TALLAHASSEE, October 10
Extremely powerful Hurricane Michael crashed into the Florida's northwestern Panhandle coast on Wednesday, flooding towns and ripping up trees with 155 mile per hour winds and the potential for a devastating storm surge.
Michael, which had caught many by surprise with its rapid intensification as it churned north over the Gulf of Mexico, was the most powerful storm ever recorded to hit the Panhandle, and it strengthened even as it approached land.
It made landfall northwest of the town of Mexico Beach early on Wednesday afternoon as a Category 4 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, just shy of an extremely rare Category 5.
The storm, which caused a major disruption for oil and gas production in the US Gulf of Mexico, had the potential to drive sea water levels as high as 14 feet above normal in some areas, the National Hurricane Centre said.
“My God it's scary. I didn't expect all this,” said Bill Manning, 63, a grocery clerk who left his camper van in Panama City, Florida, to move into a hotel where the power was already out.
Much of the affected area is rural and known for small tourist cities, beaches and wildlife reserves, as well as the state capital, Tallahassee. — Reuters
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