5 feet of inundation above ground level. 

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) is issuing position updates every hour through landfall. These are the dispatches many of us read to stay up to date on the storm.

You can access them at nhc.noaa.gov and find them under the Hurricane Michael section.

In the advisory updates, you can get an idea of the location and any change in intensity. Click “Public Adv” to dive in in the 11, 2, 5 and 8 a.m. and p.m. hours. The rest of the time click on “Update Statement” to get the latest position statement.

The top of the report will feature the most urgent news from the NHC – OFTEN IT’S WRITTEN IN ALL-CAPS – and at the bottom, you can get the maximum sustained winds.

You’ll also see if any new warnings or watches have been issued. In the 11 a.m. ET update, for instance, a Tropical Storm Warning was issued for the coast of North Carolina from Surf City to Duck.

The forecast track will update at 11a and 5p.

Facebook has activated it’s safety check, which allows users to tell their friends they are okay during emergency events and disasters.

Let your friends and family know you’re safe. To utilize it, click here.

Do not underestimate Hurricane Michael, Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio warned residents.

“There is going to be a killer – a killer storm surge in this event,” he told CNN’s Suzanne Malveaux. “Nine, ten, eleven feet. No one is going to survive that. Low-lying areas, the Gulf of Mexico is kind of like a basin of water all being pushed up on people and if you’re still there when that comes in, you’re going to die.”

Watch:

Here’s the latest advisory from the National Hurricane Center:

…CORE OF EXTREMELY DANGEROUS HURRICANE MICHAEL CLOSING IN ON THE
COAST OF THE FLORIDA PANHANDLE…
…LIFE-THREATENING STORM SURGE…HURRICANE FORCE WINDS…AND HEAVY
RAINFALL IMMINENT…

The storm remains a strong Category 4 hurricane with sustained winds of 145 mph.

The hurricane force winds extend 45 miles from the center and the storm is only 60 miles from Panama City, Florida.

Gadsen County, Florida is already getting reports of trees down on roadways.

Why that’s a problem: Hurricane Michael is still a number of hours away from landfall.

Here are some of the highest reported wind gusts as of 10 am ET:

Ian Sears, flight director for the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration’s Hurricane Hunters, got a close-up look of Hurricane Michael as he flew through the storm Wednesday morning.

“I’m seeing a very strong Hurricane Michael,” he told CNN. “The pressures are still falling. The winds are still rising. This is a very dangerous situation for anything in the path… This is a powerful hurricane, probably one of the strongest that I have ever flown through.”

Listen:

Panama City Mayor Greg Brudnicki has a message for the tens of thousands of Bay County, Florida residents who decided to ride out the storm: Hunker down.

“We always prepare for the worst but we have never had the worst. So it’s really hard to prepare for something that you’ve never had before. So what we’re doing now is, we’re telling people … wherever you are, stay. Do not leave now. We still have some shelters open but it’s now just too scary to get out on the road. So we want people to hunker down where they are.”

Brudnicki said about two thirds of the county – some 120,000 residents in flood zones – were asked to evacuate. As of Monday night, about 25,000 had done so.

“It’s all built on years and years of complacency because we have said it’s going to be bad … for so many years and it never turned out. The odds are that eventually we would get a bad one and we got a bad one.”

When Hurricane Michael makes landfall today, it will hit Panama City, Florida, first. As a Category 4 storm, it will be the strongest storm to ever hit the city.

How bad is it? In nearby Panama City Beach, a Waffle House actually closed. If you’re familiar with the concept of the Waffle House index, you know the ever-reliable 24/7 chain deciding to board up means some serious stuff is going down.

Quick programming note: We’ll be sending frequent, breaking updates about Michael as it churns through Florida and across the southeastern US. Click here to try it out. You can pause updates or unsubscribe at any time.

Even those jaded by hurricanes have never seen anything like this.

For the first time, a Category 4 hurricane is on track to slam the Florida Panhandle. And it’s bringing an onslaught of deadly hazards.

Here’s what makes Hurricane Michael especially dangerous:

Read more.

