PANAMA CITY, Fla. -- Cleanup is just beginning in Marianna, Florida as winds and driving rain from Hurricane Michael finally recede, but it could take weeks.

And this is a city that wasn't even on the coast.

Marianna, a city of just under 10,000 people, is about 60 miles north of the Gulf Coast - but that didn't spare residents the wrath of the massive storm which came ashore as a strong Category 4 hurricane.

Damage in Panama City was even worse, at one point forcing 11Alive's own crews to take shelter as every object not tied to the ground became a dangerous projectile.

"The hotel that we were sheltering in took quite a beating, too," Christie Ethridge said. "Siding was ripped off, we saw shingles being ripped off the roof and flying by the window. A big planter tried to break in the door."

Ethridge said that they had to hold the door closed at one point to keep it from flying open.

But news crews weren't the only ones in the area who were riding out the storm. Others on the Panhandle decided to stay as well.

"Yesterday, when I was running around getting my hurricane supplies and stuff, finishing my prep - two different worlds," one resident said.

She said that at one point during the hurricane she and her family feared the roof was about to cave in with insulation coming down on them.

"It was scarier than Hell," she said.

Video around the city shows deep lakes where there were parking lots days before. Elsewhere, Hurricane Michael demolished homes - and in one case flipped a mobile home on its roof. Roadways, meanwhile, were an obstacle course of fallen power lines and poles.

And throughout the drive from Panama City, the scene was largely the same. Conditions had worsened enough that I-10 was shut down in the area. In many regions, cell phone service was limited or non-existent due to tower damage.

► UPLOAD | Send us your weather pictures here

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► Have a news tip? Email news@11alive.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter feed.</s>McKesson Corporation, a leading distributor of medications and medical surgical supplies, is prepared to meet the needs of customers, employees and communities impacted by Hurricane Michael and its aftermath.

McKesson is experienced in disaster preparedness and recovery efforts. McKesson has significant operations in the southeastern United States and has taken proactive steps to prepare for Hurricane Michael and its aftermath, despite the rapidity with which this storm developed. The company is uniquely qualified to meet the needs of healthcare organizations and communities during natural disasters because of its relationships with hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, nursing homes, doctors and more.

Here are some of the ways McKesson is supporting customers, patients, and first responders who depend on access to medications and supplies, as well as our own employees, throughout Hurricane Michael and during the recovery.

Preparing McKesson facilities and operations for impacts of the storm

McKesson has warehouse and distribution operations in the areas of impact, including Florida, Atlanta, GA and more. To ensure service isn’t disrupted, McKesson has safeguarded all locations by providing satellite phones and back-up generators that will sustain full operations throughout the storm. Employees from other U.S. facilities are always on standby to travel and support relief efforts as needed.

In addition, the company has coordinated with specialty couriers to plan for the eventuality of emergency shipments. Based on McKesson’s experience in disaster preparedness, the company has increased on-hand inventory of medications, potable water, antibiotics, vaccines, insulin, dialysis equipment, and other supplies that are frequently needed following a storm at nearby warehouses and neighboring distribution centers.

Expanding support for customer and community needs

Before Hurricane Michael made landfall, McKesson representatives were busy doing outreach to pharmacy, clinic and hospital customers in impacted areas to emphasize the importance of being prepared by, for example, ensuring they have sufficient inventory and critical medications on hand in case of road closures or unpredictable delivery schedules.

McKesson has activated the Get You to Safety grants, a part of the McKesson Taking Care of Our Own Fund. This grant is provided to McKesson employees who need to evacuate their residences during government-declared disasters. The grant assists employees with any evacuation-related costs such as food, water, shelter, clothing, transportation or medical assistance.

RelayHealth Pharmacy Solutions, a unit of McKesson, is participating in Healthcare Ready’s Rx Open. This network helps patients find nearby pharmacies that are open for business in areas impacted by disaster. For the patient looking to fill an essential prescription in or nearby affected areas, this tool could be critical. RxOpen works by combining multiple sources of information from across the industry– including RelayHealth –and using Google Maps to display open pharmacies in the impacted area.

McKesson Corporation, currently ranked 6th on the FORTUNE 500, is a global leader in healthcare supply chain management solutions, retail pharmacy, community oncology and specialty care, and healthcare information technology. McKesson partners with pharmaceutical manufacturers, providers, pharmacies, governments and other organizations in healthcare to help provide the right medicines, medical products and healthcare services to the right patients at the right time, safely and cost-effectively. United by our ICARE shared principles, our employees work every day to innovate and deliver opportunities that make our customers and partners more successful — all for the better health of patients. McKesson has been named the “Most Admired Company” in the healthcare wholesaler category by FORTUNE, a “Best Place to Work” by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, and a top military-friendly company by Military Friendly. For more information, visit www.mckesson.com

Founded in 1943, the McKesson Foundation focuses on supporting McKesson employees' community involvement efforts and cancer care. To maximize our impact, the Foundation invests in organizations that provide cancer support programs, providing care packages for patients through our Giving Comfort program, and growing and diversifying the international marrow registry through the McKesson Marrow Drive. For more information, please contact us at mckessonfoundation@mckesson.com.</s>PORT ST. JOE, Fla. (Reuters) - Rescuers will pick through the rubble of ravaged beach communities searching for survivors on Friday after Michael, one of the most powerful hurricanes in U.S. history, slammed into the Florida Panhandle, killing at least seven people.

