Hurricane Michael build up to a Category 2 storm with 100-mile-per-hour winds on Tuesday as Florida’s governor advised it could bring “total devastation” to parts of the southern US state.
The storm currently located over the Gulf of Mexico is all around toward the Florida coast at around 12 miles per hour and is familar to make landfall on Wednesday, bringing with it “life-threatening” storm rises and heavy rainfall, the National Hurricane Centre said.
“It is a monstrous storm and the forecast (keeps) getting more dangerous,” Florida Governor Rick Scott said. “The time to prepare is now.”
It “poses a deadly threat and as it grows stronger, we can expect it make landfall as a major Category 3 storm,” said Scott, warning that it “could bring total devastation to parts of our state, especially in the panhandle.”
Florida panhandle, a low-lying area of beachfront resort and retirement communities on northeastern Gulf coast.
Forecasters warned of coastal flooding with storm surge and tides projected to raise water levels by as much as eight to 12 feet in some areas.
Rainfall of four to eight inches, and as much as a foot in confined areas, “could lead to life-threatening flash floods,” according to the NHC, which also warned that the storm’s approach could generate tornados in northwestern Florida.
President Donald Trump, who was in Orlando delivering an address on Monday to a global association of police chiefs, said the federal government was ready and urged residents to be prepared for the worst.
Can you believe it? It looks like another big one,” he said
The Carolinas are still recovering from Hurricane Florence, which left dozens dead and is estimated to have caused billions of dollars in damage last month.
It made landfall on the coast as a Category 1 hurricane on September 14 and steep some parts of the state with 40 inches of rain.
Last year saw a string of catastrophic storms batter the western Atlantic — including Irma, Maria and Hurricane Harvey — causing a record-equalling $125 billion in damage when it flooded the Houston metropolitan area.
Scientists have long warned that global warming will make cyclones more harmful and some say the sign for this may already be visible.
At their most fearsome, these low-pressure weather leading pack more power than the energy free by the atomic bomb that levelled Hiroshima.
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