Hurricane Michael ‘may be worst in Florida’s history’

Michael is forecast to become a category four hurricane before it reaches the coast of Florida.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott has urged anyone in an evacuation zone to leave immediately, calling the storm “monstrous” and “deadly”. “THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE to evacuate before conditions start deteriorating within the next few hours”, he wrote.

The hurricane is so powerful – with a central pressure plunging to 933 millibars – that it is expected to remain a hurricane as it sweeps over central Georgia early Thursday en route to the Carolinas.

Michael’s eye was about 140 miles from Panama City and 130 miles from Apalachicola, but moving relatively fast at 13 mph.

Mark Wallheiser via Getty Images Mitchell Pope tries to salvage what he can from his mobile home on October 10 in Saint Marks.

This is the first time Tallahassee has issued an extreme weather warning.

In addition, this storm had the third-lowest central air pressure of any USA landfalling hurricane on record.

Some parts of Florida could see storm surges of nine to 13ft and up to a foot of rain. Cedar Key to Chassahowitzka could see storm surge topping out between 4 to 6 feet. This is a very unsafe storm and unprecedented in the area. Water levels are already rising rapidly and the storm is poised to push ashore a “life-threatening” surge of ocean water that could inundate more than 325 miles of coastline. “Promptly follow evacuation and other instructions from local officials”.

“Where we are (in the storm track), we’ll be in the more favorable quadrant for tornado activity”, Austin said.

A hurricane warning was in place from the Alabama-Florida border to the Suwannee River in Florida. The area remains under a flash flood watch.

“This is going to have structure damaging winds along the coast and hurricane force winds inland”, meteorologist Ryan Maue of weathermodels.com told the Associated Press.

Tropical Storm Leslie could once again redevelop into a hurricane as it spins in the open Atlantic.