Rescue efforts begin in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael

Officials, residents begin surveying the devastating damage left behind after Category 4 storm ravaged parts of Florida.

Search and rescue efforts have begun in the Florida Panhandle as the US Army, state authorities and volunteers dealt with Hurricane Michael's aftermath on Friday.

The Category 4 storm smashed into Florida's northwest coast near the small town of Mexico Beach on Wednesday with 250 kilometre per hour winds. Michael has been blamed for at least 11 deaths and was downgraded to a tropical storm overnight on Thursday.

US Army personnel used heavy equipment to push a path through debris in Mexico Beach to allow rescuers to search for trapped residents, survivors or casualties, as Blackhawk helicopters circled overhead.

Rescuers from the Federal Emergency Management Agency used dogs, drones and GPS in the search.

Video shot by CNN news network from a helicopter showed homes closest to the water in Mexico Beach had lost all but their foundations. A few blocks inland, about half the homes were reduced to piles of wood and siding, while those still standing had suffered heavy damage.

Nearly 950,000 homes and businesses were without power in Florida, Alabama, the Carolinas and Georgia on Thursday.

The number of people in emergency shelters was expected to swell to 20,000 across five states by Friday, said Brad Kieserman of the American Red Cross.

At Jinks Middle School in Panama City, near Mexico Beach, the storm peeled back part of the gym roof and tore off a wall. A year ago, the school welcomed students and families displaced by Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.

"I have had employees going to the communities where our kids live, going door to door and checking," said Principal Britt Smith told Reuters by phone. "I have been up since 3:30 or 4am emailing and checking on staff to see if they are safe. So far, everybody seems to be very safe."

Michael, the third-most powerful hurricane ever to hit the US mainland, continued its path northeast to with 80km/h winds, bringing "life-threatening" flash flooding to Georgia and Virginia, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) reported.
Damage 'way worse' than expected

Florida Governor Rick Scott told the Weather Channel the damage from Panama City down to Mexico Beach was "way worse than anybody ever anticipated".

Michael pummeled communities across the Panhandle and turned streets into roof-high waterways.

About 32km south of Mexico Beach, floodwaters were more than 2.1 metres deep near Apalachicola, a town of about 2,300 residents, NHC Director Ken Graham said. Wind damage was also evident.

"Our biggest thing is the downed lines and the downed trees," said Apalachicola Mayor Van Johnson.

Brad Rippey, a meteorologist for the US Agriculture Department, said Michael severely damaged cotton, timber, pecans and peanuts, causing estimated liabilities as high as $1.9bn and affecting up to 1.5 million hectares.

Michael also disrupted energy operations in the US Gulf of Mexico as it approached land, cutting crude oil production by more than 40 percent and natural gas output by nearly one-third as offshore platforms were evacuated.

With a low barometric pressure recorded at 919 millibars, a measure of a hurricane's force, Michael was the third strongest storm on record to hit the continental United States, behind only Hurricane Camille on the Mississippi Gulf Coast in 1969 and the unnamed Labor Day hurricane of 1935 in the Florida Keys.
https://www.geezgo.com/sps/42675

---

Join Geezgo for free. Use Geezgo's end-to-end encrypted Chat with your Closenets (friends, relatives, colleague etc) in personalized ways.>>