Gary Jarvis, the mayor of Destin, Florida, said he’s been checking on some of the fisherman who are planning on riding Michael out in the Intracoastal Waterway, saying they have “Forrest Gump syndrome.”

When you’re in the Intracoastal Waterway, we call it ‘the ditch,’ it’s a man made ditch, 35-foot high banks on both sides. It is about the only place you can survive a Category 5 storm and for most guys, when you own your boat, you make a living on your boat, in storms like this you ride on the boat. It is kind of like Captain Dan, Forrest Gump situation. 

The National Hurricane Center said in its 10 a.m. ET update that tropical storm conditions are spreading across the Panhandle as Hurricane Michael nears shore.

A weather station in Bald Point, Florida, recently reported a sustained wind of 48 mph and a wind gust of 59 mph, the NHC said, while the Apalachicola airport reported a wind gust of 58 mph.

Water levels are rising quickly, too. A National Ocean Service water level station at Apalachicola recently reported over 4 feet of inundation above ground level, the NHC said.

The hurricane is still packing 145 mph winds. It’s not slowing down.

Kaitlyn Mae Christensen Sacco is riding out the storm in Tallahassee, Florida.

She set up a shelter in her bathroom for when the power goes out. She shared on Instagram a picture of the bathroom while holding lavender oil, which she hopes will help her cope with the stress.

She told CNN: “We have our bathroom set up with blankets, a battery powered fan, water, snacks and the tub set up for our dogs with pee pads.”

“We have our cars parked at a church nearby that has an open parking lot with no trees and we have a generator and camp stove to cook on.”

Hurricanes and tropical storms that make landfall from the Gulf of Mexico are much more prolific tornado producers than are hurricanes making landfall from the Atlantic.

The right-front quadrant of the storm is where a majority of the tornadoes form, and in Gulf landfalls, the right front quadrant is over land for the greatest amount of time.

The National Weather Service has issued a tornado watch for the right front quadrant of Hurricane Michael until 5p ET. This watch will likely be expanded to the northeast and the time extended this afternoon. 

A few more things to know:

At least 4,000 people spent last night in about 70 evacuation centers across Florida, according to Greta Gustafson with the American Red Cross.

In Bay County, Florida 1,400 people sheltered in three different shelters there, according to Inaki Rezola, with the Bay County Emergency Operations Center.

Coastal flooding has begun in Florida’s Gulf County. The Florida Department of Transportation posted video of storm surge topping a seawall on Highway 98 in Gulf County.

Storm surge has made it’s way onto Highway 98 in Franklin County, where seaweed appears to be lining the road.

If you live nearby, safe to say you should stay off the roads.

NOAA satellites capture an early morning view of Cat 4 Hurricane Michael as it approaches the Florida Panhandle, where it should make landfall this afternoon.

The eyewall of the hurricane is clearly visible in this 30-second updating visual imagery as the sun rises over the Florida’s Bay County.

The area is forecasted to get over nine feet of storm surge, and it’s starting to come in. High tide will be later this afternoon, as the storm makes landfall.

Officials in the County are telling residents that it is now too dangerous for them to respond to calls.

Panama City Fire Department will still respond to life-threatening emergencies, within the city limits, at this time.

A US defense official says the Pentagon now calculates there are 700,000 military personnel, family members, and DOD civilians living in the path of Hurricane Michael from the Florida Panhandle to North Carolina.

Yesterday, the US Air Force evacuated its jets from Tyndall Air Force Base.

Florida Governor Rick Scott isn’t mincing words: If you have not evacuated, you need to stay where you are.

There are 54 shelters open across the Panhandle, and Governor Scott says more will open, depending on need.

As Hurricane Michael approaches Florida, Governor Rick Scott is calling this “the worst storm” Florida’s Panhandle has seen “in 100 years.”

Here’s what he just said at a briefing:

This is the worst storm the Florida panhandle has seen in more than 100 years. This is the worst storm that we have seen in century. Hurricane Michael is upon us, and now is the time to seek refuge.

