Authorities have warned that Hurricane Michael is likely to become a “monstrous” major storm by Tuesday night before it smashes into Florida on Wednesday. Forecasters fear it will bring “life-threatening” storm surges and flash flooding – and potentially even tornadoes.
States of emergency have been declared for swathes of Florida and Alabama as the storm pounded the Gulf of Mexico and eastern Carribean with winds up to 90mph – which are expected to hit 111mph before Michael makes landfall in northern Florida.
The National Hurricane Centre warned of storms surges up to 12ft and issued a string of alerts for coastal sites. On the Panhandle, Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan advised residents that “if you decide to stay in your home and a tree falls on your house or the storm surge catches you ... there’s no-one that can respond to help you”.
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'The bottom line is we really don’t want to deal with this problem yet ... we’re more interested in selling houses than we are in taking care of people'The Independent will be covering the approach of Hurricane Michael with live updates.
Michael is expected to hit the Florida coast on Wednesday morning. Emergency declarations have been issued for 35 counties as well as the entire state of Alabama.
Law enforcement warned people who planned to ride out the storm at home that help may not be able to reach them in the immediate aftermath.
Here is the latest projection from the NHC setting out Michael's expected path.
Forecasters have warned Hurricane Michael could dump up to 30cm of rain in western Cuba, possibly causing flash floods and mudslides in mountainous areas.
Elsewhere, disaster agencies in El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua have reported 13 deaths after roofs collapsed and residents were carried away by swollen rivers following heavy rains.
Six people have died in Honduras, four in Nicaragua and three in El Salvador. Authorities were also searching for a boy swept away by a river in Guatemala.
Most of the rain was blamed on a low-pressure system off the Pacific coast of El Salvador, though it is thought Hurricane Michael in the Caribbean could have also contributed.
Florida's governor, Rick Scott, warned caregivers at north Florida hospitals and nursing homes to do everything they could to ensure the safety of the elderly and infirm.
After Hurricane Irma last year, 14 people died when a south Florida nursing home lost power and air conditioning. "If you're responsible for a patient, you're responsible for the patient. Take care of them," he said.
The National Weather Service has said Michael is expected to be a "large and dangerous" hurricane when it makes landfall on Wednesday.
The agency's Tallahassee, FL, station, warned locals that their preparations for the storm should be complete by the end of Tuesday morning.
Rick Scott has given an update on the preparations officials are making for the hurricane.
If Michael does make landfall with 111mph winds it would be a Category 3 hurricane, the strongest to hit Florida in decades.
After striking Florida, Michael is forecast to move up the east coast on Wednesday and Thursday, hitting North and South Carolina which are still recovering from Hurricane Florence last month .
Energy companies stopped nearly a fifth of Gulf of Mexico oil production and evacuated personnel from 10 platforms on Monday.
The region produces some 17 per cent of daily US crude oil output and 5 per cent of daily natural gas output, according to the US Energy Information Administration.
Authorities have warned of Michael's potential to be a storm of "historic" proportions.
In the small Panhandle city of Apalachicola, Mayor Van Johnson said its 2,300 residents were frantically preparing for a major hurricane strike that could be unlike any seen there in decades.
Many were filling sandbags and boarding up their homes. Residents also lined up to buy petrol and groceries even as evacuations — both voluntary and mandatory — were expected to gather pace on Tuesday.
"We're looking at a significant storm with significant impact, possibly greater than I've seen in my 59 years of life," Mr Johnson said of the city, which straddles the shore of Apalachicola Bay, a Gulf of Mexico inlet where about 90 per cent of Florida's oysters are harvested.
Mandatory evacuation orders were issued for residents of barrier islands, mobile homes and low-lying coastal areas in Gulf, Wakulla and Bay counties.
In a Facebook post on Monday, the Wakulla County Sheriff's Office said no shelters would be open because they were rated safe only for hurricanes with sustained winds below 111mph.
"This storm has the potential to be a historic storm, please take heed," the sheriff's office said.
Here is moving imagery of Hurricane Michael from the National Weather Service.
The NHC has issued a fresh update on Michael's progress, and warned of a "life-threatening" storm surge on parts of the Florida coast, as well as potentially fatal flooding.
Maximum sustained winds remain at about 90mph with higher gusts, and forecasters expect the speed to increase before the storm hits land.
The centre says a tropical storm watch is now in place for a swathe of the US southeast coast, from Fernandina Beach, Florida to South
Santee River, South Carolina.
