Hurricane Michael left a path of destruction along Florida’s Panhandle after it blasted onshore Wednesday afternoon as a Category 4 and then pushed into Georgia.
Michael, now a tropical storm, was moving over central and eastern South Carolina Thursday morning.
The U.S. Coast Guard set port condition Zulu for the North Carolina ports of Wilmington and Morehead City Thursday morning due to winds from Michael, now a tropical storm.
With a Zulu status, the ports are closed, and all port operations are suspended.
The Captain of the Port (COTP) set port condition Yankee for coastal South Carolina effective at 11 p.m. Wednesday. Commercial vessel movements within the ports are restricted unless authorized by the COTP.
FEMA tweeted Thursday that the risk of flash flooding due to Michael continued in the Carolinas and Virginia.
According to PowerOutage.us, more than 900,000 customers were without power in Florida, Alabama, Georgia and the Carolinas as of 8:30 a.m. EDT Thursday.
An 80-mile stretch of Interstate 10 in Florida, from west of Tallahassee to Lake Seminole, was closed Thursday morning due to debris covering the roadway.
Tyndall Air Force Base reported on its Facebook page that it sustained extensive damage and base leaders did not have an estimate when it would reopen.
“Recovery teams have begun initial assessments of the base. They have found widespread catastrophic damage,” the Facebook post said.
On its Facebook page, the Port of Pensacola posted that it appeared it did not sustain any hurricane damage but would remain closed to vessel and cargo operations until the COTP had cleared it. The COTP set port condition Zulu for Pensacola as well as the Port of Panama City and portions of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway on Tuesday.
The Weather Channel reported “devastation” in Mexico Beach, which FEMA said felt the brunt of the storm.
Mexico Beach is “probably ground zero,” FEMA Administrator Brock Long said.
The Weather Channel said, “Images from Mexico Beach showed widespread devastation with homes reduced to kindling and roofs lying in the middle of U.S. 98. Storm surge lapped at roof eaves.”