Hurricane Michael: Panama City and Mexico Beach see devastating damage from tropical storm now tracking through South Carolina
An 11-year-old girl from Georgia was among those who were killed in the storm
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Your support makes all the difference.At least six people have been killed by Hurricane Michael and more can be expected after the storm ripped through the US southeast, devastating communities in the Florida panhandle in a tempest that authorities say is the worst the region has seen since records began in 1851.
An 11-year-old girl from Georgia is among those who died in the storm, which levelled neighbourhoods in Mexico Beach and Panama Beach in Florida.
Michael has caused widespread damage, leaving more than 700,000 homes and businesses without power across three states and even blowing a train off its tracks in Florida with winds up to 155mph, according to reports. It has been estimated that more than 300,000 homes and businesses have been destroyed or badly damaged in Florida alone.
“So many lives have been changed forever. So many families have lost everything. Homes are gone. Businesses are gone,” Florida Governor Rick Scott said shortly before a planned tour of the devastation on Thursday. “Roads and infrastructure along the storm’s path have been destroyed. This hurricane was an absolute monster, and the damage left in its wake has yet to be fully understood”.
Michael, which made landfall as a Category 4 storm, was downgraded to a tropical storm on Thursday, according to the National Hurricane Centre (NHC). The storm still carries with it the potential for major damage and loss of life, with the NHC saying that ongoing flash floods and dangerous winds should be watched for in the Carolinas and southern Virginia.
After daylight on Thursday, residents of north Florida were just beginning to take stock of the enormity of the disaster.
Damage in Panama City near where Michael came ashore on Wednesday afternoon was so extensive that broken and uprooted trees and downed power lines lay nearly everywhere.
The storm was due to began to pass over the Carolinas on Thursday, just weeks after the states were battered by Hurricane Florence’s torrential rain. The storm is projected to begin moving eastward on Friday and then make its way out to sea in the Atlantic.
During a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, Donald Trump promised to visit Florida soon. He said that “we will always pull through” and offered his “thoughts and prayers” to those affected by the storm. On Thursday, he described the hurricane as one of the worst the US had encountered.
“This one went very quickly, but its tremendous destruction in the areas and the path that it chose is incredible for destruction,” Mr Trump said on Thursday at the White House. “We have not seen destruction like that in a long time”.
If you want to see how the aftermath of Hurricane Michael came about live, please see our formerly live coverage of the impact below.
Additional reporting by agencies
A man takes tobacco products from a damaged shop after Hurricane Michael passed through the area on 10 October in Panama City
Trees are down and power is disrupted in parts of the Atlanta, Georgia, metropolitan area, according to local news reports.
The entirety of Bay County, Florida, is under instructions to use bottled water for drinking.
The mandatory "boil water notice" means that "a contamination is confirmed in the drinking water systems", according to a government website.
" Boiling water kills or inactivates viruses, bacteria, protozoa and other pathogens by using heat to damage structural components and disrupt essential life processes," the site added.
The Florida Highway Patrol has closed an 80-mile stretch of Interstate 10 to clear debris from Hurricane Michael.
In 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.
Mr Elmore said the road was closed west of Tallahassee, between mile marker 85 near DeFuniak Springs and mile marker 166 near Lake Seminole.
He did not say how long the work was expected to take.
AP
The Oceanis, a large boat of unknown function, is left grounded by a tidal surge at the marina in Port St Joe, Florida (Tampa Bay Times/AP)
One man who decided to stay at home to weather the hurricane has said he was forced to admit to himself it might have been the wrong choice.
Joey Morrison, a 30-year-old glass worker, said Michael hit his apartment door in Panama City Beach so hard with its 155mph winds that he had to reinforce it by drilling in screws - and still had to sit against the door to keep it shut.
"I got scared enough that I was thinking, 'I should have left' Because this isn't like anything that ever happened here," Mr Morrison said.
Parts of Florida have been left "unlivable" by the hurricane, locals say.
"The wind that came through here was surreal. It destroyed everything," Jason Gunderson, a member of the Cajun Navy, a group of rescue workers, told CNN early on Thursday from Callaway, a suburb of Panama City in the Florida Panhandle. "It's unlivable. It's heartbreaking."
A new warning from Rick Scott, the governor of Florida
And meteorologist Ginger Zee gave an idea of the damage caused by the storm
The National Hurricane Centre has issued a fresh advisory notice.
Here are a few details:
• Michael is currently about 40 miles west-northwest of Columbia, South Carolina, with sustained winds of 50mph. It is moving northeast at 21mph and is expected to speed up later in the day
• Tropical storm-force winds are currently affecting southeastern Georgia and central and eastern South Carolina. Such winds extend about 160 miles from the centre
• "On the forecast track, the centre of Michael will continue to move across central South Carolina this morning, then move across portions of central and eastern North Carolina and southeastern Virginia this afternoon and this evening, and move into the Atlantic Ocean by late tonight or early Friday"
• The previous warning of life-threatening flash floods in some areas remains
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