Hurricane Michael: Florida Governor Rick Scott ‘scared to death’ for residents as 155mph winds pummel Panhandle
Evacuation window closes as Michael approaches Category 5 wind speeds
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Hurricane Michael has hit the coast of Florida, bringing 155mph winds and a life-threatening storm surge of up to 13ft (4m).
The hurricane strengthened to a Category 4 storm, with wind speeds almost pushing the top-level Category 5 – with authorities warning that the “potentially catastrophic” cyclone will cause major damage.
“Our biggest concern is … the people that chose not to evacuate,” Mr Scott told CNN. Earlier, the governor warned of “unimaginable devastation” before the storm hit land.
“Hurricane Michael is forecast to be the most destructive hurricane to hit the Florida Panhandle in a century,” Mr Scott said. Donald Trump has said that “we are very well prepared” for impact.
Follow our liveblog below bringing you all the latest on Hurricane Michael.
Additional reporting by agencies
People in Panama City Beach, Florida, look out to the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday as Hurricane Michael approaches (AFP/Getty)
Mario Gisbert, the city manager in Panama City Beach, has given advice to residents who plan to stay put when Hurricane Michael hits.
He told CNN: "Find a good, safe room within the house, typically it's a closet, it's a bathroom, it's a hallway.
"If you've got an area where you've got water rising, just play it safe [and] try not to travel in that water because you never know when an area's washed out, so stay at home, stay in a dry spot.
"First responders are still staged here on the beach and they will monitor as long as they can. They are not going to be able to go out and help people once the storm really hits. They've got to protect themselves and be here to protect the people that made it through the storm, and to help safeguard people coming back."
A National Weather Service monitoring buoy has recorded towering waves 31ft in height near the Florida coast.
The device noted the waves at 4am local time, 150 miles south-southeast of Pensacola.
The NHC has issued another update.
Hurricane Michael is now just 105 miles south-southwest of Panama City, FL. Maximum sustained winds remain at 140mph.
The agency adds: "NOAA buoy 42039, located about 90 miles south-southwest of Panama City, Florida, recently reported sustained winds of 60 mph and a wind gust of 76 mph. A wind gust to 54 mph was recently reported at Apalachicola Regional Airport."
The UN office for disaster risk reduction (UNISDR) has said that reported economic losses from hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and other climate-related disasters around the world have totalled almost $2.9 trillion (£2.2 trillion) over the past two decades.
UNISDR said assets were increasingly found in disaster-prone areas, contributing to a 251-per-cent increase in climate-related disaster losses from the previous 20-year period.
The US topped the list at over $944bn (£717bn), nearly twice the figure from China, in second. Puerto Rico - ravage by Hurricane Maria last year - Japan and India rounded out the top five.
The UN agency cautioned on Wednesday that the 1998-2017 figures relied on official reports, so more economically powerful countries were generally over-represented. Insurance is less widespread in developing countries.
UNISDR's tally is based on confirmed documentation, meaning the headline figure was likely only a fraction of actual losses.
Additional reporting by AP
Hurricane Michael marks "new territory" for the part of Florida currently bracing for impact, according to the National Hurricane Centre.
Dennis Feltgen, a public affairs officer and meteorologist at the agency, said in a Facebook post earlier on Wednesday: "We are in new territory with now Category 4 Hurricane Michael and its 130 mph sustained winds.
"The historical record, going back to 1851, finds no Category 4 hurricane ever hitting the Florida panhandle. Bay County (Panama City) likely to be ground zero for landfall later this afternoon."
The NHC's latest update put the sustained wind speed at 140mph.
Hurricane Michael is now "potentially catastrophic" and has sustained winds of 145mph, the National Hurricane Centre has said in its latest advisory, delivered at 7am local time in Florida.
More follows...
More details from the NHC's latest advisory update:
• Maximum sustained winds of 145mph with higher gusts
• A life-threatening storm surge, hurricane force winds and heavy rainfall is "imminent" with the storm some 90 miles from the coast and moving at 13mph
• Hurricane-force winds extend 45 miles from the centre and tropical storm-force winds 185 miles
• "A few tornadoes will be possible across parts of the Florida Panhandle and the northern Florida Peninsula through this afternoon. This risk will spread into parts of central and southern Georgia and southern South Carolina this afternoon and tonight"
Time has run out for anyone wavering over whether or not to evacuate in the face of Hurricane Michael, officials have said.
"The time for evacuating along the coast has come and gone. First responders will not be able to come out in the middle of the storm," Florida governor Rick Scott tweeted early on Wednesday. "If you chose to stay in an evacuation zone, you must SEEK REFUGE IMMEDIATELY."
Apalachicola mayor Van Johnson said the city, which could suffer some of the worst of the storm surge, was under mandatory evacuation orders.
"My greatest concern is that some people are just now starting to take this storm seriously and are evacuating," he told CNN. "And I just hope the others that have not made that decision get out while the roads are still passably and before the bridges close."
In Panama City beach, according reports on the US TV programme Today, some 25,000 people have elected to weather the storm "on what is essentially a barrier island" like those battered by Hurricane Florence in the Carolinas last month.
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