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When classes resumed in August, a number of school districts in the Florida Panhandle found that many of their students never came back. In Bay County (Panama City, Mexico Beach), the school district lost more than 3,200 students. Weeks into the new school year, school officials in Bay and Jackson counties had to handle students who needed to be involuntarily committed under the Baker Act for mental health reasons. “Before the storm, the Baker Act was not something we tracked. It was so unusual. It was something unfortunate that happened to a student,” said Sharon Michalik, spokeswoman for the Bay...

GCSO deputies reported a traffic stop at about midnight Wednesday on Brian Setterich Road resulted in the recovery of almost half a million dollars in U.S. currency, more than 34,000 oxycodone pills and a variety of cocaine, heroin and marijuana. WEWAHITCKA — A late night traffic stop ended with Gulf County Sheriff’s Office deputies making a historic drug bust – seizing more than a million dollars in cash and narcotics – that could go toward storm recovery, officials reported. Storm Cinque Sims, 29, of Callaway, was arrested in connection with the incident. GCSO deputies reported a traffic stop at about...

MEXICO BEACH, Fla. — As they built their dream house last year on the shimmering sands of the Gulf of Mexico, Russell King and his nephew, Dr. Lebron Lackey, painstakingly documented every detail of the elevated construction, from the 40-foot pilings buried into the ground to the types of screws drilled into the walls. They picked gleaming paints from a palette of shore colors, chose salt-tolerant species to plant in the beach dunes and christened their creation the Sand Palace of Mexico Beach. They also installed an outdoor security camera. Its video footage became the only view of their property...

In the first poll since Hurricane Michael devastated the Panhandle — and changed the course of state politics — the race for Florida Governor is virtually tied. Twenty days before Election Day, Democrat Andrew Gillum is at 47 percent, while Republican Ron DeSantis is at 46. However, among those who say they have already voted, DeSantis is at 49 percent, while Gillum is at 45 percent. A similar scenario is set up for Florida’s U.S. Senate race — heading into the stretch in dead-heat fashion, according to the new survey by St. Pete Polls. Republican Gov. Rick Scott has a...

The U.S. Air Force is assessing what damage more than a dozen F-22 Raptor fighters suffered when Tyndall Air Force Base sustained a direct hit from Hurricane Michael. Up to $2 billion in fighter jets were trapped on the ground because of maintenance issues and forced to ride out the Category 4 hurricane. Photographs show the hangars where F-22s were parked suffered severe damage. First, the good news: Although Tyndall Air Force Base took a hard hit from the hurricane, all 3,600 military personnel and their families living on the base were successfully evacuated beforehand. The 93 Air Force personnel...

Air Force uncertain how long devastated Tyndall will be closed; F-22s possibly damaged in hurricane By COREY DICKSTEIN | STARS AND STRIPES WASHINGTON — How long Tyndall Air Force Base will remain closed is unknown after the coastal Florida installation sustained catastrophic damage from Hurricane Michael, which left nearly every building and some aircraft wrecked, service officials said Friday. While the vast majority of Tyndall’s operational aircraft were evacuated from the base before the storm, some aircraft were left in base hangars for maintenance or safety reasons, said Erica Vega, a spokeswoman for the Air Force’s Air Combat Command. The...

MEXICO BEACH, Fla. One family returning to their home following Michael found whole walls missing and part of their roof blown off. Marla Wood is an accountant from Atlanta. Her vacation home, close to loved ones, is nestled just across from the ocean on Highway 98 in Mexico Beach. Her husband’s family owns the Driftwood Inn, which was wiped out, but Marla’s mother-in-law’s bible was unscathed! It was one of the few things Hurricane Michael didn’t destroy. Marla was on the internet back in Geogia before getting the car to drive to Florida. She had a five-hour drive to brace...

Sitting in the ruined airplane hangars of Tyndall Air Force Base, which was shredded on Wednesday when Hurricane Michael swept across the Florida Panhandle, may be some of the Air Force’s most advanced — and most expensive — stealth fighter jets. Tyndall is home to 55 F-22 stealth fighters, which cost a dizzying $339 million each. Before the storm, the Air Force sent at least 33 of the fighters to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. Air Force officials have not disclosed the whereabouts of the remaining 22 planes, other than to say that a number of aircraft were left...

Great and yet horrible photos of Michael.....I fear that the death toll will be truly tragic.... Are there any Freepers that need help currently??

