Dropped, making this one of the top three or four lowest pressures of a landfall hurricane in the United States, very serious situation. We are getting wind gusts of 10. Looking at six and a half feet already around apalachicola, water is going in, you can see a portion of this i wall making it a magnet on shore between panama city and mexico beach, very powerful situation with the winds. We are looking at Hurricane Force wind gusts and this rain bans away from the center and that could be incredibly dangerous. Very dangerous situation, if the eye wall makes it to land over the next hour or so. This is something we want to talk about, some people if you are in some of these areas as we travel northward could get some calm in the eye of the storm. Its very dangerous to go outside during that time, that calm doesnt last long and you still have the other side of the eye to get there and that could cause a lot of problems. Be very careful about that. Take a look at the forecast with time, catastrophic wind damage, trees down, Power Outages for weeks, structures collapsing, roofs off with this wind. We have to look a little further inland. We can still see a hurricane traveling further north into georgia, Tropical Storm after the carolinas as we have a Tropical Storm warning for the flow around the system bringing some of those wins. Even inland you can see some of these trees down in the impacts. We talked about the wind and the danger, we also have heavy rain associated with the hurricane, 610 inches of rain, right around the area of the landfall stretching into portions of alabama and georgia. Look how far, you can start seeing the 46 inches of rain at a time and with those wins, that can knock down more power lines, knock down some trees, because some issues in those areas as well. Deadly storm surge. Weve been talking about that for days and are already starting to get reports of a storm surge coming in and thats the lees leading cause of fatalities in these tropical systems. 914 feet is the inundation forecast in this situation and then we are looking at Tyndall Air Force base, thats an incredible amount of storm surge, think of that above the ground, the waves. You can get waves on top of those values as well. Traveling down the coast, 69 feet all the way into the tampa metro area, very dangerous situation and weve been talking about not just an issue on the immediate coast, the water could go right over those Barrier Islands and force their way into the bays and the rivers. Some of these areas can see a storm surge well inland. Think about it, you could be ten, 20 miles inland and still see the impact, not only the wind in the rain but the storm surge as well. We will be watching the storm, extremely dangerous hurricane here from the National Hurricane center. Shepard thanks very much, thats the 1 00 eastern news update for the National Hurricane center. The storm has gotten stronger. The central pressure has dropped, this is a low pressure center. The lower pressure the heavier the winds and the stronger the storm, down to 119. That would make this the third lowest pressure on landfall if it holds for an hour in United States history end by far, nothing comparable, the strongest storm to hit the gulf coast since the 1850s. Remember, the storm that hit just over here, storm katrina came ashore as as a category 2. This is a category 4, very close to a category 5. We have another update, live local radar, we talked about mexico beach earlier, looks like mexico beach will on be on the righthand side of the storm, horrible winds, extreme storm surge all the way down, the worst has not yet come for apalachicola bay up to Port Saint Joe, up tyndall parkway and Tyndall Air Force base. This is Tyndall Air Force base right here, the eye of the storm and its moving there. Tyndall air force base is about to hit the take a direct hit. In addition to that, somewhere in panama city is going to get clipped by the western edge of the eye wall. The blue in the center there is the worst of the wind into range, 150mileanhour sustained wind, plus extreme drg rain. Hurricane force winds extending, all of this red is extreme rain, back over toward the back beach road, front beach road, middle beach road, halfway up the 27 miles of Panama City Beach. Most of that 27mile stretch all the way up to the south county, seaside, cedar grove, and all of that. Coming from the short of the land, their beaches will go for miles in some areas because its so shallow they are back to the right the water will inundate Port Saint Joe, all this area around apalachicola and eventually make its way this is your storm, oh Hurricane Force wind is coming to your town in a matter of hours. Hunker down now. Rick leventhal is on Panama City Beach, the eastern end of Panama City Beach right before you get to town, the western side of the eye may clip you, how is it now . Its actually not as bad as it was about 2 minutes ago, i expect its going to get worse again. We just heard from bay county officials and