Santee River, South Carolina.
In addition, Cuba's government has downgraded a hurricane warning for the Pinar del Rio province to a tropical storm warning. But the NHC said Michael was "expected to produce heavy rainfall and flash flooding over portions of western Cuba during the next day or so.
One storm surge warning is in place - for the Okaloosa/Walton County Line in Florida to the Anclote River - meaning that "there is a danger of life-threatening inundation, from rising water moving inland from the coastline, during the next 36 hours".
Airlines are warning of potential disruption due to the hurricane.
Delta Air Lines said journeys that started, ended or went through several locations in Florida and Alabama could be affected, according to Action News Jax.
They were:
- Fort Walton Beach
- Pensacola
- Tallahassee
- Panama City
- Mobile, AL
Southwest, which is based in Texas, also said some flights could be disrupted.
The US government has given advice on evacuating with animals.
Over the weekend we covered the story of Soshe the maltese dog which was reunited with its owners after being found floating on a sofa in the wake of Hurricane Florence.
Soshe’s owner, who was out of state at the time, was unable to return to her flooded home in the town of Burgaw, North Carolina.
She made frequent calls to the Humane Society of Missouri, who sent a team to the state to help rescue animals trapped by the powerful storm.
Dog and owner reunited after pet was left stranded on floating sofa following Hurricane Florence
Rescuers from the Humane Society of Missouri saved the dog in a dramatic scene caught on videoThe National Weather Service in Tallahassee has warned that tornadoes may even touch down east of the centre of Hurricane Michael when it hits.
Emergency workers from other states are being mobilised and sent to the gulf region in anticipation of Michael's impact, this tweet shows.
This urban search and rescue team is from Fairfax County, Virginia.
The Department of Health and Human Services has issued guidance for residents who rely on dialysis and other health care.
And a separate guide for people who plan to ride out the storm at home.
Shoppers have been stockpiling basics like bread ahead of Hurricane Michael's expected impact, according to a local news reporter in Florida.
Matthew Seedorff, of WOAI, posted an image from Panama City, which lies directly in the storm's path.
Hurricane Michael has strengthened to a Category 2 storm with top wind speeds of 100mph as it continues its approach towards northern Florida.
The storm is moving north-north-west over the southern Gulf of Mexico, and mandatory evacuations are now in effect along much of Florida's northern Gulf Coast, stretching from the Panhandle into the area known as the Big Bend.
Michael is forecast to hit the Florida coast on Wednesday before moving over Alabama, Georgia and the Carolinas on Wednesday night and Thursday.
Mandatory evacuation orders came into effect on Tuesday morning for 120,000 people in Panama City Beach and across other low-lying parts of the coast.
Mandatory evacuations are taking place in Panama City Beach and other low-lying parts of the Florida Panhandle as Hurricane Michael bears down on the US gulf coast.
The evacuation orders came into force on Tuesday morning for about 120,000 people living the beach and other areas of Bay County. During an emergency meeting of the Bay County Commission on Monday night, Sheriff Tommy Ford said people would "not be dragged out of their homes", but warned that help might not arrive quickly after the storm hits.
He said "people need to start leaving now" adding that roads would become "more and more congested as time goes on".
Commissioner Bill Dozier told people who had decided to stay behind to stock up on supplies and "don't expect the government to help take care of you. You need to take care of yourselves".
As Hurricane Michael continues to gather strength as it barrels towards the US mainland, a tropical depression has formed in the Atlantic Ocean that is expected to develop into a storm by Wednesday, called Nadine.
The fifteenth tropical depression to form this season was not expected to have any immediate threat to land, weather agencies reported.
Governor Rick Scott called Michael a “monstrous hurricane” with a devastating potential from high winds, storm surge and heavy rains.
Mr Scott declared a state of emergency for 35 Florida counties from the Panhandle to Tampa Bay, activated hundreds of Florida National Guard members and waived tolls to encourage those near the coast to evacuate inland.
Kay Ivey, the governor of Alabama, put the entire state under an emergency declaration and said she feared widespread power outages and other problems from the storm.
Cuba is currently bracing for heavy rain and winds from Michael.
It comes just a few weeks after Hurricane Florence devastated parts of the Carolinas with a deluge of rain and massive storm surges.
We'll have live updates tomorrow as the weather event makes landfall.
Additional reporting by agencies
