Hurricane Michael is no more. The violent storm that ripped through the Southeast, leaving a trail of death and destruction from Florida to Virginia, finally moved off the coast over the Atlantic Ocean overnight. It is now known as Post-Tropical Cyclone Michael. 
 
 Michael made landfall in the Florida Panhandle on Wednesday as a Category 4 hurricane — the strongest on record to hit the area — and charged north through Georgia and into the Carolinas and Virginia, wreaking havoc and causing emergencies. In the storm’s wake lay crushed and flooded buildings, shattered lives and at least 11 deaths that state and local officials have linked to the storm, with authorities investigating another three deaths. 
 
 5:12 p.m.: North of Panama City, long waits for gas, food 
 
 FOUNTAIN, Fla. — When everything else was closed, Buck’s Piggly Wiggly Express opened with fuel and food. A line of cars extended a quarter mile, and the queue to enter the convenience store was so long, it took buyers more than 30 minutes to get in. 
 
 Ann Jackson, 62, had heard the store in Fountain, Fla., about 30 miles north of Panama City, was selling water and other supplies, so she and her two daughters had rushed to it. They stood in line for 40 minutes to get in. Each family was allowed to buy 20 items and two cases of water. They had to limit their gas purchase to $15. 
 
 Jackson had prepared for the hurricane with supplies for three to four days. It wasn’t supposed to be a category 5 storm, she said, so she thought she had enough. Now, the drinking water was running low in their home about 20 minutes south from the store. 
 
 “This wasn’t our first hurricane, but it was way worse,” said Jackson, who lived through Opal years ago. For that storm, she said, they were without power for seven days. Now she worries the electricity won’t come back for weeks. She does have faith, she said, that the Walmart where she works will open with days and supplies will be more available. 
 
 But Friday, Jackson was relieved to have found Piggly Wiggly open. She and her three daughters split up to get the shopping done, each assigned some necessities. She got water, bleach to make the toilet last longer without flushing, charcoal for the grill, plastic cups, plates and toilet paper. And a treat for her two grandchildren – a watermelon slushie. 
 
 Store owner Allen Spikes said the store was luckily spared from major damage, and he was soon on task to put a generator to work to get it open. Friday, he had two semis deliver water, and as customers lined up outside, store workers continued to stock up the water shelves. He was expecting one more fuel delivery on Friday and Saturday. 
 
 “People are desperate. They need supplies,” he said, as he and his wife Rachel worked the ice machine and talked to customers. “I am just glad we can serve our community.” 
 
 Jackson and her family were grateful. 
 
 “This will get us through a few more days,” she said. “All this will go away. But it’s going to be a long time to recover.” 
 
 — Luz Lazo 
 
 4:53 p.m.: Virginia continues search for missing woman 
 
 The Virginia State Police said Friday afternoon that officials were continuing to search for a woman swept away when the vehicle she was riding in was stranded on a bridge along Mt. Harmony Road. The state’s death toll from the storm remained five people late Friday afternoon, according to the Virginia Department of Emergency Management. 
 
 — Mark Berman 
 
 3:50 p.m.: The impact Michael left far inland 
 
 Although the obliterated beachfront communities have gotten most of the media attention, rescue operations are underway far inland. Many people in the Florida Panhandle live on dirt roads now completely blocked by fallen trees. 
 
 Rescue teams that can’t reach rural residents by vehicle are having to go on foot, said Sean Collins, 47, a retired firefighter in Marianna, Fla. 
 
 “We don’t know if some of the elderly who live back in these woods, are they okay and have they been contacted,” Collins said. 
 
 Marianna is about 50 miles from the coast and took a direct hit from the eye of the storm. Buildings downtown were badly damaged. Collins estimated that 100 percent of homes and vehicles were damaged in some way. 
 
 But because Marianna is so far from the coast – nearer to Alabama than to Panama City – residents did not evacuate, Collins said. 
 
 “Nobody thought it was going to be this devastating,” he said. 
 
 — Joel Achenbach 
 
 2 p.m.: North Carolina, Georgia report additional storm deaths 
 
 Authorities in North Carolina and Georgia confirmed additional deaths in those states, pushing the number of fatalities officials have linked to the storm to at least 11 people as of Friday afternoon, with three more deaths being investigated. 
 