The worst of Hurricane Michael’s remnants were supposed to track south of tiny Charlotte County in southern Virginia, but a desperate 911 call Thursday night told a different story: A car had been washed away in a torrential flash flood. When sheriff’s deputies raced to the scene on Mount Harmony Road after 11 p.m., county administrator Daniel Witt said they heard the screams of a 17-year-old boy clinging to a guardrail. The sheriff’s deputies and some bystanders linked arms and waded into the raging water, before tossing the teen a rope. He was pulled to safety, but his father and...

Florida Democratic gubernatorial nominee Andrew Gillum criticized his GOP opponent Rep. Ron DeSantis for negative ad campaigns that reportedly aired in areas where residents prepared to brace the impact of Hurricane Michael. The Tallahassee mayor called the ads “unseemly” in an interview on “Hardball with Chris Matthews” on MSNBC this week.

CNN host Anderson Cooper tore into President Trump for taking time to “yuck it up” with rapper Kanye West on Thursday while Floridians were facing the destruction left by Hurricane Michael. The host railed against the “surreal” conversation between the President and West while splitting the screen with images of the meeting and images from the aftermath of the storm. “We’re going to show you exactly what was going on in the White House in the Oval Office. It’ll be on one half of your screen. It starts with Kanye West talking about his ‘Make America Great Again’ hat,” Cooper...

PANAMA CITY, Fla. The devastation inflicted by Hurricane Michael came into focus Thursday with rows upon rows of homes found smashed to pieces, and rescue crews began making their way into the stricken areas in hopes of accounting for hundreds of people who may have 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 reduced to a tropical storm, it brought flash flooding to North Carolina and Virginia, soaking areas still recovering from Hurricane Florence. Under a perfectly clear...

Tropical Storm Mitchell: The NHC has issued a Public Advisory Update indicating Tropical Storm Mitchell has formed about 90 miles South of Cozumel, Mexico. Current forecast predicts Mitchell will reach hurricane strength in the Gulf of Mexico before making landfall in the Northern GOM. Landfall is estimated by 96 hours. Gulf of Mexico Satellite ChannelsPublic AdvisoriesNHC Discussions NHC Local Weather Statements/Radar Key West FLNHC Local Weather Statements/Radar New Orleans, LANHC Local Weather Statements/Radar Mobile AL/Pensacola FLNHC Local Weather Statements/Radar Panama City, FLNHC Local Weather Statements/Radar Tallahassee, FLNHC Local Weather Statements/Radar Tampa Bay, FL

Inmates at a county jail in Florida volunteered to clean debris left in the wake of Michael, the strongest hurricane to hit the continental U.S. in more than a decade. The Walton County Sheriff's Office tweeted photos Thursday of deputies and inmates in prison stripes "clearing the way" in the Euchee Valley. The inmates "volunteered to help their community following the storm because they’ve participated in programs to learn to use heavy equipment while incarcerated at the jail," the sheriff's office said. Officials said five inmates recently graduated from the county jail's heavy equipment operations class, which taught them how...

TALLAHASSEE The oldest and largest psychiatric hospital in Florida was left inaccessible as Hurricane Michael carved its path across the Panhandle, knocking out power and ripping buildings to shreds. The storm’s eyewall passed right over the town of Chattahoochee, leaving it and the hospital “entirely cut off,” state emergency officials said Thursday. The hospital was not evacuated ahead of the storm. Florida State Hospital in Chattahoochee, which had about 975 residents and about 325 staff staying inside, was left with only emergency radios as a means to communicate with first responders. The hospital had backup power and water systems that...

Pecan growers in the Southeast are in the orchards this morning assessing the damage from the CAT 4 Hurricane Michael that ripped through last night causing excessive winds and dumping large amounts of rain in Georgia, Florida, Alabama and now making its way through the Carolinas. Pecan growers with early pecan varieties like the Pawnee were scrambling earlier this week to get as much harvested as possible before the category 4 (at time of landfall) hurricane Michael, ripped through the southern states with wind gust of up to 75 miles per hour in pecan producing areas of South Georgia, South...

TERRIFYING: Two storm chasers got caught in the storm surge as Hurricane Michael roared ashore in the Florida panhandle and had to bail from the truck while they were live streaming their storm coverage. This is kind of long but if you want to see some what cat 4 / cat 5 devastation looks like, well this is a pretty good visual description. Insane video of storm chaser Brett Adair getting caught out by Hurricane Michael storm surge and having to abandon vehicle

***NOT FOR BROADCAST*** Contact Brett Adair with Live Storms Media to license. brett@livestormsnow.com Extreme damage to Tyndall AFB after Hurricane Michael shot from Helicopter.

Andrew Gillum, Tallahassee mayor and Florida’s Democrat nominee for governor, accused President Donald Trump of putting “partisanship” over “leadership” as Hurricane Michael barrels toward the Florida Panhandle.