Stunning images show unimaginable damage in the wake of Hurricane Michael on Florida Panhandle
One day after Hurricane Michael battered northwestern Florida with a force and fury rarely seen from tropical cyclones in the United States, many communities are beginning to understand the scope of the damage.
Among the hardest-hit towns were coastal cities such as Panama City Beach, Port St. Joe and Mexico Beach, Florida.
“The devastation on Mexico Beach is beyond words after Hurricane Michael,” AccuWeather National Weather Reporter Jonathan Petramala said. Petramala toured Mexico Beach, Florida, damage from the air and captured scenes of total destruction on Thursday morning.
Videos seen Wednesday showed catastrophic storm surge nearly completely submerging buildings in Mexico Beach, a town described by Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio as a “old old Florida town” with a “charm that feels like a trip back in time unspoiled by development.”
Rubio said on Twitter Thursday morning that one local official told him that Mexico Beach is “gone.”
Michael made landfall between Mexico Beach and Tyndall Air Force Base around 12:30 p.m. CDT Wednesday as a Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds around 155 mph, just 2 mph shy of Category 5 status. At landfall, the storm’s barometric pressure was 27.13 inches of mercury (919 mb), making it the third strongest landfalling U.S. hurricane on record.
At least 13 fatalities have been attributed to Michael in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia. Over 1.5 million customers remained without power across five states Friday morning.
Rubio also said Highway 98, which connects many coastal communities was completely washed out in several areas.
Reports from locals in Panama City, known as a “vibrant seaside city” have indicated that there is catastrophic devastation, according to Rubio.
“It will take a long time to recover from this. We will do everything we can to make sure the federal government does its part. But I will confess that my biggest fear that this part of Florida, with its unique and genuine characteristics, will never be the same,” Rubio said.
Aerial images on Thursday morning showed entire sections of Mexico Beach that were obliterated by the storm.
A Panama City resident told The Star newspaper in Port St. Joe that “It looks like an atomic bomb had hit our city.”
A mandatory curfew was enacted from dusk Wednesday to dawn Thursday in Bay County. Earlier Wednesday, Bay County emergency management officials had warned residents to shelter in place. The weather became too extreme for emergency personnel to respond to calls for assistance.
As many roads were strewn with debris or washed away in the region, many officials, including Florida Gov. Rick Scott, urged residents who live in affected areas to either stay put or not to return to their homes if they had evacuated.
Tyndall Air Force Base took a direct hit, and extensive damage was reported. Non-essential military personnel and civilians had been ordered to evacuate the base on Tuesday.
Officials said in a statement Thursday that they did not have a timetable for when the base would reopen. Roof damage to nearly every home on the base was reported.
“At this point, Tyndall residents and evacuated personnel should remain at their safe location,” said Col. Brian Laidlaw, 325th Fighter Wing commander. “We are actively developing plans to reunite families and plan to provide safe passage back to base housing.”
Other law enforcement agencies from around Florida said they were on their way to assist with storm recovery.
"Help is on the way," the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office tweeted.
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