they say it is no longer safe to travel in the time to evacuate his past, i believe that the media vehicle, the county Officials Say the time to evacuate his past and people need to shelter in place, Highway Patrol has closed the bridge is because the wind speeds are too high. Basically if you are home and you need to shelter, and you need to call 911 there is no guarantee someone can come rescue you, thats a decision that can be made on the ground but they can affect rescues, they are warning people not to expect it to happen. We were watching this, i was in charleston for hugo back in 1989 and we saw a forest of trees like the snapped in half by the force of the wins. If we get that, you can expect a lot of these trees will wind up down. Theyve been bending pretty significantly and received a lot of stuff flying around including these metal signs. Weve got a lot of debris flying now as the winds pick up, we can give you a look over this way. The lights flash traffic lights, theyve been working on and off. You know, we are getting some pretty significant gusts and we dont know how much of this stuff will survive since as you said this part of the gulf coast has never had a cat 4. We dont know how many of these buildings are ready how many will survive whatever winds we wind up getting. Ive seen some transformers flashing in the distance, weve got one over us, we are probably going to move back to a slightly safer position in a couple minutes. Shepard if you keep your video up im going to tell people, rick is just to the west of where it looks like this eye is going to come ashore, they could get category 2 force winds but the city of panama city itself will get worse. This is a live local radar, this is the eye wall, it will hit somewhere along tyndall parkway and Tyndall Air Force base, thats a beach area. Panama city beach, panama city is actually inland so by the time this eye wall goes across Tyndall Air Force base, comes up to parker and hits panama city, hitting panama city city proper is another two and a half hours away. We know the story is moving, the eye of the storm is moving at a forward speed of about 14 miles an hour so its going to take that long, the distance between here and there is more than 15 miles. It will make landfall somewhere around Tyndall Air Force base and continuing this general direction, the eastern side of panama city, all the way up into youngstown, brought a branch and the rest of this area of northwest florida, a category 4 is on its way. We dont think that i will hit him but its going to be rough. I think we missed it this time, we had our camera going back into the protection there, ill tell you. You lose the camera, you lose the tv. I dont think we will get its remarkable thus far. Weve seen remarkably little damage, we will probably get a cat 2 force wind at worst, that can still do a fair amount of damage but at this point, i guess those winds are not all, at this point i havent seen any major, these buildings are built to withstand this. This is 25 stories tall, as you know weve got a room up there on the 23rd floor, what you are seeing is amplified as you go higher. We are getting it and were not going to get the very worst of it. As you can perhaps tell, its actually quite a show. Shepard it certainly is, really quickly back to the map, when the storm comes forward, heres Panama City Beach year, the eye is moving here. They will get winds out of the north end when the storm moves up they will get winds out of the west. So eventually you will have water coming at you from the west, jeff. Id say three hours from now. What did you say, how many hours . Shepard water from the west in three hours. Water from the north now. Its not blowing potential debris at us although there has been damage, the door blew off of the hotel. Nothing catastrophic. Police still on the street, they have not pulled it in. Shepard hang tough, i will come right back to you. Lets make a big enough so they can see it, i wont stay on it for long but its important. Real quick, heres the area, heres panama city. Here is the city itself, the Barrier Island, heres Panama City Beach. Coming right here, this is Panama City Beach right here. Maybe you will get category 2 weather but east bay is going to flood, parker, callaway, panama city, you are getting a direct hit on the east side in the next couple of hour hours. Live in destin florida, to the west of here. Six airports shut down, 50,000 people without power, that number is going to grow by a large amount. We are just entering what is expected to be the worst couple the rain and wind coupled with the storm surge we will be seen, hopefully not too bad here but further across the panhandle, those are the biggest dangers they are telling people that they just had to write out and wait until this evening before they can even begin to think about doing an assessment. Shepard that reporter as far west of the center of circulation, they will be getting winds out of the north, Tropical Storm force winds for