 North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) said two people — a man and a woman — were killed in McDowell County when their car hit a large tree that had fallen on the road. State and local officials previously said a man in the state was killed Thursday when a tree fell on his car in Iredell County. 
 
 “We extend our heartfelt sympathy to the loved ones and friends of those killed,” Cooper said in a statement. 
 
 Meanwhile, officials in Georgia confirmed that a second life had been lost there, after an 11-year-old girl in Seminole County was killed while in a mobile home when the wind hurled a metal carport into the air. The Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency on Friday morning said another person had died in the state. The agency declined to provide additional details on the death beyond saying it occurred in Wayne County. 
 
 Virginia authorities said they had confirmed five deaths there and had one person still missing Friday. 
 
 In Gadsden County, Fla., the sheriff’s office said Thursday they had four “storm-related fatalities following Hurricane Michael,” although they had only confirmed the details of one death: a man killed when a tree crashed through the roof of his home. A spokeswoman said Friday the four deaths had been forwarded to the medical examiner’s office, but additional details were not immediately available. 
 
 Authorities have warned that the storm’s death toll was likely to climb as they were able to head into the areas — like Mexico Beach, Fla. — that endured particular damage this week. FEMA Administrator William “Brock” Long said he believed that the toll would increase, particularly as first responders got into places like Mexico Beach. 
 
 “Unfortunately, I think you’re going to see that number climb,” Long said Friday morning. “I hope we don’t see it climb dramatically.” 
 
 — Mark Berman 
 
 12:10 p.m.: Five dead, one missing in Virginia after storm 
 
 Five people are dead and one is still missing in Virginia after the area was hit by Hurricane Michael. In Charlotte County, three people became stranded in a vehicle on a bridge along Mt. Harmony Road, according to state police. 
 
 When rescuers arrived, they were clinging to the railings of a bridge as high waters surrounded them. A local sheriff’s deputy saved a 17-year-old man using a human chain with law enforcement officers, local residents and rope, officials said, but a man and a woman – who police said are related to the teenager – were swept away. Rescuers found the body of the man overnight and the woman is still missing. 
 
 [Before and after images of Hurricane Michael] 
 
 In Pittsylvania County, a 45-year-old man died after he was swept away from his vehicle. A sheriff’s deputy and a local resident tried to rescue James E. King Jr., state police said, but the floodwaters were too deep and too swift. 
 
 In Hanover County, a firefighter died and four others were injured, including three seriously, after a tractor trailer crashed into them as they tried to help with another crash involving two vehicles along Interstate 295 outside Mechanicsville, Va. 
 
 And in Danville, two people died after being swept away by flood waters. One man, William Lynn Tanksley, 53, was swept from his vehicle during flash flooding at around 5 p.m. Thursday. Another person, who police have not yet identified, was stranded in a car overcome by flooding at around 10:20 p.m. 
 
 — Dana Hedgpeth 
 
 10:04 a.m.: FEMA chief warns the death toll likely to climb 
 
 FEMA Administrator William “Brock” Long said Friday morning that the death toll from Hurricane Michael is likely to go up as rescue workers are able to venture more deeply into the areas devastated by the storm. 
 
 Authorities as of Friday morning had confirmed 11 deaths in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia, but they have repeatedly warned that this number could go up. Long reiterated that during a news briefing in Washington, saying that authorities have yet to fully explore areas like Mexico Beach, Fla., which Long has called “ground zero” after it was pummeled by the hurricane. 
 
 “Unfortunately, I think you’re going to see that number climb,” Long said. “I hope we don’t see it climb dramatically. But I have reasons to believe — we haven’t gotten into some of the hardest hit areas, particularly the Mexico Beach area.” 
 
 Long said the storm posed a direct threat to people who ignored warnings and evacuation orders on the coastlines, particularly given the threat of storm surge capable of tearing apart and flattening buildings. 
 
 “Very few people live to tell what it’s like to experience storm surge,” he said. 
 
 Long asked people in the areas directly hit by the storm to be patient for what is poised to be a long recovery, because it will take time to assess the damage and confront the destruction. 
 