Michael struck Florida’s northwest coast near the small town of Mexico Beach on Wednesday afternoon with top sustained winds of 155 miles per hour (250 kph), pushing a wall of seawater inland and causing widespread flooding.

The storm tore entire neighborhoods apart, reducing homes and businesses to piles of wood and siding, damaging roads and leaving scenes of devastation that resembled the aftermath of a carpet-bombing operation.

U.S. Army personnel used heavy equipment to push a path through debris in Mexico Beach to allow rescuers through to search for trapped residents, survivors or casualties, as Blackhawk helicopters circled overhead. Rescuers from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) used dogs, drones and GPS in the search.

“We prepare for the worst and hope for the best. This is obviously the worst,” said Stephanie Palmer, a FEMA firefighter and rescuer from Coral Springs, Florida.

Much of downtown Port St. Joe, 12 miles (19 km) east of Mexico Beach, was flooded after Michael snapped boats in two and hurled a large ship onto the shore, residents said.

“We had houses that were on one side of the street and now they’re on the other,” said Mayor Bo Patterson, who watched trees fly by his window as he rode out the storm in his home seven blocks from the beach.

Patterson estimated 1,000 homes were completely or partially destroyed in his town of 3,500 people.

Jordon Tood, 31, a charter boat captain in Port St. Joe, said: “There were mandatory evacuation orders, but only idiots like us stuck around.”

“This was my sixth (hurricane), so I thought I was prepared,” he said.

In Apalachicola, about 30 miles (48 km) east of where the storm made landfall, a little less than half of the 2,200 people stayed and rode out the storm, residents said.

“I’ve never seen anything like this craziness,” said Tamara’s cafe owner Danny Itzkovitz, 54, as he was busy grilling burgers. “We’ve had storms before - in ‘05 we had four or five in a row. I didn’t even take the boards off my window. But, holy smokes, this one kicked our butt.”

The storm peeled back part of the gym roof and tore off a wall at Jinks Middle School in Panama City. A year ago, the school welcomed students and families displaced by Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.

“I have had employees going to the communities where our kids live, going door to door and checking,” Principal Britt Smith said by phone. “I have been up since 3:30 or 4 a.m. emailing and checking on staff to see if they are safe. So far, everybody seems to be very safe.”

With a low barometric pressure recorded at 919 millibars, a measure of a hurricane’s force, Michael was the third strongest storm on record to hit the continental United States, behind only Hurricane Camille on the Mississippi Gulf Coast in 1969 and the Labor Day hurricane of 1935 in the Florida Keys.

Fast-moving Michael, a Category 4 storm on the five-step Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale when it came ashore, was about 15 miles (25 km) northeast of Norfolk, Virginia, at 10 p.m. (0200 GMT), with top sustained winds of 50 mph (80 kph) as it headed for the Atlantic coast, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

It was toppling trees and bringing life-threatening flash flooding to areas of Georgia and Virginia, which are still recovering from Hurricane Florence, as it marched northeast.

At least seven people were killed by falling trees and other hurricane-related incidents in Florida, Georgia and North Carolina, according to state officials.

Emergency services carried out dozens of rescues of people caught in swiftly moving floodwaters in North Carolina.

Many of the injured in Florida were taken to hard-hit Panama City, 20 miles (32 km) northwest of Mexico Beach.

Gulf Coast Regional Medical Center treated some but the hospital evacuated 130 patients as it faced challenges running on generators after the storm knocked out power, ripped off part of its roof and smashed windows, according to a spokesman for the hospital’s owner, HCA Healthcare Inc (HCA.N).

Almost 1.2 million homes and businesses were without power from Florida to Virginia on Thursday because of the storm.

The number of people in emergency shelters was expected to swell to 20,000 across five states by Friday, said Brad Kieserman of the American Red Cross.

Brad Rippey, a meteorologist for the U.S. Agriculture Department, said Michael severely damaged cotton, timber, pecan and peanut crops, causing estimated liabilities as high as $1.9 billion and affecting up to 3.7 million crop acres (1.5 million hectares).

Michael also disrupted energy operations in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico as it approached land, cutting crude oil production by more than 40 percent and natural gas output by nearly a third as offshore platforms were evacuated.</s>PANAMA CITY, Fla. — Linda Marquardt rode out Hurricane Michael with her husband at their home in Mexico Beach. When their house filled with surging ocean water, they fled upstairs. Now their home is full of mud and everywhere they look there's utter devastation in their Florida Panhandle community: fishing boats tossed like toys, roofs lifted off of buildings and pine trees snapped like matchsticks in 155 mph winds.

Row after row of beachfront homes were so obliterated by Michael's surging seas and howling winds that only slabs of concrete in the sand remain, a testament that this was ground zero when the epic Category 4 hurricane slammed ashore at midweek. The destruction in this and other communities dotting the white-sand beaches is being called catastrophic — and it will need billions of dollars to rebuild.

"All of my furniture was floating," said Marquardt, 67. "'A river just started coming down the road. It was awful, and now there's just nothing left."