sure, a lot of rain and some of the bayous there, destin east pass for those familiar, the worlds luckiest fishing villages where he is. You may see destin east pass mdl because the winds will be so strong that of the north, pushing into the gulf of mexico with a counterclockwise flow. East pass, the grand value their over in fort walton beach, all along the island there. All the water, i imagine is the beach is going on as far as you can see because the water will move out to shore. Now east of the storm itself where the worst of the storm surge is going to be. Apalachicola bay, who is standing by . Phil keating to you. This is looking west from our hotel, the wind speed has gotten too bad to look up although you can pan around and see what it looks like. The wideout of wind and rain, these are some strong winds, the trees are all getting whipped around, rooftops, debris flying, just look outside. Its like a snowstorm, this is flying rain hurting your skin when it hits. Shepard breaking news now on Fox News Channel, this storm has just made landfall. Its made landfall about tyndall parkway and davis beach, the front of the eye of the storm and right now along this tiny stretch of land just west of davis beach, they are in the eye wall. We can report it because this is live weather radar that is perfectly specific and we now know the landfall has been made just west of davis beach along tyndall are highly highway 30,t now here are the very worst of the storm, whenever you have a storm like this, the upper right quadrant, thats the worst. Every single time and thats where the worst is. Davis beach, mexico beach just got it, tyndall parkway, farmingdale, arlington, by point and all of east bay, this eye is about to come over and weve said it looks like panama city is going to get clipped by this and it now appears we were right, parker and calloway, the western side of the eye of the storm appear to be headed right for you, the eastern side all the way over, highway 22. We have not yet gotten the alert from the National Hurricane center but the radar does not lie, the storm has made landfall and the next hour is going to be crucial for people going down to mexico beach, Port Saint Joe, hundreds of miles in all directions. Its very well north of you and you should start getting winds out of the west and apalachicola, very soon if not already. Because of the geography of the big band, the river on the east, the big band gulf of mexico on the west, the winds are coming up, as the hurricane approached going north, we are going to get the bottom side of the storm, that rotation from the west, that could cause a storm surge over there. Thats right across u. S. 98. Thats the only way out of here to the west side, thats closed. The rain, im telling you, its hurting. There may haves and sheriffs are telling everybody by order, stay indoors, shelter and all day. This is why. Its way too dangerous to be outside. If we did not have the shelter of the hotel it would be lifethreatening. Thats a real fact. Look at the trees, the rain is really picked up. This is a serious band of hurricane, its picked up steam over the last three or four hours. It comes and goes, curfew and effect all across the panhandle tonight, they certainly would be concerned about looting as is always the case after a hurricane but simply they dont want anyone going outside until the all clear is given by the sheriffs deputy, Law Enforcement and emergency managers. Maybe this evening the rain really kind of wanes and the wind starts going away as it speeds up through florida, georgia, and the carolinas. By category 1 just two years ago, there was no threat of storm surge like this area of apalachicola is getting, there were still trees down all over the roadways, power lines were down, very difficult to drive and get out and go places. Thats what everyone is anticipating again, not to mention the widespread Power Outages. We lost power right around 11 30 this morning, after its fluctuated all day long. I can only imagine much of apalachicola has no power. The street light poles are still up, the only thing weve seen go down i things like dumpsters, from the storm surge most likel likely. Shepard the storm is moving north and east and it is to your northwest so we with eh minute that passes, the eye of storm is getting further away from you. The worst of the winds, unless theres a crazy guster tornado, the worst of the winds should be now and 5 minutes ago. Yeah, i certainly hope so. I cant even stand in the same spot i was for the past two hours, you cant stand up, its that windy for me and my photographer. This is the shot youre going to get from the balcony for the most part. It is whipping. See if i can get over here to take a look. Its hard to stand up during times like that. It is blowing out there. There goes the screen from behind me. Thats great. Thats the concern, flying debris. It is just ferocious outside. This is a bad hurricane. Shepard i would say. Though eye, the center of the circulation is