The closure impacted a stretch of the freeway from west of Tallahassee to Lake Seminole, the report added. Stretch of Interstate 10 reopens: An 80-mile stretch of I-10 reopened after being closed Thursday morning so the Florida Highway Patrol could clear debris from the roadway. 'The power's not going to be on for a while,' he said. Search and rescue missions underway: Long told reporters Thursday morning that the goal is to send crews into the hardest-hit areas to perform search and rescue missions. Both hospitals said their emergency rooms would remain open. Gulf Coast Regional Medical Center also was damaged and began moving patients on Thursday. Thursday after the hospital was damaged by the hurricane on Wednesday. Two Panama City hospitals evacuate: Bay Medical Sacred Heart began evacuating patients about 3 a.m. The facility's 975 residents and 325 staffers had ample supplies, especially after food and water drops via helicopter, but the hospital lost all communication with the outside world, the report added. Psychiatric hospital cut off: In the town of Chattahoochee, the Florida State Hospital, which is the state's largest and oldest psychiatric hospital, was inaccessible in the wake of Michael, according to the Miami Herald. EDT Thursday, the total number of customers without power in Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, and Virginia was more than 1.4 million, according to. 'That’s probably ground zero.'Īs of 7:30 p.m. 'Mexico Beach took the brunt,' FEMA Administrator Brock Long said. Two more deaths were confirmed Friday morning in Danville, Virginia, in separate flooding incidents. Aerial images at Mexico Beach Thursday morning showed extreme damage, with homes swept completely off their foundations and destroyed and few properties left standing along the coast. In Florida, from Panama City through Mexico Beach - where the storm made landfall - and into Apalachicola, houses were swamped or blown apart, roofs were ripped off, boats sank and trees toppled in the high winds. A North Carolina man was killed Thursday after a tree fell on his car in Iredell County, north of Charlotte, the Associated Press reported. The county coroner later identified her as Sarah Radney. In southern Georgia, an 11-year-old girl was killed when a carport hit her home in Seminole County. Details were not available on the other three deaths.

One of them was Steve Sweet, 44, who died when a tree slammed into his Gretna home. One tornado was confirmed.įour people were killed in Florida's Gadsden County, according to Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Anglie Hightower.

Tropical Storm Michael's downpours in Virginia also flooded homes and led to water rescues and at least four flash flood emergencies later in the day. Evacuations were needed in Irmo, South Carolina, after multiple homes took on water. On Thursday, the Carolinas and Georgia saw trees knocked down, hundreds of thousands without power, and roads closed by standing water. Michael made landfall as a high-end Category 4 storm on the Florida Panhandle Wednesday smashing towns to rubble. The extent of Hurricane Michael's widespread devastation in Florida became clearer Thursday as the storm continued to wreak havoc across the Southeast, knocking down trees and power poles, stranding motorists, and spawning tornadoes and flash flood emergencies.

Panama city hurricane aftermath