Made landfall near Mexico Beach, east of Panama City on the Florida panhandle as a Cat 4. Only 2 miles under a Cat 5, stronger than Katrina or Andrew. The storm surge may be the worst ever for the area. It is a fast mover, thank goodness. Good Luck to any org peeps that are affected. Thoughts are with you.

[Edited 10/10/18 15:05pm]

ing for the people and creatures in its path

Ugh, I hope everyone I know (and don't) are safe on the Gulf Coast...

I'm inland but we're under a tornado watch until 7 AM, and it appears that we will be getting some pretty heavy thunderstorms starting around 2 AM until about 8 or 9 AM. Gonna be a fun time tonight. My daughter is terrified of storms.

We were hit by a tornado last October from a different hurricane. It uprooted my giant oak tree in the back yard, did some damage to my house, but the tree landed on my neighbor's house. I was home when the tornado hit, and so was my neighbor. Luckily no one was hurt. So, I'm not looking foward to these storms tonight. I still have a lot of large trees in my backyard.

[Edited 10/10/18 21:22pm]

Still a lot of rotation showing there. Stay safe benni!

Aftermath is devastion. I evacuated to Panama City for Issac in 2008 and stayed on until Jose was not a threat. 2 people, 2 cats and a dog in a motel room but it was a place to land, and by the beach. The worst hit areas are not affluent places, severe hardship on those folks.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/i-should-have-left-hurricane-michael-terrified-those-who-stayed/ar-BBOe8YC?li=BBnb4R7&ocid=iehp

Hurricane Michael, a Category 4 storm when it hit the Florida Panhandle on Wednesday, is now a tropical storm moving into Central Georgia.

(Pictured) The overhang of a gas station is toppled over in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael on Oct. 11 in Inlet Beach, Florida.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/unimaginable-destruction-hurricane-smashes-rows-of-houses/ar-BBOe7A9?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=iehp

'Unimaginable destruction': Hurricane smashes rows of houses

PANAMA CITY, Fla. — The devastation inflicted by Hurricane Michael came into focus Thursday with rows upon rows of homes found smashed to pieces, and search-and-rescue crews struggled to reach the stricken areas in hopes of accounting for hundreds of people who defied evacuation orders.

At least two deaths were blamed on Michael, the most powerful hurricane to hit the continental U.S. in over 50 years, and it wasn't done yet: Though weakened into a tropical storm, it continued to bring heavy rain and blustery winds to the Southeast as it pushed inland, soaking areas still recovering from Hurricane Florence.

Under a perfectly clear blue sky, Florida families emerged tentatively from darkened shelters and hotels to an unfamiliar and perilous landscape of shattered homes and shopping centers, beeping security alarms, wailing sirens and hovering helicopters.

"This morning, Florida's Gulf Coast and Panhandle and the Big Bend are waking up to unimaginable destruction," Gov. Rick Scott said. "So many lives have been changed forever. So many families have lost everything. ... This hurricane was an absolute monster."

http://www.msn.com/en-us/video/wonder/see-florida-sky-turn-purple-after-hurricane-michael/vi-BBOeB48?ocid=iehp

See Florida sky turn purple after Hurricane Michael

Clouds hovering over the Florida Panhandle shortly after Hurricane Michael passed through appeared to turn an eerie purple, setting social media abuzz. Scientists say the spectacular sigh is caused by “scattering,” when light travels through particles in the air. TODAY’s Craig Melvin reports.

[Edited 10/11/18 11:45am]

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/he-promised-to-protect-their-dogs-during-hurricane-michael-then-the-walls-collapsed/ar-BBOfhHi?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=iehp#image=BBOfhHi_1|4

He promised to protect their dogs during Hurricane Michael. Then the walls collapsed

PANAMA CITY, Fla. - For six years, Charles Burgess ran Pawaday Inn, building up a loyal customer base that brought him their beloved dogs and cats for grooming and boarding.

As Hurricane Michael approached, customers entrusted Burgess to care for their pets as they left town.

So Burgess holed up with 12 dogs, two cats and several employees in the squat concrete building building on East Sixth Street, figuring it was strong enough to endure whatever was coming. But Michael, whipping to the top of the Category 4 scale just before landfall near the Panhandle city, proved too powerful.