 “This is going to be a frustrating event,” he said. “It takes time to put things back together.” 
 
 Long, who plans to head to the area hit by the storm over the weekend, said that in Bay County, Fla. — home to Mexico Beach — “it’s not safe to return,” given the downed power lines and other debris littering the region. 
 
 “Quite honestly, it’s a dangerous area to go back into,” he said. 
 
 — Mark Berman 
 
 8:55 a.m.: In final advisory, hurricane center says Michael’s remnants are moving toward the sea 
 
 The National Hurricane Center on Friday morning posted its final advisory for the storm formerly known as Hurricane Michael, writing that the “post-tropical cyclone” was trundling northeast and heading for the Atlantic. 
 
 The forecast calls for the storm’s center to “move away from the United States today and move rapidly across the open Atlantic Ocean” beginning Friday night and through Sunday. 
 
 The storm is still expected to produce storm surge flooding along the North Carolina coast, though that should diminish Friday, along with powerful winds in the mid-Atlantic in the early part of the day. The storm is even expected to drop some rain on New England and could produce up to 5 inches of rain in Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard, while flash flooding remains possible from the heavy rain left behind in the Carolinas and elsewhere in the mid-Atlantic. 
 
 — Mark Berman 
 
 8:40 a.m.: Tyndall Air Force base “took a beating,” commander says 
 
 When Hurricane Michael swept ashore in northwestern Florida, it delivered a punishing shot to Tyndall Air Force base, which sits between Panama City and Mexico Beach, not far from where the storm made landfall. 
 
 The “base took a beating,” Col. Brian S. Laidlaw, the installation’s commander and commander of the 325th Fighter Wing, wrote in a letter to the people who call it home. 
 
 “By now you already know that Tyndall Air Force Base requires extensive cleanup and repairs,” Laidlaw wrote. “I will not recall you and your families until we can guarantee your safety.” 
 
 Laidlaw said he did not know how long the cleanup would take, but asked for patience because of the work involved. 
 
 “We need to restore basic utilities, clear our roads of trees and power lines, and assess the structural integrity of our buildings,” he wrote. He added: “We can rebuild our base, but we can’t rebuild any of you.” 
 
 — Mark Berman 
 
 7:59 a.m.: Five deaths reported in Virginia 
 
 The known death toll from Michael now stands at 11, after this sobering bulletin from the Virginia Department of Emergency Management: 
 
 Virginia storm updates as of 7 a.m today. 5 confirmed Michael-related fatalities. 520,000 without power. 1,200 closed roads. 5 suspected tornadoes. — VDEM (@VDEM) October 12, 2018 
 
 Four of the deaths were related to people being swept away in floodwaters along roads; the fifth was a firefighter who was killed in a crash along a highway, according to the Virginia Department of Emergency Management. 
 
 In one incident, Virginia State Police said James E. King Jr., 45, of Dry Fork, Va., was swept away from his vehicle after he got caught Thursday afternoon in a flash flood in Pittsylvania County. 
 
 A local sheriff’s deputy and a local resident tried to rescue him but police said the “floodwaters were too deep and too swift” for them to reach him. Around 10:37 p.m., his body was found. 
 
 A firefighter in Hanover County was struck and killed by a tractor-trailer and three other firefighters were seriously injured as they tried to help with another crash on Interstate 295. The driver of the tractor-trailer also suffered serious injuries. 
 
 Authorities in Florida, Georgia and North Carolina had previously linked at least six deaths to the storm, a toll officials have worried will continue to rise as search-and-rescue efforts continue. 
 
 In Florida, the Gadsden County Sheriff’s Office reported four deaths related to the storm. A spokeswoman said that one man was killed when a tree crashed through the roof of his home in Greensboro. The sheriff’s office said that it also had three other “storm-related fatalities following Hurricane Michael,” although it did not immediately release further information about what happened beyond saying that all four deaths were “in relation to or occurred during the storm.” 
 
 Gadsden, a county in northwest Florida not far from Tallahassee, took a direct shot from Michael as it churned northward on Wednesday. 
 
 In North Carolina, a 38-year-old man was killed Thursday afternoon shortly before 1 p.m. in Iredell County, north of Charlotte, when a tree fell on the vehicle he was driving, according to David Souther, the county’s fire marshal. 
 
