Hurricane Michael: Trump announces Florida and Georgia visit as states reel from devastating storm damage
At least 16 people have died in the wake of Hurricane Michael, one of the most intense storms ever to hit the United States mainland. The storm, as it moved offshore, left behind scenes of mass devastation.
The death toll is expected to rise in the coming days, or even weeks, in the large swath of the American southeast where Michael’s winds and rains pushed storm surges up to 14 ft and tore homes and businesses to shreds. The deaths include at least five in Virginia and seven in Florida.
Michael may have left American shores, but Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) administrator Brock Long says that he expects more bodies to be discovered as search and rescue efforts continue across Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. Officials are also working to restore power and services to more than 1.4 million customers who have been left in the dark by the hurricane.
If you want to see how the day unfolded, see our live blog below.
At least 11 people have died because of Michael, officials say. "I expect the fatality count to climb today and tomorrow," Brock Long, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), told CNN. "Hopefully it doesn't rise dramatically but it does remain a possibility."
As of yesterday, Michael was downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm. According to the latest National Hurricane Centre advisory, it is now a post-tropical cyclone.
The centre of the storm is now away from land and is heading off over the Atlantic Ocean.
In this image released by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), a CBP flight crew conducts a flyover of the Florida panhandle in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael as the storm left a swath of destruction across the area near Panama City, Florida.Credit: AFP / US Customs and Border Protection / Glenn Fawcett
A firefighter died responding to a crash in Virginia, as extreme weather hit the state.
The Hanover County Fire-EMS Department says Fire Lt. Brad Clark died at the scene when a tractor-trailer struck his fire engine at the scene of a two-vehicle crash.
Authorities say two others in his crew have been seriously injured. The truck driver in the initial crash had to be extricated and also suffered serious injuries.
Georgia's electric utility trade association reports that as many as 144,000 customers in the state have been left without power as a result of Hurricane Michael, which ran through parts of the state and caused "significant" damage to utility infrastructure.
But, as the sun begins to shine in the path of Michael, so too are things looking up for residents hoping to power up their homes once again: Just last night there were 177,000 customers without power, and workers are doing their best to restore power as quickly as possible, the association says.
Initial estimates have put the cost of Hurricane Michael have begun to come in, and billions of dollars in damages are expect just for privately insured properties.
Boston-based Karen Clark & Company has released an estimate that $8 billion in insured damages have been done to homes, businesses, industrial and commercial complexes, and cars. That is not in addition to the costs associated with the National Flood Insurance Programme.
The latest deaths are two people who were killed in Marion, North Carolina when their vehicle struck a tree that had fallen due to high winds, said Adrienne Jones, the deputy director for the McDowell County Emergency Medical Services.
The National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is collecting imagery of the aftermath of the hurricane to help with damage assessment. The images are being collected here:
Tyndall Air Force Base opened a runway for air traffic Thursday after it suffered major damage during Hurricane Michael.
After clearing a runway, the base welcomed the first aircraft since the storm hit.
"This will allow support to facilitate humanitarian assistance to Tyndall Air Force Base. Tyndall Air Force Base received extensive damage in the wake of Hurricane Michael," the base said in a statement.
Search teams continue to pick their way through the ruins of Mexico Beach, the ground-zero town of about 1,000 people that was nearly wiped off the map when Michael blew ashore there on Wednesday with devastating 155 mph (249 kph) winds.
State officials said that by one count, 285 people in Mexico Beach defied mandatory evacuation orders and stayed behind. Whether any of them got out at some point was unclear.
