Hurricane Michael’s awful toll: At least 3 dead, 360,000 in dark, coastal towns wiped out
At ground zero where Michael crashed ashore in
And in
As evacuees and utility trucks struggled Thursday afternoon to enter the city, the largest in the area at just 37,000, a four-mile traffic jam formed.
"It's like a bad dream," said
At least three deaths were blamed on the storm: a man killed outside
After touring the damage zone, Scott cautioned evacuees to stay away until emergency crews cleared the area. "I know you just want to go home," he said. But "we have to make sure things are safe."
When it made landfall, Michael was packing 155 mph sustained winds, the strongest ever recorded for the
Intensive care patients and critically sick or premature babies had to be rescued from four hospitals that lost power. Sacred Heart in
About 1,300 patients and staff at
In
"The roof caved in. Then the walls caved in," said Burgess, who fled with his staff and most of the animals to an inner room. One cat was killed and another animal remained missing.
Near ground zero in
"Do you think her body would be here? Do you think it would have floated away?"
The woman lived in a small cinder-block house about 150 yards from the Gulf and thought she would be OK. All that was left Thursday was a pile of concrete blocks and floor tiles.
"Aggy! Aggy!" McPherson yelled. The only sound that came back was the echo from the half-demolished building and the pounding of the surf.
All around, toppled trees, refrigerators, toilets and staircases no longer connected to houses littered the low-slung beach town with a population of just 1,200. Cars and SUVs were tossed on their sides. Houses were cracked open to reveal sodden furniture and wrecked belongings.
In Apalachicola about 35 miles to the southeast and just inside the perimeter for hurricane winds, a tidal gauge recorded water at 8.55 feet before
Damage surveys were just beginning, but destruction was widespread. Michael left buildings smashed, trees toppled or stripped bare and boats tossed ashore along its path. At the
Just more than 3,500 people remained in shelters Thursday, about half the number who'd sought refuge overnight. Another 1,768 were staying in special needs shelter facilities.
Officials said the staggering number of people who did not take shelter could be newly homeless, and the state expects a massive surge in short-term and long-term housing needs.
Scott said no damage estimates were available, but before the storm, real estate analyst CoreLogic said about 57,000 homes and condos were at risk of damage. President
Authorities said they were preparing to set up extra shelters and move people into more secure areas. They are posting information about recovery efforts, road and bridge openings and the status of evacuation orders on FloridaDisaster.org.
For the first time, they also plan to use remote sensing and geotag photo technology to assess damage and update residents in real time, said
Outside the city marina in
"There she is. I can tell by the woods and railings. Sh--," said Jones, a retired
Jones wasn't too worried about the boat, but feared the hurricane may have cleared the way for the city to build a controversial project with restaurants and a hotel, driving out working class boaters like Jones.
"This is our marina," he said as he looked at the damage. "It's just heartbreaking. How much joy we had down here with friends, getting together, going out to the islands. It's going to be a while before we do that again."
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