 And in Georgia, officials in Seminole County, on the Florida border, said early Thursday that an 11-year-old girl in a mobile home was killed by a metal carport that was thrown in the air by Michael’s gusting winds. 
 
 William “Brock” Long, the FEMA administrator, said Thursday that “search and rescue is where we are hyper-focused this morning.” He warned that the death toll may go up, saying in an appearance on CNN that “those numbers could climb as search-and-rescue teams get out.” 
 
 Motorists must adjust driving to road conditions caused by the storm. Slow down. DO NOT DRIVE ACROSS FLOODED ROADWAYS. This causes most storm-related fatalities. Remember, “Turn Around, Don’t Drown.” Call 511 for the latest road conditions. #MichaelVA — VDEM (@VDEM) October 12, 2018 
 
 — J. Freedom du Lac, Dana Hedgpeth and Mark Berman 
 
 7:13 a.m.: More than a million power outages reported 
 
 “You fix the power, you solve a lot of problems,” FEMA Administrator William “Brock” Long said Thursday, of the post-Michael recovery and cleanup efforts. 
 
 There’s a lot left to fix: Nearly 1.5 million people throughout the Southeast woke up without power Friday, including more than a half-million in Virginia — mostly in the Richmond and Hampton Roads areas, according to Dominion Energy. There are about 425,000 outages in North Carolina, according to a Duke Energy spokeswoman. The Florida State Emergency Response Team reported more than 350,000 outages. 
 
 — J. Freedom du Lac 
 
 6:19 a.m.: ‘All coastal tropical cyclone warnings and watches are discontinued’ 
 
 The National Hurricane Center’s first public advisory arrived with little notice on Oct. 6, a Saturday. Michael wasn’t even a named storm then; it was simply “Potential Tropical Cyclone Fourteen,” and the center noted that it was “getting better organized over the northwestern Caribbean Sea.” 
 
 By the following day, the storm had its name — and by Monday, the center was sounding the alarm about Michael’s potential impacts on the United States. 
 
 Landfall came quickly — on Wednesday, along Florida’s “Forgotten Coast” — and Michael was as bad as advertised, delivering a devastating blow before heading north. 
 
 Now, it is gone. Early Friday, in “Post-Tropical Cyclone Michael Advisory Number 23,” the National Hurricane Center wrote that Michael had moved away from the United States, and that “all coastal tropical cyclone warnings and watches are discontinued.” 
 
 There may be lingering effects, though, the center wrote: “Gale winds may continue for a few more hours over portions of southeastern Virginia, the southern Chesapeake Bay, and the Delmarva Peninsula.” 
 
 And: “Michael is expected to produce 1 to 3 inches of rain from New Jersey to Long Island to Cape Cod, and 3 to 5 inches over Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard through this afternoon.” 
 
 And: “This rainfall could lead to flash flooding. Elsewhere, flooding and flash flooding may continue where Michael produced heavy rain very recently in the Carolinas and Mid-Atlantic states.” 
 
 But it is gone and done, the center noted, adding: “This is the last public advisory issued by the National Hurricane Center on this system.” 
 
 — J. Freedom du Lac ||||| MEXICO BEACH, Fla. (Reuters) - Searchers on Friday uncovered the first body in the rubble of the Florida town of Mexico Beach, which was nearly obliterated by Hurricane Michael, as the toll from the historic storm rose to at least 18 and was expected to climb further. 
 
 Rescue teams, hampered by power and telephone outages, used cadaver dogs, drones and heavy equipment to hunt for hundreds of people unaccounted for in devastated communities across the Florida Panhandle. 
 
 “I’ve watched on television, thinking of what others have experienced, like in the Carolinas and Texas,” Mexico Beach Mayor Al Cathey told reporters referring to earlier hurricanes. 
 
 “But it’s different when you walk down and see this, and your emotions run away. This is just a small unique coastal community.” 
 
 No other information was available about the dead man found in Mexico Beach, said Joseph Zahralban, Miami’s fire chief who was leading a search and rescue unit. He said it was unclear if the man lived alone or with a family. 
 