At least six deaths were blamed on Michael, the most powerful hurricane to hit the continental U.S. in over 50 years, and by early Friday it wasn't over yet: a tropical storm long after Wednesday's landfall, Michael stubbornly kept up its punch while barrelling up the Southeast, dumping heavy rains and spreading flash flooding misery as far away as Virginia.

High winds, downed trees, streets inundated by rising waters and multiple rescues of motorists from waterlogged cars played out in spots around Virginia and neighbouring North Carolina. And while forecasters said Michael was gradually losing its tropical traits, it was a new chapter would begin as an extratropical storm predicted to intensify with gale force winds once it starts cross out into the Atlantic.

In North Carolina's mountains, motorists had to be rescued Thursday from cars trapped by high water. High winds toppled trees and power lines, leaving hundreds of thousands without power. Flash flooding also was reported in the big North Carolina cities of Charlotte and Raleigh. Similar scenes played out in parts of Virginia as the storm raced seaward.

All told, more than 900,000 homes and businesses in Florida, Alabama, Georgia and the Carolinas were without power.

Meanwhile, thousands of National Guard troops, law enforcement officers and rescue teams still had much to do in the hardest hit area: Florida's Panhandle. Families living along the Panhandle are now faced with a struggle to survive in a perilous landscape of shattered homes and shopping centres, the storm debris spread far and wide.

In one community, Panama City, most homes were still standing, but no property was left undamaged. Downed power lines and twisted street signs lay all around. Aluminum siding was shredded and homes were split by fallen trees. Hundreds of cars had broken windows. The hurricane damaged hospitals and nursing homes in Panama City, and officials worked to evacuate hundreds of patients.

"So many lives have been changed forever. So many families have lost everything," said Florida Gov. Rick Scott, calling it "unimaginable destruction."</s>JP Hampstead and John Kingston contributed to this story.

Areas of flooding and widespread debris from Hurricane Michael have blocked or closed roads along the Florida Panhandle, but it hasn't stopped relief efforts or caused major disruption in the movement of goods across the affected region.

Almost 80 miles of Interstate 10 in Florida are closed, according to the Florida 511 website (fl511.com). All eastbound lanes are closed from mile marker 85 at US-331 to just east of the Apalachicola River at mile marker 160. All westbound lanes of Interstate 10 are closed from the river to mile marker 120, at the junction with state road 77. Florida Highway Patrol is reporting blocked or closed sections of US-98 along the coast from Apalachicola to Perry.

This page from the state of Florida shows numerous other closures under the category of debris in roadway, but other than I-10, no other interstate highways.

FreightWaves spoke to executives from ReedTMS, an asset-based 3PL headquartered in Tampa, who said that the company was still able to move freight between Central Florida and Ft. Worth, Texas, by diverting trucks to I-20, which adds about 50 miles to the trip.

"I think we know there's devastation and we know people are suffering, but as far as logistics, moving stuff from left to right, the only thing we've seen are detours or holdups on I-10," Mike Ryan, a branch manager with ReedTMS said. Ryan said his company had trucks lined up to move into the area to help an unidentified restaurant chain move its inventory out of stores without power and into refrigerated vehicles, but that only about 30 percent of their capacity that had been in place for that task needed to be utilized.

Jason Reed, the company's CEO, said Florida escaped more damage because the landfall point for the storm was in a relatively low-populated area. As a result, "we're still getting produce to and from Fort Worth to central Florida, and disruptions are not stopping us."

The hurricane did shut down some logistics facilities located directly in its path. Officials from Old Dominion Freight Line (NASDAQ: ODFL) tell FreightWaves that they moved freight to higher ground ahead of the storm. Four of its five operating sites in Georgia are closed, according to the company's website, as well as their site in Dothan, Alabama. Their one site on the Florida Panhandle, in Pensacola, is operating at 70 percent.

From Pensacola to Tallahassee, a 175-mile stretch, more than 330,000 power outages have been reported, almost 800,000 across the entire Southeast. The worst damage is from Panama City through Apalachicola. According to the office of Florida Governor Rick Scott, more than 19,000 power restoration personnel had been pre-positioned and are ready to respond. Teams from Florida's State Emergency Response Team (SERT) and the military were also in place. Overall, relief operations seem to be going smoothly.

To ensure this, Perry tweeted Thursday morning asking people to stay where they are. It can be dangerous and disruptive to relief groups if people try to travel through affected areas. He also said that, following his request, President Donald Trump issued a Major Disaster Declaration for Hurricane Michael so the affected areas receive as much additional aid as possible.

The map below shows GPS pings from trucks at the time of Hurricane Michael's landfall superimposed on a satellite image of the region. It's obvious from the map that trucking capacity evacuated the area where the storm was expected to have the biggest impact.

The expected reversal of oil and natural gas shut-ins in the Gulf of Mexico has begun. On Thursday, the Bureau of Safety & Environmental Enforcement reported that 40 percent of Gulf of Mexico oil production was shut in, or 680,107 b/d. The prior day, it was 42.3 percent. The amount of natural gas shut in Thursday was 744 MMcf/d, or 29.1 percent. A day earlier, it ws 31.7 percent.

