Hurricane Michael death toll hits 17

MEXICO BEACH (Florida): The death toll from Hurricane Michael has risen to at least 17 with fears it would continue to climb yesterday as search-andrescue teams scour the debris of the Florida town that bore the brunt of the monster storm.

“Mexico Beach is devastated,” Florida Governor Rick Scott said of the town where Michael made landfall as a Category 4 storm on Wednesday.

“It’s like a bomb went off,” Scott said as he toured the town of 1,000 people on the Gulf of Mexico.

“It’s like a war zone.”

Rescue teams were using sniffer dogs in Mexico Beach on Friday to search for victims who may be buried under the rubble in the debris-strewn community.

US media later reported one death in the town — an elderly man found alone, according to Mayor Al Cathey. Officials said his body was found hundreds of yards from his home.

Brock Long, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said he expected the toll to rise.

“I hope we don’t see it climb dramatically but I have reasons to believe we haven’t got into some of the hardest-hit areas.”

“Very few people live to tell what it’s like to experience storm surge,” Long said.

“Storm surge causes the most amount of loss of life.”

Eight deaths from the storm have been reported in Florida, five in Virginia, one in Georgia and three in North Carolina.

The two deaths in North Carolina occurred in McDowell County when a car struck a tree that had fallen across a road, officials said.