 Three deaths were reported in Marianna, in Jackson County, Florida, Sheriff Lou Roberts told a news conference on Friday afternoon. 
 
 Florida accounts for nine of the storm-related deaths, with five more in Virginia, three in North Carolina and one in Georgia. 
 
 The death toll is expected to rise as rescuers go house-to-house and comb through the rubble in Mexico Beach and other Florida coastal communities, such as Port St. Joe and Panama City, said Brock Long, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). 
 
 The Houston-based volunteer search-and-rescue network CrowdSource Rescue said its teams were trying to find about 2,100 people either reported missing or stranded and in need of help in Florida, co-founder Matthew Marchetti said. 
 
 Social media websites were crowded with messages from those trying to reach missing family in Florida’s Bay and Gulf Counties. 
 
 Marchetti said his volunteer search teams, consisting mostly of off-duty police officers and firefighters, also had rescued or accounted for 345 others previously reported to CrowdSource Rescue since Michael struck on Wednesday. 
 
 DOGS AND BULLDOZERS 
 
 FEMA crews have been using bulldozers and other heavy equipment to push a path through debris so rescuers can sift the rubble using specially trained search dogs. 
 
 More than 1,700 search and rescue workers have been deployed, Governor Rick Scott’s office said in a statement, including seven swift-water rescue teams and nearly 300 ambulances. 
 
 Michael crashed ashore near Mexico Beach on Wednesday afternoon as one of the most powerful storms in U.S. history, with winds of up to 155 mph (250 kph). It pushed a wall of seawater inland, causing widespread flooding. 
 
 The tropical storm, which grew in less than two days into a Category 4 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, tore apart entire neighborhoods in the Panhandle, reducing homes to naked concrete foundations or piles of wood and siding. 
 
 Damaged and destroyed buildings are seen in an aerial photograph, taken during a post-Hurricane Michael flight by a U.S. Coast Guard MH-65 helicopter over Mexico Beach, Florida, U.S. October 11, 2018. Coast Guard/Petty Officer 1st Class Colin Hunt/Handout via REUTERS 
 
 Except for the emergency 911 system, authorities in Bay County, the epicenter of the disaster, were virtually without telephone or internet service until late on Friday, making communications internally and with the public difficult. 
 
 “We didn’t have anything,” said Ruth Corley, a spokeswoman for the Bay County Sheriff’s Department. “We’ve been writing things down on pieces of paper. We’re doing what we can with the minimal media that we have.” 
 
 She said local television stations were knocked off the air for two days, and authorities were relying on the Gulf State College radio station to transmit public service bulletins. Search teams went door-to-door hunting victims. 
 
 REBUILD RIGHT 
 
 FEMA’s Long urged communities such as Mexico Beach, where many homes were pulverized by 12 to 14 feet (3.7 to 4.3 meters) of storm surge, to rebuild to withstand future storms. 
 
 “It’s OK if you want to live on the coast or on top of a mountain that sees wildfires or whatever, but you have to build to a higher standard,” he said. “If we’re going to rebuild, do it right.” 
 
 By Friday morning the storm remnants were about 275 miles (445 km) southwest of Nantucket, Massachusetts, packing maximum sustained winds of 65 mph (100 kph). 
 
 More than 940,000 homes and businesses on the U.S. East Coast were without power and it could be weeks before power is restored to the most damaged parts of Florida. 
 
 The numbers in emergency shelters were expected to swell to 20,000 across five states by Friday, said Brad Kieserman of the American Red Cross. The Coast Guard said it rescued 129 people. 
 
 Slideshow (17 Images) 
 
 Even as rescuers searched the rubble for survivors or the dead, some Mexico Beach residents were nervously trickling back, expressing hope the place, nicknamed “the Forgotten Coast,” would not change too much as it rebuilds. 
 
 “It was the perfect beach town. Not all of that commercialism,” said Dottie Sinclair, 57, a nurse, adding a Subway fast-food restaurant was the only commercial chain. 
 
 “I don’t think it will ever be the same,” said her husband Danny, 64, who is semi-retired. “People will just pack up and leave.” ||||| Hurricane Michael, a ferocious and historic storm, has killed at least 17 people, left a "tremendous number" of others unaccounted for and left a trail of destruction across Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas. 
 
