https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Michael


The storm hit on Wednesday, and it is now Sunday, and the nation is only beginning to assess the full extent of the damage and lives lost.
About 350,000 homes without power in Florida.
And over a million homes without power, when including the more inland states Hurricane Michael passed through after its strongest winds hit the Florida coast.

I linked Wikipedia so as the story develops the new information is added at the link.

At present 14 people killed, and about 1,500 other people missing. Although with the lack of cel phone service, it is believed they are alive and just evacuated somewhere, but there is just no way to reach them and verify they are alive.

Estimates are it will be at least a month until power is restored in the worst hit areas.

( Also worthy of note, it is a year later, and power is still not restored from the two hurricanes that hit Puerto Rico last year. The girl who cuts my hair is from Puerto Rico, and her parents, siblings and daughters are all here in Florida now. )

There but for the grace of God.
I was on ground zero when a similar storm hit almost the entire state last year at almost the exact same time. And after getting through the storm, I was without power, and without work, for 4 days after. And business was only 50% or less of normal flow for a month after. And inconvenient as that was, how much worse for those in the Pensacola region?


Especially scary is how quickly this went from a tropical storm to almost a category 5 hurricane in about 36 hours. It just came out of nowhere, and allowed for virtually no preparation.