As winds sustained maximum speeds of 155 mph, Hurricane Michael made landfall near Mexico Beach, Florida at 12:30 pm CDT on Wednesday, October 10th, 2018. Hurricane Michael is the first ever Category 4 hurricane to hit the Florida Panhandle. What started as just a Tropical Depression Fourteen on October 7th, 2018 rapidly intensified to a Category 1 hurricane and then to a Category 4 as it approached Florida. The once beautiful Florida Panhandle coast is in ruins. Mexico Beach and Panama City were destroyed. So far, a thousand search-and-rescue workers have been deployed.
The landscape now appears post-apocalyptic. The strong winds ripped houses apart, some were blown apart leaving just the foundation, while others were completely shredded. Flooding has filled the streets, taking people’s belongings, causing a sea of what was once people’s homes. Sirens are blaring as search-and-rescue workers rush to the affected areas, and for miles, the ground is cluttered with glass, wood, metal, and other debris. 1.1 million homes and businesses have been left without electricity.
Governor Rick Scott of Florida has reported that there are thirty shelters open, with roughly 4,281 people in them. Early Wednesday evening, Hurricane Michael reached Southwestern Georgia as a Category 3 hurricane. Michael is now a tropical storm passing into North Carolina and Virginia as it heads into the Atlantic Ocean.
As of the morning of Friday the 12th, eleven people have died. Sarah Radney, an eleven-year-old girl, was killed on Wednesday when a carport was torn away and came flying into her home. The death toll is expected to rise as rescue efforts continue.
Information On How to Help the Victims and Where to Donate:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/11/reader-center/how-to-help-hurricane-michael-victims.html