 Interested in Hurricane Michael? Add Hurricane Michael as an interest to stay up to date on the latest Hurricane Michael news, video, and analysis from ABC News. Add Interest 
 
 Michael is the fourth most powerful storm on record to hit the U.S., and the worst since Hurricane Camille in 1969. 
 
 It is also the first Category 4 hurricane to ever make landfall on the Florida Panhandle, and "the worst storm" that area has ever seen, Florida Gov. Rick Scott said. 
 
 Joe Raedle/Getty Images 
 
 The hurricane blasted into the Florida Panhandle Wednesday afternoon, demolishing homes and submerging entire neighborhoods. 
 
 Mark Wallheiser/Getty Image 
 
 Mark Wallheiser/Getty Images 
 
 ABC News Chief Meteorologist Ginger Zee said the ruins in Mexico Beach, Florida, were "eerily reminiscent to the scene I saw in Gulfport [Mississippi] in 2005," after Hurricane Katrina. 
 
 This is what 98 looks like from my viewpoint inside Summer House On 23rd Street in Mexico Beach. This condo building we are in sustained very little damage. Can’t say the same for homes in the distance that were washed away. Such a sad scene. pic.twitter.com/pNIZV7rEsx — Ginger Zee (@Ginger_Zee) October 10, 2018 
 
 Before Michael hit, law enforcement made a list of everyone in the small Mexico Beach community who stayed behind. 
 
 In Mexico Beach "a tremendous number of people" are "unaccounted for," Mark Bowen, chief of emergency services in Bay County, which encompasses Mexico Beach, told "Good Morning America" Friday. 
 
 Rescuers' top priority Friday is a "meticulous" search process, Bowen said, "everything from looking for bodies to looking for injured persons." 
 
 "Fire stations were destroyed, police stations were destroyed," Bowen said. "Public safety agencies are only taking highest priority calls right now ... heart attacks, you know, major trauma. ... An enormous amount of 911 calls are going unresponded to because we’ve got this priority to search and rescue. So it’s a terrible thing." 
 
 The U.S. Coast Guard has rescued more than 60 people an assisted nearly 300 by Friday evening, it said in a press release. 
 
 Carlo Allegri/Reuters 
 
 Chris OMeara/AP 
 
 After Florida, Michael roared through Georgia, sending a tornado through the tiny town of Roberta, near Macon. 
 
 Roberta residents Wayne and Sharon Granade told ABC News they ran inside, slammed the door, got under a couch and held each other. 
 
 "It comes through like the worst sound you've ever heard in your life," Wayne Granade said. "It started throwing stuff everywhere." 
 
 AP 
 
 "You hear the train noise and it sounds like bombs exploding," Sharon Granade said. "I was crying ... It was really scary ... you can hear the trees breaking." 
 
 "Worst situation you can be in," Wayne Granade added. "Everybody thinks it ain't gonna happen to you. But it happened to us." 
 
 Michael then barreled into the Carolinas, dumping over 9 inches of rain in North Carolina where residents are still reeling from historic flooding left by Hurricane Florence last month. 
 
 The Carolinas were followed by Virginia, where the weakened storm still wreaked havoc, flooding roads, downing power lines and killing at least five. 
 
 Taken at Franklin and Brandon. There are a number of road closures all over the city due to flash flooding. Swift water teams are responding to Ogden and Windward Dr. SW, Melrose and Forest Park Blvd., and 220 and Pheasant Ridge in particular. #TurnAroundDontDrown pic.twitter.com/Ia2FLbNaRn — City of Roanoke (@City_of_Roanoke) October 11, 2018 
 
 Lives lost 
 
 Chris OMeara-Pool/Getty Images 
 
 At least 17 people lost their lives in the massive storm. 
 
 Four people died in Gadsden County, Florida, said a sheriff's office spokesperson. 
 
 In Georgia, an 11-year-old girl, Sarah Radney, was killed when part of a metal carport crashed into her family's trailer in Lake Seminole and struck her in the head, local officials said. Her official cause of death was due to massive blunt force trauma, Seminole County Coroner Chad Smith told ABC News. 
 
 Michael is the first major hurricane to blow into Georgia since 1898. 
 
