Florida braces for huge storm
HURRICANE MICHAEL: CATEGORY 4, PACKING POWERFUL WINDS AND A MASSIVE SEA SURGE
375 000 people in more than 20 counties ordered to evacuate.
Hurricane Michael closed in on Florida’s Gulf Coast yesterday as an “extremely dangerous” category four storm packing powerful winds and a huge sea surge, United States forecasters said.
The Miami-based National Hurricane Centre (NHC) said the storm, which local forecasters are calling an “unprecedented” weather event for the area, was expected to slam ashore with “life-threatening” storm surges.
Top winds were swirling at 230km/h, with the NHC warning the storm could grow stronger still, as outer rain bands from the storm lashed the coast.
A storm surge of up to four metres and up to 300mm of rain was expected in some areas.
“Water is going to come up, it’s going to cover your roof. You do not have a chance to survive that, so I’m very concerned,” Governor Rick Scott told Fox News.
“It’s too late to evacuate now on the coast. Hunker down, and be careful, listen to locals. Don’t go out in the middle of this. You are not going to survive it. It’s deadly.”
An estimated 375 000 people in more than 20 counties were ordered or advised to evacuate.
The National Weather Service office in the state capital Tallahassee issued a dramatic appeal for people to comply with evacuation orders.
“Hurricane Michael is an unprecedented event and cannot be compared to any of our previous events.
“Do not risk your life, leave now if you were told to do so,” it said.
The storm was forecast to make landfall somewhere along the Florida Panhandle – a finger-shaped strip of land in the Gulf of Mexico.
It was expected to bring hurricane force winds and heavy rainfall, the NHC said.
It will then move across the southeastern US for another day or so as it heads toward the Atlantic.
The NWS office in Tallahassee said it had found no record of any previous category four hurricanes that made landfall in the panhandle or the “Big Bend” coastal region.
“This situation has never happened before,” it said on Twitter. Category four is the second highest level on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale.
Scott, who has activated 2 500 members of the National Guard, warned Michael could be the most destructive storm to hit the Florida Panhandle in decades.
President Donald Trump issued an emergency declaration for the state, freeing up federal funds for relief operations. –