Also, the two main lines of the Colonial Pipeline, which takes oil products through the southeast and up into the New York and Washington areas, were "not in the line of the storm," according to a Colonial statement quoted by S&P Global Platts. Colonial has been impacted in the past by power outages and the oil products markets generally are concerned with that occurrence during a storm, rather than any damage to the facility.

A bit of good news is that fuel supplies needed for successful relief operations are in decent supply. This is what Ned Bowman, Executive Director of the Florida Petroleum Marketers Association tells FreightWaves about the situation in the panhandle:

"[We saw] a lot of buying before the storm, a lot of fuel movement: people run to grocery stores and gas stations and clear off the shelves. Fuel supplies are good—adequate. We had a few days of a big push, then a lull. 70 percent of the gas stations are up and running, and 30 percent are still down. State is working as hard as they can to get the infrastructure back up and running."

The officials from ReedTMS concurred, saying getting fuel has not been an issue for their trucks in the region.

Michael is one of the strongest hurricanes to hit the U.S. based on wind speed and barometric pressure. It's the only Category 4 storm that has ever hit the Florida Panhandle. It's now a Tropical Storm with winds of 50 mph and could cause power outages and flash flooding tonight in parts of North Carolina, Virginia, and the mid-Atlantic states before moving into the Atlantic Ocean early Friday.

Want more content like this? Click here to Subscribe</s>Does University of Saint Thomas thermal sciences professor John Abraham actually believe Florida panhandle residents deserved to get hit by a catastrophic hurricane for electing “climate deniers?”

“Victims of Hurricane Michael voted for climate deniers,” reads the headline of Abraham’s article, published in The Guardian on Thursday.

“Elections have consequences. Denying science has consequences. And we are reaping what we sow.”

Hurricane Michael slammed into the Florida panhandle on Thursday at just below Category 5 strength.

The storm rapidly intensified as it approached the Florida coast, sparking evacuations and emergency declarations. Michael is one of the strongest hurricanes to make U.S. landfall, according to experts.

Despite the lack of science to support for his case, Abraham blames Michael’s intensity on man-made global warming, leading to his subsequent claim that southern voters brought this upon themselves by voting Republicans into office.

“It is a wonder that a state like Florida, which will get pummeled by Michael, could vote for someone that denies climate change,” Abraham wrote, pointing to Florida GOP politicians like Governor Rick Scott and Senator Marco Rubio.

Abraham’s argument is that unless Republican “climate deniers” are voted out of office, more hurricanes will bring more death and destruction to the southeastern U.S., which tends to vote GOP lawmakers into office.

“Climate deniers will try to say this article is gleeful about a hurricane. It is not,” Abraham claimed.

“First of all, this hurricane and all hurricanes that hit land can cause death and destruction. I pray that people heed warnings and get out of the way. I hope people stay safe, regardless of their understanding of climate change and its effect on storms.”

However, Abraham goes on to write that “elections have consequences and if we as a society want to create a better world and reduce climate change, we have to vote for people who understand science, who believe in facts.”

“Climate deniers are making these storms worse by stopping action on climate change. What the hell do we expect to happen when the deniers are writing the laws?” Abraham wrote.

The main problem with Abraham’s argument, however, is there’s little to no evidence global warming is making hurricanes more intense or frequent.

The united Nation’s latest climate report, released Sunday, found there’s little to no evidence global warming is making hurricanes more extreme or intense.

RELATED: The Inconvenient Truth About Hurricanes and Climate Change

“Numerous studies towards and beyond AR5 have reported a decreasing trend in the global number of tropical cyclones and/or the globally accumulated cyclonic energy,” the IPCC’s latest report found.

A version of this article appeared on The Daily Caller News Foundation website.

We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.</s>PANAMA CITY, Fla. — Linda Marquardt rode out Hurricane Michael with her husband at their home in Mexico Beach. When their house filled with surging ocean water, they fled upstairs. Now their home is full of mud and everywhere they look there's utter devastation in their Florida Panhandle community: fishing boats tossed like toys, roofs lifted off of buildings and pine trees snapped like matchsticks in 155 mph winds.

Row after row of beachfront homes were so obliterated by Michael's surging seas and howling winds that only slabs of concrete in the sand remain, a testament that this was ground zero when the epic Category 4 hurricane slammed ashore at midweek. The destruction in this and other communities dotting the white-sand beaches is being called catastrophic — and it will need billions of dollars to rebuild.

"All of my furniture was floating," said Marquardt, 67. "'A river just started coming down the road. It was awful, and now there's just nothing left."

At least three deaths were blamed on Michael, the most powerful hurricane to hit the continental U.S. in over 50 years, and by early Friday it wasn't over yet: a tropical storm long after Wednesday's landfall, Michael stubbornly kept up its punch while barreling up the Southeast, dumping heavy rains and spreading flash flooding misery as far away as Virginia.

High winds, downed trees, streets inundated by rising waters and multiple rescues of motorists from waterlogged cars played out in spots around Virginia and neighboring North Carolina. And while forecasters said Michael was gradually losing its tropical traits, it was a new chapter would begin as an extratropical storm predicted to intensify with gale force winds once it starts cross out into the Atlantic.

