Major Hurricane Michael bearing down in Florida
People look out to the Gulf of Mexico as Hurricane Michael approaches. Hurricane Michael strengthened to a Category 2 storm with winds over 100 miles per hour on Tuesday as Florida's governor warned it could bring "total devastation" to parts of the so
A fast and furious Hurricane Michael sped toward the Florida Panhandle on Tuesday night with 120 mph winds and a potential storm surge of 13 feet, giving tens of thousands of people precious little time to get out or board up.
Drawing energy from the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, the storm strengthened rapidly into a potentially devastating Category 3 and was getting much better organized after nightfall.
Forecasters said Michael could be near a very dangerous Category 4 by landfall, with further strengthening expected overnibght. It was expected to blow ashore around midday Wednesday near Panama City Beach, along a lightly populated stretch of fishing villages and white-sand spring-break beaches.
While Florence took five days between the time it turned into a hurricane and the moment it rolled into the Carolinas, Michael gave Florida what amounted to two days' notice. It developed into a hurricane on Monday, and by Tuesday, more than 180,000 people were under mandatory evacuation orders.
"We don't know if it's going to wipe out our house or not," Jason McDonald, of Panama City, said as he and his wife drove north into Alabama with their two children, ages 5 and 7. "We want to get them out of the way."