 There were five deaths in Virginia, four of which were from drowning, state officials said. 
 
 The fifth death in the state was Lt. Brad Clark, a Hanover County firefighter, who was killed while helping at the scene of a car crash Thursday, according to Hanover Fire-EMS and Virginia State Police. 
 
 Hanover County Fire-EMS Lieutenant Killed in the Line of Duty 
 
 
 
 Hanover County, Virginia. 
 
 Lieutenant Brad Clark of Hanover County Fire-EMS was killed in the line of duty.https://t.co/LQIUcex4UM pic.twitter.com/8u8OVwZZMA — Hanover Fire-EMS (@HanoverFireEMS1) October 12, 2018 
 
 In North Carolina, a 38-year-old man was killed when a tree fell onto his car as he was driving, Iredell County officials said. 
 
 Two others also died in North Carolina, according to The Associated Press. 
 
 The AP also reported a body was found in Mexico Beach Friday evening, specifically in that town. The Jackson County, Florida, sheriff's office also reported three dead in the county, but did not specify any causes of death. 
 
 FEMA Administrator Brock Long on Friday warned that the death toll will likely climb. 
 
 "I hope we don’t see that climb dramatically, but ... we still haven’t gotten into some of the hardest-hit areas," he said. 
 
 Devastation in Florida 
 
 Mark Wallheiser/Getty Images 
 
 The Florida Panhandle is the wide strip in the northwest corner of the state bordered by the Gulf of Mexico to the south and Alabama and Georgia to the north. Its largest city is Pensacola, with a population approaching half a million. 
 
 Popular with tourists for its beaches, the area also has many year-round residents. 
 
 Michael left the coastal community of Mexico Beach destroyed, with the storm surge ripping multiple houses from their foundations, sending them bobbing along the main road that runs through the town. 
 
 Zee said she saw an "entire home, a well-built home, rolling down the street." 
 
 "It makes you shake," Zee added. 
 
 Damage now from the back side of our condo building in Mexico Beach. #Michael pic.twitter.com/BVAJfPFwkZ — Ginger Zee (@Ginger_Zee) October 10, 2018 
 
 With cell service knocked out, many people are isolated. There are now empty spots where dozens of homes are no longer standing. 
 
 View from my room. Window blew out - stunning flooding. Panama City. #hurricanemichael2018 pic.twitter.com/wybgoSQ1R7 — David Muir (@DavidMuir) October 10, 2018 
 
 Florida Sen. Marco Rubio tweeted he was hearing "stunning" reports of damage, including that "Mexico Beach is gone" and the "damage in Panama City is catastrophic." 
 
 He described Mexico Beach as an "old old Florida town" that "feels like a trip back in time," and Panama City as "a vibrant seaside city" popular for families and students to vacation. 
 
 "It will take a long time to recover from this. We will do everything we can to make sure the federal government does it’s part," the senator tweeted. "But I will confess that my biggest fear that this part of Florida, with its unique & genuine characteristics, will never be the same." 
 
 It will take a long time to recover from this. We will do everything we can to make sure the federal government does it’s part. But I will confess that my biggest fear that this part of #Florida, with its unique & genuine characteristics, will never be the same. #Sayfie — Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) October 11, 2018 
 
 Thousands fled the Florida coastline before Michael hit. But by Wednesday morning, it was too late to evacuate. Those who remained were urged to shelter in place. 
 
 Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images 
 
 "It sounded like a freight train coming from every direction," Krista Miller, who stayed behind in her 111-year-old home in Apalachicola Bay, told "Good Morning America." 
 
 Colleen Swab, her mother and her young daughter took shelter in a closet in Panama City Beach, Florida. 
 
 "We were terrified but there was nowhere for us to go. We couldn't get on the roads. It was too late," Swab said. "I thought the roof was going to come off. I don't suggest trying to ride out a storm." 
 
 Gas station canopy at the intersection of Cherry Street and Tyndall PKwy has collapsed. #HurricaneMichael pic.twitter.com/VkGHHgbwoG — Jeff Gammons (@StormVisuals) October 10, 2018 
 
 Tyndall Air Force Base, located 12 miles east of Panama City, suffered "severe damage to the base infrastructure," the Air Force said. 
 