In North Carolina's mountains, motorists had to be rescued Thursday from cars trapped by high water. High winds toppled trees and power lines, leaving hundreds of thousands without power. Flash flooding also was reported in the big North Carolina cities of Charlotte and Raleigh. Similar scenes played out in parts of Virginia as the storm raced seaward.

All told, more than 900,000 homes and businesses in Florida, Alabama, Georgia and the Carolinas were without power.

Meanwhile, thousands of National Guard troops, law enforcement officers and rescue teams still had much to do in the hardest hit area: Florida's Panhandle. Families living along the Panhandle are now faced with a struggle to survive in a perilous landscape of shattered homes and shopping centers, the storm debris spread far and wide.

In one community, Panama City, most homes were still standing, but no property was left undamaged. Downed power lines and twisted street signs lay all around. Aluminum siding was shredded and homes were split by fallen trees. Hundreds of cars had broken windows. The hurricane damaged hospitals and nursing homes in Panama City, and officials worked to evacuate hundreds of patients.

"So many lives have been changed forever. So many families have lost everything," said Florida Gov. Rick Scott, calling it "unimaginable destruction."

An insurance company that produces models for catastrophes estimated Michael caused about $8 billion in damage. Boston-based Karen Clark & Company released that estimate Thursday, which includes privately insured wind and storm surge damage to residential, commercial and industrial properties and vehicles. It doesn't include losses covered by the National Flood Insurance Program.

And Michael also was deadly, both in Florida and beyond.

A man outside Tallahassee, Florida, was killed by a falling tree, and an 11-year-old girl in Georgia died when Michael's winds picked up a carport and dropped it on her home, debris striking her in the head. A driver in North Carolina also was killed when a tree fell on his car.

Some fear the toll can only rise as rescue teams get around storm debris blocking roads and reach isolated areas.

More than 375,000 people up and down the Gulf Coast were ordered or urged to clear out as Michael closed in. But emergency authorities lamented that many ignored the warnings.

The Coast Guard said it rescued at least 27 people before and after the hurricane's landfall, mostly from coastal homes. Nine people had to be rescued by helicopter from a bathroom of a home in hard-hit Panama City after their roof collapsed, Petty Officer 3rd Class Ronald Hodges said.

In hard-hit Mexico Beach alone, state officials say, 285 people in Mexico Beach defied a mandatory evacuation order ahead of Michael. The task ahead: finding and hopefully safely accounting for all those who stayed behind.

National Guard troops made their way into the ground-zero town and found 20 survivors initially Wednesday night, and more rescue crews are arriving. But the fate of many residents was unknown.

Mishelle McPherson and her ex-husband searched for the elderly mother of a friend. The woman lived in a small cinderblock house about 150 yards (meters) from the Gulf and thought she would be OK. The home was found smashed, with no sign of the woman.

"Do you think her body would be here? Do you think it would have floated away?" McPherson asked.

Associated Press writers Tamara Lush in St. Petersburg, Florida; Gary Fineout in Tallahassee, Florida; Terry Spencer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Jennifer Kay and Freida Frisaro in Miami; Brendan Farrington in St. Marks, Florida; Russ Bynum in Keaton Beach, Florida; Jonathan Drew in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Seth Borenstein in Kensington, Maryland, contributed to this story.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>Hurricane Michael’s pounding waves and winds have obliterated row after row of beachfront homes after the Category 4 hurricane slammed ashore on the Florida Panhandle.

Recovery is just barely beginning from the catastrophic destruction even as a downgraded Michael spreads high winds, rains and flash flooding misery as far away as Virginia.

At least three deaths were blamed on Michael, the most powerful hurricane to hit the continental US in over 50 years, and by early Friday it was not over yet: a tropical storm long after Wednesday’s landfall, Michael stubbornly kept up its punch while barrelling up the south-east.

While forecasters said Michael was gradually losing its tropical traits, a new chapter would begin as an extra-tropical storm, predicted to intensify with gale force winds once it starts cross out into the Atlantic.

Linda Marquardt rode out the hurricane with her husband at their home in Mexico Beach.

When their house filled with surging ocean water, they fled upstairs.

Now their home is full of mud and everywhere they look there is utter devastation in their Florida Panhandle community, with roofs lifted off of buildings and pine trees snapped in 155 mph winds.

The destruction in this and other communities dotting the white-sand beaches is being called catastrophic — and it will need billions of dollars to rebuild.

“All of my furniture was floating,” said Ms Marquardt, 67.

“A river just started coming down the road. It was awful, and now there’s just nothing left.”

In North Carolina’s mountains, motorists had to be rescued from cars trapped by high water.

High winds toppled trees and power lines, leaving hundreds of thousands without power.

Flash flooding also was reported in the big North Carolina cities of Charlotte and Raleigh.

All told, more than 900,000 homes and businesses in Florida, Alabama, Georgia and the Carolinas were without power.

Meanwhile, thousands of National Guard troops, law enforcement officers and rescue teams still had much to do in Florida’s Panhandle, the hardest hit area.

Families living along the Panhandle are now faced with a struggle to survive in a perilous landscape of shattered homes and shopping centres.

