Hurricane Michael slams the Florida Panhandle as a monster Category 5
One of the strongest storms ever to strike the US mainland flattened the town of Mexico Beach with ferocious winds.
Hurricane Michael roared ashore on the Florida Panhandle this October as a Category 5 storm, one of the most powerful hurricanes ever to strike the mainland United States, flattening entire communities with ferocious winds and a devastating storm surge.
Michael intensified with alarming speed over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, catching some residents off guard, and came ashore near Mexico Beach with sustained winds of around 160 miles per hour. The small coastal town was all but obliterated, with homes swept off their foundations and reduced to splinters.
The storm's extreme winds extended well inland, snapping trees and power lines and causing widespread destruction across the Panhandle and into Georgia. Dozens of people were killed, and the damage ran into the tens of billions of dollars.
Michael's rapid intensification just before landfall highlighted one of the most dangerous trends in hurricane behaviour, giving forecasters and residents little time to prepare for a far stronger storm than initially expected. Warm ocean waters provide the fuel for such explosive strengthening.
The storm was later upgraded to a Category 5 in a post-season analysis, cementing its place among the most intense hurricanes on record to hit the country. For the communities of the Panhandle, Michael was a catastrophe whose scars, physical and economic, would take many years to heal.