Posted on 10/09/2018 4:49:06 PM PDT by NautiNurse
Major Hurricane Michael is churning toward the northeastern Gulf of Mexico coast. Florida Governor Rick Scott declared a state of emergency Monday for 35 counties with mandatory coastal evacuations in the FL Panhandle. 1,250 National Guard troops are aiding the process and more than 4,000 more placed on standby.
FEMA is already on the ground in Florida; other federal agencies are also preparing to assist people in the storm's path.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on Monday declared a state of emergency for the entire state. Georgia Governor Nathan Deal issued a state of emergency for 92 counties ahead of Hurricane Michael landfall.
Meanwhile, Tallahassee city government (Andrew Gillum, Mayor & D'Rat FL Gubernatorial candidate) offices are "closed until further notice." Tallahassee International Airport is suspending commercial flight activity as 12:01 a.m. ET on Wednesday but expects to resume activity on Thursday.
The U.S. military moved its aircraft from the Panhandle on Monday. Roughly 50 F-22 stealth fighter jets — valued around $150 million each — have been relocated from the Tyndall Air Force Base, while the U.S. Navy said it is moving all its training aircraft from Pensacola.
Energy Production The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) on Tuesday estimated that around 726 MMcf/d (28.4%) of natural gas production and 670,831 b/d (39.5%) of oil production in the GOM had been shut in ahead of the storm.
As of midday Tuesday, 75 platforms and three rigs had been evacuated, while eight dynamically positioned rigs had been moved out of the storm’s path as a precaution, according to BSEE.
Gulf of Mexico Satellite Channels
Public Advisories
NHC Discussions
NHC Local Weather Statements/Radar Key West FL
NHC Local Weather Statements/Radar New Orleans, LA
NHC Local Weather Statements/Radar Mobile AL/Pensacola FL
NHC Local Weather Statements/Radar Panama City, FL
NHC Local Weather Statements/Radar Tallahassee, FL
NHC Local Weather Statements/Radar Tampa Bay, FL
Here’s some footage from Destin.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kj7uan2Vn-c
My friends found their parents and they were ok. They made the treck down there last night, With big truck, a lot of supplies and chainsaws.
Wow. That’s impressive.
I’m beginning to get pretty concerned about these 200 plus missing people. By now I would expect they would have been heard from if they’d gone to shelters, or seen waving by helicopters overhead.
Wow! 170 mph gusts...Great find, kristinn.
I read this morning that search and rescue were still working to get access into the most heavily damaged areas.
Sorry about freepmailing instead of a regular posting. I’m working on another person’s computer and clicked the wrong tab. Oops.
LOL!
Just catching up on today, thanks NN! I just read they’re beginning to find bodies but did not give a number. If they cancelled the mobile morgue they’re probably thinking some were washed out to sea.
I know evacuating is stressful, and I’m as much a rebel as my libertarian friends when being told what to do by the government, but damn, if I lived on the beach or nearby, I would evacuate. Wind is bad, but storm surge is rarely survivable if in the path.
Destin looks good, beach beautiful. It was nice to watch a tame video.
The people walking in the vid are likely among the knuckleheads who rode out the storm.
As for looters, the area is accessible by boat of which there is no local shortage. I hope a couple are found dead a few days from now.
Separately, another woman previously reported missing--her home a crumbled pile of cinder blocks and some floor tile. A portion of her ceiling fan and more tile was found up the road. No update on her fate.
Source msn.com
The Coast Guard has rescued 129 people and one animal, and
helped transport 142 nursing home patients to safe haven at
Pensacola hospital. The Coast Guard deployed 17 cutters, nine
fixed-wing and 24 rotary-wing aircraft for search and rescue,
and to assess damage.The Coast Guard continues to assess damage in Bay and Gulf
counties, and urged residents not to board partially sunken
vessels without assistance. The ports in Pensacola and Cedar
Key reopened. But Panama City port remained closed in
Florida, and ports in Wilmington and Morehead City, North
Carolina remained shuttered Friday.The Red Cross has 1,000 trained disaster personnel heading to
the area. The Salvation Army has 48 mobile feeding kitchens,
which can each provide 1,500 meals per day.
16 Deaths in a Vast Trail of DestructionSome of the hardest-hit communities have yet to report any fatalities, and although officials said they hoped they would find survivors, a resigned gloom was setting in throughout the disaster zone.
At a news conference Friday afternoon in Marianna, Fla., Sheriff Lou Roberts confirmed three storm-related deaths in Jackson County.
The authorities in Virginia said five people had died, including several who had drowned and a firefighter who was responding to an emergency call. Two other people were feared dead.
Four deaths occurred in Gadsden County, west of Tallahassee, according to Lt. Anglie Hightower, a spokeswoman for the sheriff’s office. The victims included a man who died when a tree crashed down on his home in GreensbNorth Carolina officials reported two more deaths on Friday, raising the death toll there to three. The authorites said a man and a woman had died in McDowell County when their car struck a large tree that had fallen in a road.
At least 1.5 million customers were without electricity in states stretching from Florida to Virginia.
Many health institutions in Florida remained closed, including four hospitals, 13 nursing homes and 14 assisted living facilities, according to information distributed at a senior federal leadership briefing on Friday and shared with The New York Times. The figures were slightly higher than those distributed by Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration. Several dialysis centers were also closed.
“Tyndall AFB update. About those missing wind speed reports, via Luis Martinez with ABC News via Twitter:
I just spoke with Colonel in charge of 821st Crisis Response Group that’s arrived at Tyndall. “There’s a lot of devastation here” Colonel said base leadership that stayed during the storm reported 150 mph sustained winds w/ 170 mph gusts”
Thank you, Kristinn!
Gusts up to 170 mph at Tyndall AFB - Cat 5?
The threshold is 157 MPH sustained winds for a Category 5. There will be further analysis to make a final determination. I saw one storm chaser on scene estimate a peak strength of 160 MPH sustained winds and pressure of 918 MB.
I didn’t hesitate to tell my GD to get the heck out of Dodge. She was already planning to fly to NM for the weekend but the tickets were for Wed. evening and when she couldn’t get an earlier flight, we told her to drive.
Agree. For reference, Hurricane Andrew (1992) was officially recorded as Category 5 ten years later following extensive analysis. Those of us who witnessed the devastation first-hand knew it was Cat. 5 shortly after the storm passed.
OMG—one of the pilots said it was the worst he had flown in 18 years as a hurricane hunter. Yowser. When a HH says “we got our clocks cleaned,” you know it was a frightful experience flying through the eyewall.
@ReedTimmerAccu
2m
MEXICO BEACH: helicopter v. ground survey of catastrophic storm surge damage from Hurricane #Michael. By far the worst devastation I have ever seen in 22 years of storm chasing.
Thanks so much for your pings/updates. Reed Timmer has been around the block..he’s got some incredible videos from his Twitter feed and YouTube!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.