Too late to run: Hurricane Michael set to crash into Florida as historic, Category 4 storm

Rick Neale and John Bacon USA TODAY

Published 9:56 AM EDT Oct 10, 2018

PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. – Perry and Mollie Williams walked a block from their home through the rain to check the surf while awaiting Hurricane Michael, forecast to blast this coastal city later Wednesday as the strongest storm ever to hit the state's exposed Panhandle.

“It’s our first storm (forecast) to be on top of us," said Mollie Williams, a 17-year resident. "We’ve had a number of them come into the Gulf, and either come to the left or the right of us. But never on top of us."

"Potentially catastrophic" Michael was roaring toward the coastal city as a Category 4 storm Wednesday, with landfall expected for early afternoon, the National Hurricane Center said. Top sustained winds reached 145 mph – with higher gusts.

Michael’s eye was about 90 miles southwest of Panama City, moving north at 13 mph. Tropical-storm force winds extending 185 miles from the center were already lashing the coast. Florida Gov. Rick Scott said it was too late for people in the immediate path of the storm to flee.

"The time to evacuate coastal areas has come and gone," Scott said at a news conference Wednesday. "If you are in an inland county you might have one more chance to evacuate, but only if local officials say it is safe."

Perry Williams described their single-story home as “a fortress" and said the couple would ride out Michael with their three cats and a Rottweiler.

“We anchored everything down," Mollie Williams said. "Shutters up on the windows, food, water, pet supplies. We’re just chilling, taking everything in."

"Those who stick around to witness storm surge don’t typically live to talk about it," Long said.

AccuWeather meteorologist Brett Rathbun estimated landfall for around 2 p.m. ET as a Category 4 storm. Winds might even increase slightly, to 150 mph. No Category 4 storm has ever hit the Panhandle since record keeping began more than 150 years ago.

Scott said 1,000 search and rescue personnel were ready to respond as soon as Michael passes. Another 3,500 National Guard members were also ready to deploy, he said. Brock Long, administrator at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, had ominous words for people like Perry and Mollie Williams.

On a full-throttle journey from the Gulf of Mexico, Michael will bring “life-threatening” storm surge, hurricane-force winds and torrential rainfall after developing from a seemingly minor tropical storm off Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula several days ago.

Long warned that the brutal storm would "stay intact" as a hurricane as it roars through the Florida Panhandle and through parts of Alabama and Georgia. Long said the storm could leave wide swaths of the region powerless for weeks.

The worst could come in Florida's "Big Bend," a loosely defined area of the eastern Panhandle where the coastline bends to the south.

"This is a nightmare hurricane for the Big Bend," said Ryan Truchelut, chief meteorologist at WeatherTiger. "Michael will be of a landfall intensity not seen for at least 100 years, and perhaps more."

The hurricane center is predicting storm surges up to 14 feet in some areas, plus heavy rainfall through Florida’s Panhandle and into Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina, up to 12 inches in isolated locations. The threat of tornadoes “will increase” into Wednesday over parts of the Panhandle, the northern Florida Peninsula and into southern Georgia, according to the hurricane center’s latest report.

On its current track, Michael will move across the northeastern Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday morning and then move inland over the Panhandle or Big Bend area of Florida on Wednesday, the hurricane center said. From there, Michael would move northeastward across the southeastern states on Wednesday night and Thursday.

About 3.7 million people are under hurricane warnings, from the Panhandle and Big Bend areas in Florida into parts of southeastern Alabama and southern Georgia. Scott has already declared a state of emergency in 35 Florida counties.

Contributing: Steve Kiggins

Let's block ads! (Why?)