MIAMI — Hurricane Michael is threatening more than 300 miles of the Gulf Coast, prompting emergency declarations in more than 100 counties from Mobile, Alabama through the Florida Panhandle and into the state’s Big Bend region.
Residents in those areas are being warned to prepare for Michael to make landfall Wednesday as a “dangerous major hurricane,” bringing damaging winds, and life-threatening storm surge and flash flooding.
“#HurricaneMichael isn’t heading to any one town…” the National Weather Service tweeted Monday. “There are warnings for more than 300 miles of coastline. It’s forecast to be a large and dangerous hurricane at landfall.”
Michael underwent a period of “rapid intensification” from mid-day Sunday to mid-day Monday, growing from a tropical storm with sustained winds of 40 mph to a Category 1 hurricane with sustained winds of 75 mph.
A storm undergoes rapid intensification when its maximum sustained winds increase at least 35 mph in 24 hours or less, according to the National Hurricane Center. Michael is expected to undergo another rapid intensification in the next 24 hours.
The Category 1 hurricane now has maximum sustained winds of 90 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.
The center said Michael could reach land as a Category 3 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of at least 111 mph. Storms with winds of at least 111 mph are designated as “major” hurricanes.
Early Tuesday, Michael’s center was about 455 miles south of Panama City, Florida and 425 miles south of Apalachicola, Florida. The storm was moving northward at 12 mph. Hurricane-force winds extended outward up to 35 miles from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extended outward up to 175 miles, the National Hurricane Center said.
Damaging winds to extend inland
A hurricane warning is in place from the Alabama-Florida border to the Suwannee River in Florida. Meantime, tropical storm warnings extend from the Chassahowitzka River to the Mississippi-Alabama border.
“Damaging winds will also extend inland across portions of the Florida Panhandle, southern Georgia, and southeast Alabama as Michael moves inland,” the hurricane center cautioned.
Storm surge warnings also are in place along the Florida and Alabama coasts.
“Regardless of the eventual track and intensity of Michael, life-threatening storm surge inundation is expected along portions of the Florida Panhandle and Big Bend/Nature Coast, and the storm surge watch has been upgraded to a storm surge warning for parts of this area,” the center said.
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Some Florida counties ordered to evacuate
Floridians scurried to prepare after Gov. Rick Scott extended a state of emergency to 35 counties and activated 1,250 National Guardsmen for hurricane duty.
“This storm will be life-threatening and extremely dangerous,” Scott said at a news conference Sunday. “This storm has the potential to bring devastating impacts to communities across the Panhandle and Big Bend and every family must be prepared.”
“Everybody’s got to get ready. Don’t take a chance,” he said. “We’re going to get storm surge, we have wind, we have a chance of flooding, we have a significant chance of tornadoes.”
The governor has declared states of emergency for Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton, Holmes, Washington, Bay, Jackson, Calhoun, Gulf, Gadsden, Liberty, Franklin, Leon, Wakulla, Jefferson, Madison, Taylor, Hamilton, Suwannee, Lafayette, Dixie, Columbia, Gilchrist, Levy, Citrus, Pasco, Hernando, Pinellas, Hillsborough, Manatee, Alachua, Union, Bradford and Baker counties.
Mandatory and voluntary evacuation orders were issued along the Florida Panhandle and Scott said on Twitter that he has directed the Florida Department of Transportation to suspend tolls in the northwest Florida region.
The Florida Highway Patrol is sending 100 state troopers to the Panhandle and Big Bend areas in preparation for the storm, he said.
Florida State University campuses in Tallahassee and Panama City plan to close Tuesday through Friday.
Alabama prepares for widespread power outages
In Alabama, Gov. Kay Ivey issued a statewide state of emergency, saying on Twitter that it was “in anticipation of wide-spread power outages, wind damage and debris produced by high winds & heavy rain associated with #HurricaneMichael.”
The governor’s declaration activates the state’s emergency operations plan, according to Ivey’s office.
“I am concerned about the cone of uncertainty as Hurricane Michael is leaning west today,” Alabama Emergency Management Agency Director Brian Hastings said in a statement Monday. “Residents and businesses in coastal Alabama must be vigilant and closely monitor the storm’s path and be prepared for a major hurricane.”
Hurricane conditions expected in western Cuba
In the Caribbean, a hurricane warning is in effect for the Cuban province of Pinar del Rio — where most of Cuba’s famed cigar tobacco is grown — and a tropical storm warning has been issued for the Isle of Youth. A warning for the coast of Mexico from Tulum to Cabo Catoche, was canceled late Monday.
“Hurricane conditions will continue over portions of the far western Cuban province of Pinar del Rio through this evening. Tropical storm conditions are expected across the remainder of the warning areas in Cuba and the Yucatan Peninsula through tonight,” the center said.
“Michael is expected to produce heavy rainfall and flash flooding over portions of western Cuba and the northeastern Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico during the next couple of days,” it said.
According to an alert published by the Cuban Civil Defense, meteorologists warned affected residents that they could experience hurricane-force winds. Officials also alerted residents living on the coast of the possibility of flooding caused by the storm.
Over the weekend, flooding related to Michael led to at least 13 deaths in the Central American countries of Nicaragua, Honduras, and El Salvador, according to officials in those countries.
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