Hurricane Michael: Record-breaking 'hell' storm mauls US
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Loading... - Anja Lovec
- 11 Oct 2021
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The third-strongest storm in recorded history to hit the mainland US has battered north-west Florida, flooding beach towns and snapping trees.
Hurricane Michael made landfall on Wednesday afternoon as a category four storm with 155mph (250km/h) winds in the state's Panhandle region.
Two people, including a child, were killed by falling trees, officials say.
The storm left nearly 500,000 people without electricity in Florida, Alabama and Georgia, emergency services say.
Florida officials said a man was killed when he was crushed by a tree in Gadsden County.
A child died when a tree fell on a home in Seminole County, Georgia, CBS news reports.
Michael earlier reportedly killed at least 13 people as it passed through Central America: six in Honduras, four in Nicaragua and three in El Salvador.
How powerful was Michael when it hit?
Only the unnamed Labor Day hurricane, which hit Florida in 1935, and Hurricane Camille, which struck Mississippi in 1969, made landfall with greater intensity.
The Labor Day storm's barometric pressure (the lower the number, the stronger the storm) was 892 millibars and Camille's was 900, while Michael blew in with 919.
Michael was so powerful as it swept into Florida that it remained a hurricane as it moved further inland.
Its rapid intensification caught many by surprise, although the storm later weakened.
Unusually warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico turbo-charged the storm from a tropical depression on Sunday.
Only on Tuesday it was a category two hurricane but by Wednesday morning it had reached borderline category five, the highest level.
More than 370,000 people in Florida were ordered to evacuate, but officials believe many ignored the warning.
What happened in Florida?
The hurricane made landfall near Mexico Beach, Florida, at around 14:00 (18:00 GMT) on Wednesday, according to the NHC.
The coastal city of Apalachicola reported a storm surge of nearly 8ft (2.5m).
"We are catching some hell," Timothy Thomas, who rode out the storm with his wife in their home in Panama City Beach, Florida, told the Associated Press news agency.
The storm knocked out power to a quarter of a million homes and businesses, as power lines were smashed by falling trees.
Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Brock Long said at the White House that he was especially concerned about buildings constructed before 2001, and not able to withstand such high winds.
"We just hope those structures can hold up," President Donald Trump responded. "And if not, that they're not in those structures."
Hurricanes
Hurricanes are violent storms that can bring devastation to coastal areas, threatening lives, homes and businesses
Hurricanes develop from thunderstorms, fuelled by warm, moist air as they cross sub-tropical waters.
Warm air rises into the storm.
Air swirls in to fill the low pressure in the storm, sucking air in and upwards, reinforcing the low pressure.
The storm rotates due to the spin of the earth and energy from the warm ocean increases wind speeds as it builds.
When winds reach 119km/h (74mph), it is known as a hurricane - in the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific - or a typhoon in the Western Pacific.
"Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face. Well, we're about to get punched in the face."
Florida Mayor Bob Buckhorn, ahead of Hurricane Irma (2017)
The central eye of calmer weather is surrounded by a wall of rainstorms.
This eyewall has the fastest winds below it and violent currents of air rising through it.
A mound of water piles up below the eye which is unleashed as the storm reaches land.
These storm surges can cause more damage from flooding than the winds.
"Urgent warning about the rapid rise of water on the SW FL coast with the passage of #Irma's eye. MOVE AWAY FROM THE WATER!"
Tweet from the National Hurricane Center
The size of hurricanes is mainly measured by the Saffir-Simpson scale - other scales are used in Asia Pacific and Australia.
"For everyone thinking they can ride this storm out, I have news for you: that will be one of the biggest mistakes you can make in your life."
Mayor of New Orleans Ray Nagin ahead of Hurricane Gustav, 2008
States of emergency have been declared in all or parts of Florida, Alabama, Georgia and North Carolina.
The National Weather Service (NWS) had issued a dramatic appeal for the people of the Florida state capital, Tallahassee, to heed warnings and leave their homes.
Schools and state offices in the area are to remain shut this week.
Florida has activated 3,500 National Guard troops.
What happens next?
In the early hours of Thursday, Hurricane Michael's maximum sustained winds decreased to 75mph, the NHC said in a bulletin.
"Michael will steadily weaken as it crosses the south-eastern United States through Thursday night, becoming a tropical storm by Thursday morning.
"Michael is forecast to re-strengthen some Thursday night and Friday when it moves off the east coast of the United States and becomes a post-tropical cyclone on Friday," the NHC added.
More than 300 miles of coastline remained under threat, the NWS said.