 No personnel assigned to stay there during the storm were injured, the Air Force added. 
 
 As cleanup and rescue efforts were underway Thursday, Gov. Scott urged residents to stay off the roads. 
 
 "The worst thing you can do now is act foolishly" by putting yourself in danger or keeping law enforcement from saving lives, he said at a news conference. 
 
 Areas of Callaway, FL are seeing devastation and significant damage. Here is a photo of a @WaffleHouse on Tyndall Parkway after #HurricaneMichael. Please stay off the roads and continue to be safe. pic.twitter.com/1YXPN9rfXq — Gulf Power (@GulfPower) October 11, 2018 
 
 Residents in the dark 
 
 Michael has left more than 1.3 million households and businesses without power across Florida, Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia. 
 
 More than 33,000 workers have been mobilized to help restore power, officials said. 
 
 Here's a glimpse at what our crews are facing as they restore power today in Carrabelle, FL. Catastrophic damage, road closures and debris have made for challenging conditions. Crews will continue to work as quickly and safely as possible to get power back on. #Michael pic.twitter.com/bFTTINMGoN — Duke Energy (@DukeEnergy) October 11, 2018 
 
 Carolinas customers: high winds and toppled trees have brought down power lines as a result of #Michael. Stay away from fallen or sagging power lines -- consider all lines dangerous. Thousands of workers are responding across both states. Get the latest: https://t.co/SvBMzpxebq pic.twitter.com/P5G8GaLRs1 — Duke Energy (@DukeEnergy) October 12, 2018 
 
 The government is urging anyone in a disaster zone to check on their neighbors. 
 
 “Right now, what we need is neighbor helping neighbor,” Long, the FEMA Administrator, said in a statement. “We deploy resources and responders, but we know often times it is neighbors who are the first people to help those in need.” 
 
 President Donald Trump has approved major disaster declarations in Florida and Georgia. 
 
 Residents can register for federal assistance at disasterassistance.gov. 
 
 Eric Thayer/The New York Times via Redux 
 
 Michael "grew into a monster," Trump said Wednesday from the Oval Office. 
 
 Despite the storm, Trump went to his Wednesday night rally in Erie, Pennsylvania. 
 
 "We have thousands of people lined up. ... It would have been very unfair," Trump told reporters when asked about whether he was thinking of canceling it. 
 
 He later spoke about the hurricane during the rally. 
 
 "Our thoughts and prayers on behalf of the nation to everyone out there in the path of Hurricane Michael," Trump told supporters Wednesday night. 
 
 Trump said he will visit Florida and Georgia next week. 
 
 "We are working very hard on every area and every state that was hit - we are with you!" he tweeted Friday. 
 
 People have no idea how hard Hurricane Michael has hit the great state of Georgia. I will be visiting both Florida and Georgia early next week. We are working very hard on every area and every state that was hit - we are with you! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 12, 2018 
 
 ABC News' Ginger Zee, Anne Flaherty, Kenneth Moton, Will Gretsky, Julia Jacobo, Meghan Keneally, Victor Oquendo, Jason Volack, Morgan Winsor and Scott Withers contributed to this report.
– Authorities in Mexico Beach, Florida, estimate that 285 people decided to stay home and try to ride out Hurricane Michael, reports the AP. As has been well reported by now, the coastal community was decimated by the storm, and authorities are now trying to figure out how many of those 285 survived. Similar situations exist elsewhere in the state, and Florida officials are fielding scores of calls from worried loved ones. Still, with cellphone service down throughout wide areas, rescue officials are holding out hope that the missing are fine and simply haven't been able to get in touch yet. As of Friday afternoon, CNN had the death toll at 13: Five in Virginia, four in Florida, three in North Carolina, and one (an 11-year-old girl) in Georgia. “Unfortunately, I think you’re going to see that number climb,” said FEMA Administrator William “Brock” Long Friday morning. “I hope we don’t see it climb dramatically.” As for the storm itself, the Washington Post notes that Michael is now Post-Tropical Cyclone Michael and has moved out to sea. However, communities from New Jersey to Massachusetts could still get 3 to 5 inches of rain through Friday. More than 1 million people were without power in the affected states.