POWERFUL STORM TAKES AIM AT FLORIDA

Experts worry about hurricane’s storm surge, which may be as high as 4m

HURRICANE Michael strengthened into a Category 4 storm early yesterday, packing 208kph winds and on a path to make landfall in the Florida Panhandle as the most powerful hurricane to strike the mainland United States so far this year.

Emergency declarations were issued for parts of Alabama, Florida and Georgia, and authorities ordered tens of thousands of people to evacuate as they opened shelters and shut down schools.

“Hurricane Michael is a monstrous storm, and the forecast keeps getting more dangerous,” Governor Rick Scott of Florida said during an appearance at the state’s emergency operations centre in Tallahassee.

The storm, classified as a major hurricane, is in the Gulf of Mexico, gathering still more power.

Weather forecasters and government officials worried about lashing winds and an onslaught of rain, but they most plainly feared the hurricane’s storm surge, which they said could reach 4m in some areas, in a region that is particularly vulnerable to it.

“Regardless of whether the track moves a little to the left or the right or wobbles, it’s going to be a bad storm surge event for somebody,” said Jamie Rhome, a storm surge specialist at the National Hurricane Center.

The storm has moved along a path well predicted by computer models, which have suggested a Panhandle landfall for days.

After striking Florida, Michael is expected to race over Georgia and the Carolinas, including communities still recovering from Hurricane Florence, before moving offshore tomorrow.