Michael Downgraded to Tropical Storm, Leaves Two Dead
The tiny town of Mexico Beach, Florida took the brunt of Hurricane Michael, which made landfall nearby with winds at 155mph. Entire homes were destroyed by driving winds, while others were completely submerged by water.
A reporter and photographer from the Tampa Bay Times reached the town of 1,200 early Thursday. They reported that fires were burning uncontrolled, with no one to put them out. Entire homes were gone, with only stairs left leading to houses that no longer exist.
The town was nearly impassable, with the main highway covered with downed trees and debris. Refrigerators, toilets and staircases from destroyed home where scattered wherever they were dropped by the wind.
More than 830,000 homes across the affected area were without power Thursday morning, Reuters reported.
At its height, the storm had knocked out power at 850,000 homes. Crews in Florida and Alabama had begun restoring some power after the worst of the storm blew through.
The center of Michael is now moving over South Carolina, according to the latest update from the National Hurricane Center. Michael is now a tropical storm, driving sustained winds of 50mph. The storm is about 40 miles northwest of Columbia, South Carolina.
While the storm weakened considerably since it tore through Florida as a category 4 hurricane, it is now hitting areas that were already reeling from Hurricane Florence.
The center of Michael will continue to move across central South Carolina this morning, then move across portions of central and eastern North Carolina and southeastern Virginia this afternoon and this evening, according to the Hurricane Center. After that, it’s expected to blow back out into the Atlantic Ocean.
Parts of North Carolina’s outer banks, which were hard hit by Florence, could see storm surge of two to four feet from Michael.
Tropical storm conditions are now occurring over portions of eastern and southeastern Georgia and South Carolina, and will spread northward across central and eastern portions of North Carolina today.
Source: Reuters
