New before and after photos show how Hurricane Michael obliterated the Florida Panhandle
Hurricane Michael battered four states on Wednesday, killing 12 people and leaving 1.3million without power
Among the worst hit was Mexico Beach, a small coastal town which was almost entirely obliterated
The before-and-after pictures show the community before Michael pummeled it with 155mph winds and after
Five people in total were killed in Florida along with five in Virginia, one in Georgia and one in North Carolina
It will be weeks before people are able to return to their homes and officials fear the death toll will rise again
By JENNIFER SMITH
DAILYMAIL.COM
12 October 2018
With Hurricane Michael cooling off as a tropical storm off the coast of New York, the true extent it the damage it caused to Florida’s Panhandle has become plain.
Entire communities including Mexico Beach and Panama City have been ravaged by the storm which hit on Wednesday, bringing 155mph winds to the area.
With the storm now clear of the area, authorities are working to recover any bodies from the wreckage that they could not get to when the storm was raging.
They, along with energy companies desperate to reconnect the 1million plus customers who have lost power, have taken to the skies in helicopters to survey the extent of the devastation and the results are sobering.
Thirteen people are confirmed dead as a result of the storm but officials fear that number may rise.
Mexico Beach was described as Michael’s ‘ground zero’ on Thursday by emergency workers. ‘Mexico Beach took the brunt. That’s probably ground zero,’ FEMA Administrator Brock Long said.
As camera crews flew over it on Friday including one belonging to CNN, stunned reporters remarked: ‘It’s gone. It’s gone.’
Residents in other areas described the terrifying conditions as the storm hit on Wednesday including in Georgia where they likened the noise of the looming hurricane to a ‘train coming’.
On Friday, Virginia’s Department of Emergency Management said five lives been claimed in the state. They include four people who were swept away by flood water and a fire fighter who died in a highway crash.
Sarah Radney, an 11-year-old, was visiting her grandparents’ home when Hurricane Michael roared into southwest Georgia.
She and her siblings were there on a fall break. Her parents decided cautiously to let them stay as Michael approached because they thought the home was powerful enough to withstand the storm.
If the family feared anything, it was probably falling trees – not a carport next to the house.
In what could only be described as a freak accident, authorities say Michael’s powerful winds lifted the portable structure high into the air and slammed it back down on the house.
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