As the winds howled, much of the building collapsed around them. Burgess and his employees whisked the dogs into a small, stronger inner room holding the wash tub for dogs. Two of the animals escaped as sheets of driving rain lashed the building.

"We thought the building would hold up but it didn't," Burgess said. "The roof caved in. Then, the walls caved in."

After mid-afternoon, as Michael moved deeper into the state and the sun peeked out from behind gray clouds, Burgess and his workers picked their way out of the tangle of concrete blocks, air-conditioning ducts and foam insulation. The remaining dogs barked in their cages, sopping wet but wagging their tails.

They were loaded into trucks and vans to head to Burgess' home but the rescue effort wasn't done.

"We got to go find the two that ran off," Burgess said.

"We got one," one of his employees said.

Then another employee, Brian Bon, emerged from behind the shattered building with a leashed bull terrier.

"That's Star," Burgess said. "We got you now, baby."

Star looked shell-shocked and confused, but sat down, her tail wagging slightly. They led her into a SUV, the last of the rescues.

There was one casualty. One of the caged felines, named Tomcat, got stuck behind rubble and drowned.

"When the wall caved in, it blocked us from getting to him and the water just kept coming in,"Burgess said.

Burgess shook his head.

He said: "I've got to start over. I had a good client base, but it's hard finding a good decent building in this area."

Wow, that Purple Sky - hmmm.

poppys said:

Wow, that Purple Sky - hmmm.

"The sky was all purple and there were people running everywhere, trying to run from the destruction, you know I didn't even care..."


Well, no damage at my home. We did lose power for a short time in the early hours of the morning. Storms got pretty strong during the night, but overall, not as bad as I was expecting. Dakota (my 17 year old) woke me up at 3:30 am saying he'd gotten an emergency alert for a tornado warning, and had heard sirens going off, but when he woke me up, there were no alerts on my phone and no sirens. They cancelled school for today, so I worked from home. Overall, my area had it pretty easy, even with the storms. But this was a bad hurricane. It was only 2 mph below a Category 5 when it struck land, from what I understand.

My forever mom lives in a more southern part of the state and she said the storms had gotten fairly strong there, and they were still expecting some more storms this afternoon from the hurricane. They were hit pretty hard with Florence, too, and she said she does have some standing water in her yard, but less than inch. She said they were calling for another 4 to 5 inches of rain this afternoon. I expect we'll have some more storms from hurricanes in the next couple of months, too, and probably just as strong. The south is really getting beaten up.

benni said:

poppys said:

Wow, that Purple Sky - hmmm.

"The sky was all purple and there were people running everywhere, trying to run from the destruction, you know I didn't even care..."


Well, no damage at my home. We did lose power for a short time in the early hours of the morning. Storms got pretty strong during the night, but overall, not as bad as I was expecting. Dakota (my 17 year old) woke me up at 3:30 am saying he'd gotten an emergency alert for a tornado warning, and had heard sirens going off, but when he woke me up, there were no alerts on my phone and no sirens. They cancelled school for today, so I worked from home. Overall, my area had it pretty easy, even with the storms. But this was a bad hurricane. It was only 2 mph below a Category 5 when it struck land, from what I understand.

My forever mom lives in a more southern part of the state and she said the storms had gotten fairly strong there, and they were still expecting some more storms this afternoon from the hurricane. They were hit pretty hard with Florence, too, and she said she does have some standing water in her yard, but less than inch. She said they were calling for another 4 to 5 inches of rain this afternoon. I expect we'll have some more storms from hurricanes in the next couple of months, too, and probably just as strong. The south is really getting beaten up.

"The sky was all purple and there were people running everywhere, trying to run from the destruction, you know I didn't even care..."

Glad you made out ok benni! The Carolinas have had quite a season this year. Still tremble when I see photos and my heart just breaks. Seeing all the boats, many many of them uninsured because it's too expensive. In the Virgin Islands people try to outwit hurricanes by sailing to Venezuela to shelter before it hits. With varying degrees of success. You have to time it just right AND be lucky.



Below is familiar. When I returned to New Orleans, 6 weeks after the K-bitch, we still did not have power in my neighborhood.

[Edited 10/12/18 12:20pm]