(Newswire.net— October 12, 2018) — More than 370,000 people in Florida were ordered to evacuate but officials believe as much as a third of them ignored the warning.
High ranked Red Cross officers said that the storm “was extremely rapidly gaining intensity” and that “it did not leave enough time for anyone”. However, authorities did issue the general evacuation for areas directly on Michael’s path.
Rescuers are trying to reach hundreds of people who did not listen to evacuation orders in Mexico Beach in Florida, the area that suffered the most. The devastating hurricane ran at a speed of 170 mph through the Mexico Beach leaving “unimaginable destruction” authorities said.
Hurricane Michael, the strongest hurricane which hit American land in the last 50 years, destroyed everything on its path, pulled trees from the ground and destroyed buildings.
Along a river canal and also the near the beach there are just foundations which mark where homes once stood, NBC News reports, adding that this part of the oceanfront neighborhood has been flattened.
Aerial footage displays the magnitude of the destruction. Boats once docked in the canal have been pushed far up onto the land and while some buildings remarkably survived over 80 percent of the infrastructure has been swept away.
Rescuers are searching for those who have not escaped from the hurricane. There are casualties, authorities reported. The monstrous Michael killed at least six people and left dozens requiring medical care.
Florida Governor Rick Scott said that the damage from Panama City to Mexico Beach was “much worse than it was supposed to be.”
Rescue teams resumed missions in the US-devastated hurricane area hit by Michael, and the total of confirmed deaths rose to six. The authorities, however, fear that more people remain trapped under ruins because as many as one third of the population ignored the warnings.
A local official in Mexico Beach, which was hit by the hurricane, said that 285 of the 1,000 inhabitants of that town ignored the order for evacuation.