Hurricane Michael devastates Florida Panhandle
Hurricane Michael has devastated the Florida Panhandle. The monster storm made landfall with 155mph winds, just shy of being a Category 5 hurricane. At least two people have been confirmed to be killed by the storm: a man killed by a tree falling on his home in the panhandle, and an 11-year old girl who died when a tree fell on her home in southwest Georgia.
Michael developed quickly, going from a Tropical Storm to nearly a Category 5 in just a few days. And that short time period didn’t leave Panhandle residents with much time to evacuate.
Michael is now a tropical storm located near the Georgia and South Carolina border. It is moving quickly at over 20mph, and is expected to pick up speed once it makes its way back into the open waters of the Atlantic. Michael is moving so fast that it will be near England on Monday.
As of the 5am update Michael was located about 30 miles west of Augusta, Georgia with 50mph winds.
The Florida Disaster Fund is taking donations to help Michael’s survivors. You can donate by going to the website Volunteer Florida dot org. Or you could make a one time ten dollar donation by texting the word disaster to 20222
FPL crews were on standby, so that they could immediately start to get the lights back on for the hundreds of thousands who were left without power.
FPL’s Richard Gibbs says they had over 13-hundred of its employees and contractors pre-positioned around the state.
Dozens of Red Cross volunteers were hunkered down in Tallahassee, waiting for the chance to help when the storm passes. Sharon Tyler is executive director of the American Red Cross Tallahassee chapter. She says there were about 500 more people waiting for chance to move in from out of town.
Tyler says they’re making plans to help people who may still be homeless when hurricane shelters close in a few days.
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