He later added, “Along our coast, communities are going see unimaginable devastation… The Panhandle and Big Bend will see winds in excess of 145 miles an hour. Think about that. 145 miles an hour. Again, hurricane Michael is forecast to be the most destructive storm to hit the Florida Panhandle in a century.”

Michael is not letting up.

From 7 a.m. ET to 8 a.m. ET the storm increased 5 mph in a single hour. 

Over the past 24 hours, Michael has “rapidly intensified” by 45 mph. It could increase even more.

Some additional strengthening is possible before landfall the National Hurricane Center stated in their 8 a.m. ET advisory.

What to watch for: If the storm reaches sustained winds of 157 mph, it will become a category 5. 

There is a chance this happens. There is also a chance that as the storm interacts with land, the storm could weaken. 

But it doesn’t really matter. This major hurricane will likely be a catastrophic hurricane with life-threatening storm surge and winds.

They didn’t expect it to get to this, thinking Michael would be a Category 2 or 3 storm. But here they are, stuck in Panama City Beach, Florida, but they’re not alone.

“There is so many people that live around where we’re at that we’re staying, we wanted to stay and make sure they’re okay,” one woman told us. “We realized they weren’t going to leave and there were a lot of older people, a lot of people with animals, so we made the decision to try to stay.”

The storm is about to tear through Florida’s Big Bend. The rising sun is giving us a glimpse of it’s menacing eye as it spins offshore.

Here is a quick rundown of what to expect at some locations along the coast.

Panama City Beach

Apalachicola 

Destin 

Pensacola 

Tallahassee 

The Okaloosa County Sheriffs Department says that onshore flooding has begun in the county. Hurricane Michael is still hours away from landfall.

Forces from across the state are mustering just outside the storm area. In Ocala, ambulances are already lining up, ready to help when the storm moves out of the area.

Florida Governor Rick Scott told CNN’s John Berman he’s activated 3,500 National Guard members to respond to Hurricane Michael.

Some 1,000 people will be conducting search and rescue efforts; 19,000 people are in position to get the power back on to the affected areas.

If you’re on the go and looking for a few takeaways for the state of the storm, it’s these:

Michael currently has maximum sustained winds of 140 mph, making it a dangerous Category 4. Further strengthening is expected, and landfall intensity is expected to be 145 mph or greater. Michael is currently located about 100 miles south of Panama City Beach, FL as of 7 a.m. ET eastern. Michael’s tropical storm force wind-field has moved into the Florida Panhandle and conditions will be deteriorating over the coast in the next several hours. Life-threatening storm surge up to 13 feet likely along the Panhandle and Big Bend coast, east of where the storm makes landfall. Flash flooding is also possible as rainfall totals from 6-10” will stretch from Florida panhandle into Southwestern Georgia Catastrophic wind damage will result in widespread power outages for millions. Hurricane Warnings stretch into Southwestern Georgia and cover nearly 4 million people. Tropical Storm Watches and Warnings extend all the way to the East Coast of Florida, GA and SC, covering an additional 28 million people. Hurricane-force winds will extend well inland, reaching into Georgia. Tropical-Storm-force winds will follow the storm through the Carolinas. Rainfall of 4-8” is expected to occur over the Carolinas, along with TS-Force winds, in areas hard hit by Florence last month.

Shell Point, Florida, which sits near the top of Apalachee Bay is projected to get over nine feet of storm surge. The tide monitor at a weather station there is showing a steep increase in water levels – and low tide will occur around 9:50 a.m. ET.

“The combination of a dangerous storm surge and the tide will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters moving inland from the shoreline,” the National Hurricane Center warned in its latest update.

If peak surge were to occur at the time of high tide, some places, such as Tyndall Air Force Base to the Aucilla River, could see as much as 14 feet.

The Apalachicola tide gauge, which sits on the Gulf of Mexico, is already at a moderate flood stage.

The sewer system for the entire town of Apalachicola, Florida, was shut down at 5 p.m. ET yesterday in preparation for the hurricane, Apalachicola Mayor Van Johnson tells CNN.

