Florida’s Panhandle is littered with evidence that Hurricane Michael is one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the mainland United States. Roofs and awnings are peeled from buildings, pieces of homes are scattered amid snapped trees and downed power lines, chunks of beaches are washed away. Michael thrashed Georgia as a hurricane and eventually weakened to a tropical storm early Thursday as it moved toward the Carolinas, soaking areas that got swamped last month by Hurricane Florence.
BY THE NUMBERS
— Hurricane history: first Category 4 hurricane to make landfall in Florida’s Panhandle since record-keeping began in 1851.
— Top winds: 155 mph, strong enough to completely destroy homes and cause weekslong power outages.
— Powerful pressure: 919 millibars minimum pressure in the eye, the third most intense hurricane landfall in the U.S. in recorded history.
— High water: storm surge of 6 feet up to 14 feet forecast for Florida’s Panhandle and Big Bend.
— Storm riders: Roughly 375,000 people in Florida warned to evacuate; many refused.
— To the rescue: U.S. Coast Guard crews have pulled 27 people from damaged homes along Florida’s coastline.
— Staying safe: nearly 6,700 people took refuge in 54 shelters in Florida.
— Power outages: More than 932,000 customers in Georgia, Florida, Alabama and South Carolina without power.
— Food and water: 2 million ready-to-eat meals, 1 million gallons of water and 40,000 10-pound bags of ice ready for distribution in Florida.
— The human cost: A man in Gadsden County, Florida, killed by a falling tree, and an 11-year-old girl in Seminole County, Georgia, killed when a carport blew through the roof of her home.
