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Hurricane Michael: rubble of obliterated Mexico Beach yields new victim Hurricane Michael: rubble of obliterated Mexico Beach yields new victim
(about 3 hours later)
Search and rescue teams found a body on Friday in Mexico Beach, a Florida Panhandle town nearly wiped out by Hurricane Michael, as authorities said there was little doubt the toll would rise further. Rescuers intensified their efforts on Saturday in the attempt to find survivors amid the ruins of a small Florida Panhandle community that was nearly obliterated by Hurricane Michael. One body had already been recovered. 
The true tally of lives lost across the south was unclear as reports varied, but on Friday night the official toll stood at 14, including the victim found in the rubble of Mexico Beach. Crews with dogs went door-to-door in Mexico Beach, pushing aside debris to get inside badly damage structures in a second wave of searches after what leaders said was an initial and “hasty” search of the area. 
The Miami fire chief, Joseph Zahralban, leader of a search-and-rescue unit in the 1,000-strong community, said: “We have one confirmed deceased and are working to determine if there are others.” Authorities said there was little doubt the death toll would rise from the storm, which made landfall on Wednesday as a category four hurricane with 155mph winds and heavy storm surge. The tally of lives lost across the South stood at 14, including the victim found in the rubble of Mexico Beach, where about 1,000 people live. 
Zahralban said searchers using a trained dog were trying to determine if that person had been alone or was part of a family. He spoke as his team was winding down its two-day search. Mexico Beach was nearly obliterated by Michael’s storm surge and 155mph winds when the category four hurricane made landfall on Wednesday. “Everything is time-consuming,” said Capt Ignatius Carroll, of the South Florida Urban Search and Rescue task force. “You don’t want to put a rush on a thorough rescue.” 
Michael was one of the most powerful hurricanes to ever hit the US and this Gulf Coast community was in its bullseye. Some residents stayed to meet it. Homes were pushed off their foundations and neighborhoods became submerged. More roads were passable along the storm-ravaged coast as crews cleared downed trees and power lines, but traffic lights remained out and lines at the few gas stations that were open were five to six cars deep. Schools will stay closed indefinitely, a hospital halted operations and sent 200 patients elsewhere in Florida and in Alabama, and some residents were packing up and getting as far away as they could. 
Hector Morales, a 57-year-old cook, never thought of evacuating. When his mobile home suddenly began floating, he swam to a fishing boat and clambered aboard. Jeff and Katrina Pearsey, with a ruined rental home in the Panama City area and no indication of when they could again earn a living, said they were heading all the way to Bangor, Maine, where Katrina once worked as a nurse. Several trees came down on their property, including one that smashed through the roof. 
“I lost everything,” Morales said. “But I made it.” “We’re getting our stuff and we’re going,” said Jeff Pearsey, 48. “We’re probably done with Panama City.” 
State officials said that by one count, 285 people in Mexico Beach defied mandatory evacuation orders. Emergency officials said they had completed an initial “hasty search” of the devastation, looking for the living or the dead, and had begun more careful inspections of ruined buildings. They hope to complete those inspections later on Saturday. Miami fire chief Joseph Zahralban, the leader of a search-and-rescue unit combing through the wreckage of Mexico Beach, said searchers were trying to determine if the person found dead had been alone or was part of a family. 
They have received thousands of calls asking about missing people, but with cellphone service out across a wide area, they found it impossible to know who among those unaccounted for were safe. Michael was one of the most powerful hurricanes to ever make landfall in the US. While most residents evacuated others stayed to face the storm. Some barely escaped with their lives as homes were pushed off their foundations and whole neighborhoods became submerged. 
Bill Shockey, 86, refused to leave Mexico Beach despite his daughter’s pleas. He said he didn’t want to leave his collection of Gone with the Wind dishes and antique dolls. So he stashed them in a closet before heading to his daughter’s new two-story home. Hector Morales, a 57-year-old restaurant cook, never even thought of evacuating. When his mobile home suddenly began floating, he jumped out and swam to a fishing boat and clambered aboard. 