“We don’t want to get back to the city and have to pump the bay out of the system that came in from the storm,” he told CNN. “Besides that, there’s no staff” to operate it.

“We had a mandatory evacuation order,” he said. “We are expecting a 12-foot storm surge and we were worried it would inundate the sewer system and when we went to turn it back on, it would have problems.”

Tropical-storm-force winds began spreading across the Florida Panhandle Wednesday morning, according to the National Hurricane Center’s 7 a.m. ET update.

A NOAA buoy 42039, which is floating on its lonesome about 90 miles south-southwest of Panama City, Florida, reported sustained winds of 60 mph and a wind gust of 76 mph, the NHC said.. A wind gust of 54 mph was also recently reported at Apalachicola Regional Airport, it reported.

That’s all the say the storm has arrived. As Florida officials are warning up and down the coast, if you’re still in town it’s time to hunker down and stay off the roads.

Andrew Gillum, mayor of Tallahassee, is telling residents the time for evacuations is over. It’s time to hunker down and ride out the storm in the safest location possible.

The city is set to experience the brunt of Hurricane Michael’s winds after it makes landfall. The fear is that the numerous pine and oak trees that blanket the city will be downed, destroying power infrastructure and blocking roads.

“We are confident we can recover as a community, but people have to make the decisions right now to keep themselves and their families as safe as they possibly can,” Gillum said. “This will be the strongest storm we’ve seen in our area in over a century.”

Preparations are over in Tallahassee and the storm is likely just hours away.

The storm is about to inundate the Big Bend with historic Category 4 winds and catastrophic storm surge, and photos posted by the Tallahassee Police Department show just how many police officers are working to keep residents safe in its path.

“Please say a prayer for everyone who left their families to work in the storm,” the department tweeted. “We are here for you.”

Florida Governor Rick Scott says the time for evacuating Florida’s coast is over. Residents that stayed home need to start seeking refuge immediately – not evacuate. First responders will not be able to rescue you during the storm, Scott tweeted.

Panama City Beach city manager Mario Gisbert advises anyone who may be trying to ride out Hurricane Michael to “find a good, safe room within the house,” whether that’s a bathroom, a closet, or a hallway, and stay put.

“Play it safe. Try not tot travel,” he said. “Stay at home. Stay in a dry spot. Weather it out right now. It’s not the time to move.”

“We need everybody to just hunker down if they haven’t already left.”

Hurricane Michael has continued to strengthen this morning and has sustained winds of 140 mph. This makes Michael and extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane. 

Additional strengthening is expected, according to the National Hurricane Center, before landfall this afternoon.

…EXTREMELY DANGEROUS CATEGORY 4 MICHAEL STRENGTHENS
FURTHER AS IT HEADS NORTHWARD TOWARD THE FLORIDA PANHANDLE…
…LIFE-THREATENING STORM SURGE…HURRICANE FORCE WINDS…AND HEAVY
RAINFALL EXPECTED ALONG THE NORTHEASTERN GULF COAST…

Hurricane Michael strengthened into a Category 4 storm as it moved toward the Florida Panhandle, where it could blow ashore as the strongest storm to hit the United States this year.

Michael had maximum sustained winds of 140 mph early Wednesday, hours before its expected landfall in the afternoon, and was expected to grow even stronger.

If it makes landfall as a Category 4, it’ll be the strongest hurricane to hit the Florida Panhandle in recorded history, CNN meteorologist Michael Guy said. It would also be the strongest storm in terms of wind speed to make landfall in the country this year.

Only three major hurricanes Category 3 or higher have struck the Panhandle since 1950: Eloise in 1975, Opal in 1995 and Dennis in 2005.

The National Weather Service described Michael as “extremely dangerous,” saying it will bring life-threatening storm surge, hurricane force winds and heavy rainfall along the northeastern Gulf Coast.

Our live coverage of Hurricane Michael has ended for the night, but we’ll be back tomorrow morning. Go here or scroll through the posts below to read about the storm.

