Hurricane Michael strengthens to 'extremely dangerous' Category 4 storm

WASHINGTON - Hurricane Michael swelled to an ""extremely dangerous" Category 4 storm as it rumbled toward the Gulf Coast of Florida early on Wednesday in what forecasters warned was an unprecedented weather event for the area.

The National Hurricane Center said the storm is now packing maximum wind gusts of 210 kilometer per hour, could grow even stronger and is expected to make landfall later in the day along the Florida Panhandle or Big Bend area as a "life-threatening event".

A storm surge of up to 4 meters is expected in some areas, the center said.

Separately, the National Weather Service in the state capital Tallahassee issued a dramatic appeal for people to comply with evacuation orders.

"THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE to evacuate before conditions start deteriorating within the next few hours," said Florida Governor Rick Scott in a tweet early on Wednesday.

US President Donald Trump declared a state of emergency for the entire state of Florida, freeing up federal assistance to supplement state and local disaster responses.

"It is imperative that you heed the directions of your State and Local Officials. Please be prepared, be careful and be SAFE!" Trump tweeted.

Michael gathered greater strength over warm Gulf of Mexico waters throughout the day on Tuesday as it jumped from a Category 2 to Category 3 on the five-step Saffir-Simpson wind scale.

NHC Director Ken Graham said Michael represented a "textbook case" of a hurricane system growing stronger as it drew near shore, in contrast to Hurricane Florence, which struck North Carolina last month after weakening in a slow, halting approach.

The storm is likely to dump prodigious amounts of rain over Florida, Alabama and Georgia, as well as the Carolinas - still reeling from post-Florence flooding - and into Virginia.

The region should brace for "major infrastructure damage", specifically to electricity distribution, wastewater treatment systems and transportation networks, Jeff Byard, associate administrator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, also known as FEMA, told reporters on a conference call.

Byard said an estimated 500,000 people were under evacuation orders and advisories in Florida, where residents and tourists were fleeing low-lying areas in at least 20 counties stretching along 322 km of shore in the Panhandle and adjacent Big Bend region.

Among them was Betty Early, 75, a retiree who joined about 300 fellow evacuees huddled on makeshift bedrolls of blankets and collapsed cardboard boxes at an elementary school converted into an American Red Cross shelter in Panama City, near the storm's expected landfall.

She was unsure how well her old, wood-framed apartment block would hold up. "I'm blessed to have a place to come," she said. "My greatest concern is not having electricity, and living on a fixed income, losing my food."

Afp - Reuters

(China Daily 10/11/2018 page11)