Hurricane Michael's death toll at 12, expected to rise

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

PORT ST. JOE, Fla., Oct 12 (Reuters) - Rescuers used heavy equipment to clear debris in the Florida Panhandle towns hit hardest by Hurricane Michael, searching for survivors amid expectations the death toll of 12 from the powerful storm likely will climb.

Rescuers from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) used dogs, drones and global positioning satellites in the search.

So far, no counties along the devastated northwest Florida coast have reported deaths related to the storm. That could change, as efforts to assess damage and look for casualties in the worst-hit communities have been hampered by downed utility lines, trees and debris blocking roads.

“I think you’re going to see it climb,” FEMA Administrator Brock Long said of the death count at a news conference. “We still haven’t gotten into some of the hardest-hit areas.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/hurricane-michaels-death-toll-at-12-expected-to-rise/ar-BBOgXnr?li=BBnb7Kz

[shanny]

1. I read somewhere that some 50 people

decided to ride it out on an island off Mexico Beach or Panama City. Storm surge there was 9 ft above normal. Has anybody any updates?

[Wounded Bear]

3. Yeah, things like that will make a final count difficult...

bodies get washed out to sea.

Watch for the category: Missing.

[MiniMe]

2. This will be like Puerto Rico

The death toll was something like 16 for a long long time. This storm will be 12-15 dead, and tRump won't accept any higher number no matter how off that number is.

[Scurrilous]

4. Searchers find bodies in hurricane-stricken town, officials say

<snip>

"Search-and-rescue teams began finding bodies in and around Mexico Beach, the ground-zero town nearly obliterated by Hurricane Michael, an official said Friday as the scale of the storm’s fury became ever clearer. But he gave no details on the number of dead.

The death toll across the South stood at 17.

Miami Fire Chief Joseph Zahralban, leader of a search-and-rescue unit that went into the flattened town, said: “There are individuals who are deceased. We do not have a count, but we are working to identify them.”

Zahralban spoke as his team — which included a dog — was winding down its two-day search of Mexico Beach, the town of about 1,000 people that was nearly wiped off the map when Michael blew ashore there on Wednesday with devastating 155 mph (249 kph) winds."

https://www.local10.com/news/florida/searchers-find-bodies-in-hurricane-stricken-town-officials-say

[malaise]

5. The numbers will shock people

There is real fear that many of the missing are dead.
Mexico Beach looks like a tsunami moved through it.