Hurricane Michael, currently packing maximum sustained winds of near 120 mph, could intensify to a Category 4 storm when it makes when it makes landfall in Florida early Wednesday packing a “life-threatening” storm surge, the National Hurricane Center said in its 7 p.m. ET update.

The storm will move across the Gulf of Mexico tonight then churn across Florida on Wednesday, and the southeastern US late Wednesday night into Thursday, it said.

Several hospitals are closing ahead of the storm in Okaloosa County, Florida.

Destin ER and Eglin Air Force Base Hospital and ER are closed, the county tweeted.

Sacred Heart in Destin will keep its emergency room open, but will not accept new patients.

The docks were empty in Destin, Florida, on Tuesday, a day before Hurricane Michael makes landfall.

The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office tweeted that they “never like to see the fishing docks on #DestinHarbor emptied of boats.”

Florida is opening 34 shelters in preparation for Hurricane Michael, according to a statement from Gov. Rick Scott.

About 3.7 million people were under hurricane warnings in the Panhandle and Big Bend regions, as well as parts of southeastern Alabama and southern Georgia. Tropical storm warnings cover 8.5 million people in four states.

Michael was moving at 12 mph, almost 300 miles south of Panama City, Florida and 435 miles southwest of Apalachichola, Florida, as of 4 p.m. ET, the National Hurricane Center said.

Meredith Johnson shot this video of waves crashing over the seawall in Isles of Capri, Florida, on Tuesday.

“We are located in Southwest Florida, right across from Marco Island, where they eye of the hurricane came on shore during Irma. We are having the residual effects of the hurricane out in the Gulf. We are now approaching low tide but the waves washing over the seawall are as high as 7 to 10 feet,” she told CNN.

Watch:

Natasha Patterson took this video of street flooding in front of South Pasadena City Hall near St. Petersburg, Florida.

“I’m not evacuating but watching carefully!” she told CNN.

Watch:

Water levels rose in Apalachicola, Florida, on Tuesday, even before high tide moved in.

Christina Nabors, manager at Water Street Hotel & Marina in Apalachicola, said the water moved up to the base of the hotel, two hours before high tide.

Streets were empty and businesses were boarded up in Panama City Beach ahead of Hurricane Michael.

This video shows what it looks like in Panama City Beach:

At least 22 counties have issued evacuation orders ahead of Hurricane Michael, according to Florida Emergency Management.

These counties have issued mandatory evacuations:

Nine counties also issued voluntary or phased evacuations. They are…

Hurricane Michael has continued to intensify and is now a Category 3 storm, according to the National Hurricane Center. Maximum sustained winds have increased to 120 mph, with gusts to 150 mph. 

Further strengthening is possible as Michael continues to head towards the Gulf Coast. Landfall is still expected tomorrow afternoon in the Florida Panhandle as a major – Category 3 or higher – storm.

This storm surge marker in Apalachicola, Florida, is an ominous reminder of how dangerous surge can be within a hurricane.

The last major hurricane — Category 3 or higher — to make landfall within the Florida Panhandle was Hurricane Dennis in 2005, when water rose and completely inundated Highway 98 along the state’s vulnerable “Big Bend” coastline.

It’s natural “C” shape acts as a “catchers mitt” and collects water from approaching hurricanes.

The International Space Station took this video of Hurricane Michael as it churned over the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday.

The Category 2 storm is expected to strengthen before making landfall Wednesday.

Here’s a view of the storm from space:

Florida on Tuesday published information on school closures, shelters and road conditions as residents brace for Hurricane Michael.

Here are a few ways they are preparing for the hurricane:

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, speaking at the Army’s annual AUSA Meeting Tuesday, said they were “actively preparing for Hurricane Michael.”

“In rapid succession last year, Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria devastated the southern states and territories,” Nielsen said, calling last year “one of the costliest and most damaging seasons for natural disasters in history.”

Nielsen continued: “We are actively preparing for Hurricane Michael for landfall in the Gulf tomorrow. These types of disasters demand a response beyond what any one agency can handle.”