With a pocket full of cigars and his cat, Andy, Shockey watched the hurricane roll in. The wind shredded the roof of his single-story home. Water rose nearly to the top of his garage door. A neighbor’s home across the street got shoved off its foundation. “I lost everything,” Morales said. “But I made it.” 
Was he scared? “Worried, I think, is more like it,” Shockey said. How many others were not so fortunate was still not clear. By one count, state officials said, 285 people in Mexico Beach defied mandatory evacuation orders. It’s unclear how many people stayed behind in nearby communities. 
His daughter’s home took in some floodwater but was otherwise unscathed. Shockey’s own home of 24 years didn’t fare so well, though his collectibles survived. One who did, Albert Blackwell, was preparing on Saturday to cover holes in the roof of his apartment and take a chain saw to trees that fell and broke his windows just outside Panama City. 
“It’s a wipeout,” he said on Friday, adding that he plans to sell up. “Whenever they want, I’m going to move in with my son in Georgia.” “I’m the idiot that rode it out here in this place,” said Blackwell, 65, sweat dripping from his face. He figured rebuilding will take months, but he doesn’t plan to leave. 
Brock Long, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) chief, said he expected the death toll to rise. “The immediate day after [landfall], I stopped looters from coming in here,” he said. “We’re staying to protect our place.” 
“We still haven’t gotten into the hardest-hit areas,” he said. “Very few people live to tell what it’s like to experience storm surge, and unfortunately in this country we seem to not learn the lesson.” Emergency officials said they had received thousands of calls asking about missing people, but with cellphone service out across a wide area they found it impossible to know who among those unaccounted for were safe but just unable to dial out to friends or family. 
By Friday, authorities had begun setting up distribution centers to dole out food and water. Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Brock Long said he expected the death toll to rise. 
“I didn’t recognize nothing,” said 25-year-old Tiffany Marie Plushnik, an evacuee who returned to a home in Sandy Creek too damaged to live in. “Everything’s gone. I didn’t even know our road was our road.” “We still haven’t gotten into the hardest-hit areas,” he said, adding with frustration: “Very few people live to tell what it’s like to experience storm surge, and unfortunately in this country we seem to not learn the lesson.” 
Elsewhere, Donald Trump announced plans to visit Florida and Georgia early next week. “We are with you!” he tweeted. Authorities set up distribution centers to dole out food and water. They also set up a triage tent to treat residents stepping on nails and cutting themselves on debris. 
Donald Trump announced plans to visit Florida and hard-hit Georgia early next week but didn’t say what day he would arrive. “We are with you!” he tweeted. 
On the Panhandle, Tyndall Air Force Base “took a beating,” so much so that Col Brian Laidlaw told the 3,600 men and women stationed on the base not to come back.On the Panhandle, Tyndall Air Force Base “took a beating,” so much so that Col Brian Laidlaw told the 3,600 men and women stationed on the base not to come back.
Many of the 600 families who live there followed orders to pack what they could in a single suitcase as they were evacuated. The hurricane eyewall passed directly overhead, severely damaging nearly every building. The elementary school, the flight line, the marina and the runways were devastated. Many of the 600 families who live there had followed orders to pack what they could in a single suitcase as they were evacuated before the storm. The hurricane’s eyewall passed directly overhead, severely damaging nearly every building and leaving many a complete loss. The elementary school, the flight line, the marina and the runways were devastated. 
“I will not recall you and your families until we can guarantee your safety. At this time I can’t tell you how long that will take, but I’m on it,” Laidlaw wrote. “We need to restore basic utilities, clear our roads of trees and power lines, and assess the structural integrity of our buildings.” “I will not recall you and your families until we can guarantee your safety. At this time I can’t tell you how long that will take, but I’m on it,” Laidlaw wrote. 
Hurricane MichaelHurricane Michael
HurricanesHurricanes
Natural disasters and extreme weatherNatural disasters and extreme weather
FloridaFlorida
South CarolinaSouth Carolina
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