PULVERISED
Child among dead as Hurricane Michael smashes Florida
‘Mexico Beach is gone’
A GIRL of 11 was killed by Hurricane Michael as it tore a 200- mile trail of destruction through three US states.
The girl died when a metal carport was lifted up by the 155mph winds and thrown into the roof of her house, Georgia officials said.
A man in Florida died when a tree fell on his home and more than 900,000 people were left without electricity in Alabama, Georgia and Florida.
Michael is the strongest hurricane ever to hit the Florida Panhandle, in the north of the state, and the third strongest in American history.
It caused 7ft flooding and lifted homes off their foundations. Entire communities in Mexico Beach, Florida, were levelled. Jason Gunderson, a member of the Cajun Navy rescue group, said: ‘The only way I can explain it, through my eyeballs, is a Third World country war zone.’
The storm strengthened rapidly in the Gulf of Mexico and came ashore as a Category 4 hurricane on Wednesday afternoon, although it was close to being a Category 5, the highest.
Florida Senator Marco Rubio tweeted that he was hearing ‘stunning’ reports of damage, and that ‘Mexico Beach is gone’. It was not clear last night what happened to the 280 residents who ignored evacuation orders.
Mexico Beach councillor Linda Albrecht said: ‘ It feels like a nightmare. Somebody needs to come up and shake you and wake you up.’ ABC News meteorologist Ginger Zee said the ruins in Mexico Beach were ‘eerily remi- niscent’ of the devastation in Louisiana after Katrina in 2005.
In Panama City, a freight train was blown off its tracks and a hangar housing dozens of boats had its roof sheared off. The boats inside were left scattered like toys.
President Donald Trump has declared a state of emergency in Florida and 3,500 National Guard troops were deployed.