Hurricane Michael made landfall as a Category 4 storm near Mexico Beach, Fla.. Michael hit the Florida pan handle Wednesday, Oct. 10., at about 12:30 p.m. in Mexico Beach with 155 mph winds.
According to CNN, Hurricane Michael left more than 350,000 with power and neighborhoods damaged after hitting near Mexico beach. In the city of Callaway, Fla., pieces of house cover the rain-drenched roads while many telephone poles are snapped in half. The storm has killed a man in Florida and a girl in Georgia. Nearly 30 million people in the Southeast have felt effects of the storm.
The strength of Michael may be reflective of the effect climate change has on storms. According to CNN, the plant has warmed over the past decades, causing changes in the environment.
According to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, human-caused greenhouse gases create and energy imbalance, with more than 90% of heat trapped by gases going into the ocean. There is evidence of higher sea surface temperature and atmospheric moisture.
Studies show storms will get stronger and produce more rain. The storm surge is worse than 100 years ago in part of rise in sea levels.
Michael is also now threatening the Carolinas. Tornadoes, winds and more flooding is possible in the same area still recovering from Hurricane Florence.
In Florida, all the lanes of I-10 between miles marker 85 to 166 are close due to debris according to Florida authorities. As of Thursday morning, Michael is centered about 40 miles west-northwest of Columbia, South Carolina, and is headed northeast.
According to Stormwater Solutions, the storm is the first Category 4 storm to make landfall in the Florida Panhandle and the strongest storm in the U.S. this year. The storm has since been downgraded to a tropical storm. Michael is expected to rain 4 to 7 in. from eastern to southern mid-Atlantic Georgia.
Emergency responders throughout Georgia, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle are working to clear roadways and provide aid to those hit from the storm.
“Now our job is to search for everybody, rescue everybody, get everybody the resources they need and we’ll recover,” said Florida Gov. Rick Scott. “We are are a very resilient state.”