Hurricane Michael did serious damage to the Carolinas, Florida and parts of Virginia. John Pardue is a 42-year-old resident of Florida. He was one of the people who was in the storm. He was walking down the bridge with his two children when he got caught in the storm. He stated that he was surprised by how severe the storm was.
John was in guitar shop when the storm first began. It wasn’t that bad when he was in his shop. However, when he left the shop, there was debris everywhere. John stated that the rivers rose high. However, there were not as high as they were when Hurricane Florence came.
There were at least six deaths confirmed as of October 11. The Gadsen County Sheriff Department stated that at least four of these deaths were due to the storm. One of the people who were killed in the storm was a 38-year-old man in Iredell County. He was killed after a tree fell on his vehicle.
An 11-year-old girl was another person who was killed in a storm. A carport was lifted into the air by the wind and slammed into the mobile home. William Lock works for the FEMA administrator. He stated that they were focused on search and rescue. He also warned people that the death toll will likely climb.
Hurricane Michael’s winds exceeded 150 miles per hour. The Tyndall Air Base was one of the many areas of Panama City, Florida that was damaged by Hurricane Michael. Fortunately, no one was hurt at the air base.
Brian Laidlaw is a Fighter Wing Commander. He stated people who have evacuated should keep themselves in a safe place. He also stated that the air base is trying to reunite people with their families.
Families were told to evacuate the air base on Monday, October 8, 2018. There were 600 families living on the base at the time. Brian stated that they have to assess the damage before they allow people back on the base. The base will remain closed until that time.
Sheriff A.J. Smith works in Franklin County. He stated that he was shocked by the amount of damage that was done. He has been in bad storms before, but this is the first time that he has seen a storm this bad. The storm has also caused over 263,000 blackouts in Florida. However, many journalists still worked hard to make sure that people got the news.