In one community, Panama City, most homes were still standing, but no property was left undamaged.

Downed power lines and twisted street signs lay all around.

Aluminium siding was shredded and homes were split by fallen trees. Hundreds of cars had broken windows.

The hurricane damaged hospitals and nursing homes in Panama City, and officials worked to evacuate hundreds of patients.

“So many lives have been changed forever. So many families have lost everything,” said Florida governor Rick Scott, calling it “unimaginable destruction.”

Michael also was deadly, both in Florida and beyond.

A man outside Tallahassee, Florida, was killed by a falling tree, and an 11-year-old girl in Georgia died when Michael’s winds picked up a carport and dropped it on her home, debris striking her in the head.

A driver in North Carolina also was killed when a tree fell on his car.

Some fear the toll can only rise as rescue teams get around storm debris blocking roads and reach isolated areas.

More than 375,000 people up and down the Gulf Coast were ordered or urged to clear out as Michael closed in, but emergency authorities lamented that many ignored the warnings.

The Coast Guard said it rescued at least 27 people before and after the hurricane’s landfall, mostly from coastal homes.

Nine people had to be rescued by helicopter from a bathroom of a home in hard-hit Panama City after their roof collapsed, Petty Officer 3rd Class Ronald Hodges said.

In hard-hit Mexico Beach alone, state officials say, 285 people in Mexico Beach defied a mandatory evacuation order ahead of Michael.

National Guard troops made their way into the ground-zero town and found 20 survivors initially on Wednesday night, and more rescue crews are arriving, but the fate of many residents was unknown.</s>Michael sprang quickly from a weekend tropical depression, going from a Category 2 on Tuesday to a Category 4 by the time it came ashore. It forced more than 375,000 people up and down the Gulf Coast to evacuate as it gained strength quickly while crossing the eastern Gulf of Mexico toward north Florida. It moved so fast that people didn't' have much time to prepare, and emergency authorities lamented that many ignored the warnings and seemed to think they could ride it out.</s>PANAMA CITY BEACH, FL - OCTOBER 11: Gavin Conklin, 17, gathers water bottles from a neighbor's refrigerator after Hurricane Michael destroyed the home on October 11, 2018 in Panama City, Florida. The hurricane hit the Florida Panhandle as a category 4 storm. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

PANAMA CITY, Fla. (AP) – The Latest on Tropical Storm Michael (all times local):

Experts at the National Hurricane Center say Hurricane Michael’s devastating storm surge reached as high as 14 feet (4.27 meters) in some areas of Florida’s Gulf coast.

The center’s storm surge unit said Thursday that peak storm surge ranged from 9 feet (2.7 meters) to 14 feet (4.27 meters) from Mexico Beach east through Apalachee Bay.

Officials said the highest storm surge hit near Mexico Beach and Port St. Joe, based on available observations and post-landfall models.

Officials had been warning that the surge of water pushed by the storm could be as serious as the hurricane’s punishing winds. The threat of the storm prompted local officials to order mandatory evacuations in several Florida coastal counties.

A coroner has identified the 11-year-old girl who was killed as Hurricane Michael blew through south Georgia.

Seminole County coroner Chad Smith on Thursday identified the girl as Sarah Radney.

Smith said an official cause of death had not been determined but that it would likely be massive blunt force trauma.

Seminole County Emergency Management Agency director Travis Brooks said strong winds picked up a portable carport Wednesday and dropped it down on the roof of the home where the girl was inside. One of the carport’s legs punctured the roof and hit the girl in the head.

Seminole County is in the southwest corner of Georgia.

The largest hospitals in Panama City are shutting down and evacuating patients due to heavy damage from Hurricane Michael.

Officials at Bay Medical Sacred Heart announced that they’re transferring about 200 patients to hospitals in Pensacola and Jacksonville, and to Mobile, Alabama.

Gulf Coast Regional Medical Center says it has suspended all services and is evacuating patients as well.

Sacred Heart’s statement says the transfers began at 3 a.m. Thursday with 39 critical care patients and would take about 48 hours to complete.

Damage at Sacred Heart includes blown-out windows, a cracked exterior wall and a roof collapse in a maintenance building that stores supplies necessary for long-term care. The hospital says no patients were injured and its emergency room remains open on generator power.

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal is urging people in the Hurricane Michael disaster area to “be patient.” He says emergency crews need to do their work to clear debris from roadways and restore power to hundreds of thousands of residents. Deal said about 450,000 power outages were reported in Georgia, and one death, that of an 11-year-old girl in the southwest corner of the state.

Deal says the primary mission at this point is to clear roadways so that officials can assess the damage.

Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture Gary Black predicts long-lasting damage to the state’s farms. He says pecan crops are badly affected and entire fields of cotton are completely wiped out.

A federal judge is rejecting a push to extend Florida’s voter registration deadline because of Hurricane Michael, saying there’s “no justification” to do so.

U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle ruled late Wednesday against the Florida Democratic Party, which called the Republican-led response to the storm’s disruption confusing and inadequate.

Florida’s deadline to register to vote was Tuesday, 29 days ahead of the Nov. 6 election.

Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner told local election supervisors that if their offices were closed Tuesday due to the hurricane, then they could accept paper applications for a single day once their offices reopen.