She said the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Defense were working together with state and local officials.

The Hurricane Hunter Aircraft found that wind speeds remained at 110 mph near the center of the storm, the National Hurricane Center said Tuesday.

The storm is forecast to continue to strengthen this afternoon and is still forecast to be a major hurricane at landfall in Florida.

Officials in Sarasota, Florida, were beginning to see the impacts of Hurricane Michael on Tuesday.

The city posted this video of minor flooding at Bayfront Park:

Hurricane Michael is expected to strengthen to a Category 3 storm before making landfall tomorrow.

This close-up satellite imagery shows a tight, well-defined eye wall beginning to form.

President Trump has approved an emergency declaration for Florida ahead of Hurricane Michael, which is expected to make landfall tomorrow.

Here’s the White House statement:

“Today, President Donald J. Trump declared that an emergency exists in the state of Florida and ordered Federal assistance to supplement state and local response efforts due to the emergency conditions resulting from Hurricane Michael beginning on October 7, 2018, and continuing.
The President’s action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate all disaster relief efforts which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population, and to provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures, authorized under Title V of the Stafford Act, to save lives and to protect property and public health and safety, and to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe.
Specifically, FEMA is authorized to identify, mobilize, and provide at its discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency. Debris removal and emergency protective measures, including direct federal assistance, will be provided at 75 percent Federal funding in the counties of Bay, Calhoun, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf, Hamilton, Jackson, Jefferson, Leon, Liberty, Madison, Suwannee, Taylor, and Wakulla. Emergency protective measures, limited to direct federal assistance will be provided at 75 percent funding in the counties of Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Citrus, Columbia, Dixie, Escambia, Gilchrist, Hernando, Hillsborough, Holmes, Lafayette, Levy, Manatee, Okaloosa, Pasco, Pinellas, Santa Rosa, Union, Walton, and Washington.
Brock Long, administrator, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Department of Homeland Security, named Thomas J. McCool as the Federal Coordinating Officer for Federal recovery operations in the affected areas.”

Hurricane Michael, spinning in the Gulf of Mexico as a Category 2 storm, is expected to strengthen even more before making landfall Wednesday.

Michael is poised to slam Florida’s Panhandle by Wednesday afternoon and bring dangerous storm surges to low-lying areas 

Here’s what we know about Hurricane Michael:

Buoy 42003 is floating in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico, about to get its world rocked.

Because about 60 miles southwest, Hurricane Michael’s Category 2 strength winds are roaring.

Buoy 42003 is being whipped by sustained winds of 47 mph, and gusts are nearing hurricane force at 65 mph. The buoy also got walloped by 22-foot waves.

These grainy photos of the buoy were taken at 1:10 p.m. ET.

Here’s a glimpse of what it’s like inside Hurricane Michael:

Despite the storm about to hit Florida, the GOP gubernatorial nominee Ron Desantis is not stepping off the campaign trail, like his fellow statewide nominees. Instead, DeSantis says he will re-purpose several campaign events in a way that would support the response.

DeSantis stepped stepped down from his post as a member of Congress to focus on his race for Governor, meaning he has no official capacity at this time. That’s unlike his opponent, Andrew Gillum, who’s the mayor of Tallahassee.

DeSantis had an event focused on veterans in Tampa on Tuesday that has now been changed to a relief drive where DeSantis and volunteers are collecting items that will be sent to victims in the storm’s path. The campaign has two events on Wednesday, one in Jacksonville and one in Tampa that will also be repurposed into relief drives.

Other than that, there have been no further changes for the DeSantis campaign. All of their ads and fundraising efforts continue as normal – that includes attack ads criticizing Gillum’s leadership of Tallahassee.

The full strength of Hurricane Michael won’t be felt until tomorrow, but its outer bands are visible on the radar image from South Florida.

This is what the storm’s outer bands look like:

Panama City’s airport will be closed Wednesday, when Hurricane Michael is expected to make landfall.

All major airlines also canceled flights to the city on Wednesday.