Tropical Storm Michael is drenching the Carolinas with heavy rains as it heads toward the Atlantic Ocean.

The National Hurricane Center says the storm’s top sustained winds have dropped to 50 mph (85 kph).

At 11 a.m. EDT, the storm was centered about 35 miles (60 kilometers) south-southeast of Charlotte, North Carolina. It was expected to emerge over the ocean Thursday night.

Forecasters say Michael remains a large weather system, with tropical storm-force winds extending up to 185 miles (295 kilometers) from its center.

Michael could drop up to 7 inches (18 centimeters) over parts of the Carolinas and southeastern Virginia.

Most hurricanes quickly fall apart as they move over land. Not Michael. The third-most powerful hurricane on record to hit the U.S. mainland carved a path of destruction for roughly 200 miles (320 kilometers) from the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico before its top sustained winds dropped to tropical-storm strength.

The National Hurricane Center says Michael did not lose its hurricane status until early Thursday, when its winds finally dropped below 74 mph (119 kph) near Browndale in central Georgia.

Based on its internal barometric pressure, Michael was the third most powerful hurricane to make landfall, behind the unnamed Labor Day storm of 1935 and Camille in 1969. Based on wind speed, it was the fourth-strongest, behind the Labor Day storm, Camille and Andrew in 1992.

Michael had top sustained winds of 155 mph (250 kph) when it hit Mexico Beach on Wednesday.

It’s down to a tropical storm now as it moves over the Carolinas, but forecasters expect it to strengthen again once it moves over the Atlantic.

South Carolina is getting heavy rains and gusty winds as Tropical Storm Michael speeds through.

But officials aren’t seeing anything like the damage inflicted by Hurricane Florence last month.

Authorities say about 150,000 South Carolina customers are without power. Trees are downed and there’s minor flash flooding, including standing water that closed ramps onto Interstates 85 and 385 in Greenville.

Waves were hitting the top of the Charleston Battery, but the city wasn’t reporting the kind of widespread flooding it gets several times a year.

The National Weather Service says winds along the coast gusted to nearly 60 mph (97 kph) and parts of Chesterfield County already had 4 to 6 inches (10 to 15 centimeters) of rain with more to come. Parts of the county saw more than 20 inches (50 centimeters) of rain in Florence. Areas to the east that were hit even harder by Florence’s flooding are reporting much less rain from Michael.

Gov. Rick Scott says people from Florida’s Panhandle to the Big Bend woke up to “unimaginable destruction.” He says Hurricane Michael have changed lives forever, and “many families have lost everything.” He says “this hurricane was an absolute monster.”

Florida officials also said Florida’s big mental hospital in Chattahoochee is “entirely cut off” by land, so they’re dropping food and supplies in from the air. The mental hospital has a section that houses the criminally insane, but they say the facility itself has not been breached.

In Panama City, Bay County emergency management officials say most roads remained blocked by water or debris Thursday morning, so survivors in the should “stay put and standby.”

As for people outside the disaster zone, they’re asking people moved by images of the destruction to make monetary donations to relief organizations, rather than sending supplies.

Gov. Rick Scott says the Florida National Guard got into Mexico Beach and found 20 people who survived a direct hit from Hurricane Michael.

The town where the hurricane made landfall Wednesday remained very difficult to reach by land a day later, with roads covered by fallen trees, power lines and other storm debris.

Overhead video from a CNN helicopter Thursday morning reveals widespread devastation across the town of about 1,000 people.

Entire blocks of homes near the beach have been washed away, leaving nothing but concrete slabs in the sand. Rows and rows of other homes are smashed to pieces or crunched to the ground and leaning at odd angles.

The town was under a mandatory evacuation order as the rapidly developing storm targeted the coast, but some people were determined to ride out the hurricane.

Utilities in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Alabama reported that more than 932,000 customers were without power in the wake of Hurricane Michael.

Nearly half of those affected were in Florida, which bore the brunt of Michael – the most powerful storm on record to hit the state’s Panhandle. It left widespread destruction as it crossed into Georgia toward the Carolinas, a region still reeling from epic flooding in Hurricane Florence.

Michael thrashed Georgia as a hurricane and eventually weakened to a tropical storm early Thursday. Despite the downgrade, the storm was still pounding the Southeast with heavy rains, winds, and a threat of spinoff tornadoes.

The Army Corps of Engineers is sending in generators to help get power to storm-ravaged areas, and teams to start clearing debris and begin building temporary roofs.

Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Brock Long said officials were just starting to go in and survey the damage but expect power to be out for weeks in some areas. Hurricane Michael made landfall in Mexico Beach, just down the coast of Panama City, and left a wide path of destruction in its wake.

Long says “Mexico Beach took the brunt, that’s probably ground zero.”

Red Cross officials say 7,800 people were in 100 shelters across three states. They said it’s still not clear how many people stayed put and would need to be rescued.

Emergency officials in South Carolina are reporting no injuries or deaths so far as Tropical Storm Michael moves across the state.

Emergency Management Division spokesman Derrec Becker said thousands of people lost power though, and 10 shelters are open for people seeking safety from the storm. Becker said about 55 people were in the shelters early Thursday.

The Talmadge Bridge on U.S. 17 over the Savannah River between Savannah, Georgia and South Carolina remains closed because of the threat of high winds on the suspension bridge.

Some other highways are still closed because of flooding and damage from Hurricane Florence last month.

Waves of search and rescue teams are fanning out across the Florida Panhandle looking for people who rode out Hurricane Michael.

The U.S. Coast Guard in Mobile, Alabama, says its crews have rescued 27 people, mostly from damaged homes.

Petty Officer Third Class Ronald Hodges told The Associated Press that a Jayhawk rescue helicopter crew pulled nine people from a bathroom of their Panama City home after their roof collapsed Wednesday afternoon.

Crews were out early Thursday searching for more victims. He says the number of rescues remains fluid and there were no reports of deaths so far from the Coast Guard’s missions.

Florida emergency officials say they’re starting to transfer patients out of damaged health care facilities. They’re also trying to figure out the extent of damage to roads and bridges. A huge swath of Interstate 10, the main east-west route near the coast, is blocked off due to damage.

Authorities are correcting early reports about the death of an 11-year-old girl as Hurricane Michael blew over southwest Georgia.

Seminole County Emergency Management Agency director Travis Brooks said it wasn’t a tree but a carport that hit her home and killed her.

He said strong winds picked up a portable carport Wednesday and dropped it down on the roof. One of the carport’s legs punctured the roof and hit the 11-year-old girl in the head.

Brooks said he wasn’t able to get out much overnight to fully assess the damage in the county, because downed power lines and trees made roads impassable in the darkness. But he said the sheriff told him it looked like a bomb had gone off.

Michael is now centered over South Carolina and is still a tropical storm after a long land journey over the southeastern United States.

A day after slamming into Florida’s Gulf Coast as a strong Category 4 hurricane, Michael still had top sustained winds of 50 mph (85 kmh) and higher gusts, with tropical storm-force winds reaching 160 miles (260 km) from its center.

As of 9 a.m. Thursday, the storm was about 40 miles (65 kilometers) west-northwest of Columbia, South Carolina, moving northeast at 21 mph (33 kph). It’s expected to keep blowing across central and eastern North Carolina and southeastern Virginia before crossing into the Atlantic Ocean by late Thursday or early Friday.

And at that point, forecasters expect Michael to strengthen again over open water.

Fires still burned in the early morning darkness the day after Hurricane Michael made landfall in Mexico Beach, a Florida Gulf Coast beach town that doesn’t usually get much attention. Michael pushed a 10-foot (3-meter) storm surge and 155 mph (249 kph) winds, just shy of a Category 5 hurricane, and Mexico Beach got the worst of it.

A reporter and photojournalist from the Tampa Bay Times ventured there in the dark early Thursday, finding the town of about 1,000 almost impassable. They reported seeing many destroyed homes, some with staircases leading to doors suspended 10 feet (3 meters) in the air with nothing on the other side, entire structures washed away. Refrigerators and toilets and piles of soggy furniture are strewn across properties.

And amid the wreckage, the crew spotted survivors – people who rode out the storm. One couple was looking for their mother’s portable oxygen machine. Another man was shining a flashlight from his balcony as alarms sounded and fires burned.

The Florida Highway Patrol has closed an 80-mile stretch of Interstate 10 to clear debris from Hurricane Michael.

In an email sent early Thursday, spokesman Eddie Elmore said the road was closed “due to extremely hazardous conditions.”

The agency is working with the Florida Department of Transportation to clear the interstate which is the major east-west route across northern Florida and the Panhandle.

Elmore said the road is closed west of Tallahassee, between mile marker 85 near DeFuniak Springs and mile marker 166 near Lake Seminole.

The email didn’t say how long the work was expected to take.

Tropical Storm Michael continues to weaken as it over eastern Georgia as it makes its way toward the Carolinas. Early Thursday, the eye of Michael was about 90 miles (144 kilometers) northeast of Macon, Georgia and 45 miles (72 kilometers) west of Augusta. The storm’s maximum sustained winds have decreased to 50 mph (80 kph) and it was moving to the northeast at 21 mph (33 kph).

The National Hurricane Center says the core of Michael will move across eastern Georgia into Central South Carolina on Thursday morning. It will then move across portions of central and eastern North Carolina and southeastern Virginia into the Atlantic Ocean by late Thursday or early Friday.

Hurricane Michael’s battering waves swamped streets and docks and shrieking winds splintered trees and rooftops. The most powerful hurricane on record to hit Florida’s Panhandle left widespread destruction and wasn’t finished Thursday as it crossed Georgia toward the Carolinas, a region still reeling from epic flooding in Hurricane Florence.

Authorities say at least one person died, a man hit by a falling tree on a Panhandle home.

The supercharged storm crashed ashore Wednesday afternoon amid beach resorts and coastal communities, a Category 4 monster packing 155 mph (250 kph) winds. Downgraded to a tropical storm over south Georgia, it was weakening by the hour. But it’s still menacing the Southeast with heavy rains, winds and a threat of spinoff tornadoes.
The death toll in the U.S. from Hurricane Michael rises to 17: eight in Florida, five in Virginia, three in North Carolina and one in Georgia.