about 60 miles north and west of you now and really quick and the next 10 minutes, though winds are going to switch to a westerly area and those trees blowing in one direction or going to shift and thats a problem time. Absolutely, a lot of people on the western side, they have had it maybe not as bad as apalachicola, just east of it, st. George island, st. Vincent island to the south, these areas have been getting pummeled, really started getting bad around periodically 10 00 a. M. , by 11 30 it was really starting to get intense and this is definitely some of the worst winds ive seen throughout the day of this hurricane, this historic category 4. Shepard the eye wall has made landfall around north of davis beach on a tiny sliver of u. S. Highway 98, the beach road that runs all along the Florida Panhandle on a tiny sliver there and will be for the better part of the next 40 minutes or so, but it is not a time to go outside. The National Hurricane center considers landfall when the center of circulation crosses over a land mass. Whether it be an island during hurricane katrina, in louisiana, whether it was hurricane camille in the early 1960s in south mississippi when it hit the tip there. Whenever the center of circulation crosses the land, thats official landfall but make no mistake, the beginning i wall has made landfall in the Florida Panhandle east of Panama City Beach, east to panama city right along highway 98, just around davis beach, to the north of mexico beach, its about to get the eye wall itself. The eye wall this moment, the eastern edge of the eyeball is hitting davis beach right now. Getting winds at 145, 150 miles an hour sustained with gusts higher. Alligator point florida, whats it like there. How are you . The north side, its that storm surge weve been talking about, weve got here, the water is upwards towards the bridge, every county bridge, is closed right now. Emergency, police, everybody else has left. Here on the north side of the bay, Alligator Point where we were. 30 miles, 40 miles east of apalachicola. It goes all the way, cedar bay, as you know, the golf is shallo shallow. 30 miles. Very shallow and the problem with that it brings the water in the surge. All that water has to go somewhere. Areas like tallahassee, anyone down here, it becomes too much to bear. You are not even going to be able to make the front door, the other side of the bay, there getting covered from the bridge, its flooded several feet already. [inaudible] shepard this is Panama City Beach, listen. All this debris from on top of the building, on top the neighborhood behind us towards the golf. You certainly dont want to be in the way of any of that debris. And we are not, just so you know, we are in a secure area, we are blocked from all of that. Thats good for us. Shepard this is on the west side of the storm. The wind coming out of the north, the water blowing from the land to have the cd. The debris from the land is towards the beach, the local Nbc Television station where i worked 30 years ago has now lost its roof on Panama City Beach, they are on the dry side of the storm and yet they are taking pounding, listen. We dont want to panic anyone who might have friends or family here in panama city, we just dont know but its about half a block away, we noticed yesterday, some folks had boarded up some of those homes. Thats good news. Those folks wouldve left, this is a mandatory evacuation area. Just how hard wind is blowing, look at that. If youre just now joining us i should interrupt and remind viewers, you are looking at a live picture of the very strong category 4 Hurricane Michael coming ashore out of panama city. This wind is incredible, the debris could kill you and we show you to show you the strength of the storm and the damage. Shepard specifics of where these people are, not because it matters, shes on Panama City Beach, about 10 miles west of the eye of the storm. A minute ago with griff jenkins, 80 miles east of the center of circulation. Thats how serious this is. I want to zoom in here and take this for just a moment, i know we hate doing that but i want to take this map full because heres what just happened. Ei has come ashore. The center is where they consider its made landfall. In about 15 or 20 minutes, the National Hurricane center will confirm what we can see, the eye wall is upon us, where its moving . The eastern side of panama city, this left side of the eye wall is about to hit you, east bay and its moving inland. It will still be hurricane, right along the way, theres the dead lakes there, all of this will overflow. Extreme water is coming in the storm has come ashore as a massive category 4. Lets go back, whos available . Is phil keating still there . The winds should be shifting. So far, let me check. They should be coming a little more from the southwest but the river, weve got to see the river. Its heading up stream, being blown by the storm surge and the hurricane winds. It is just dramatic out there, that is the apalachicola river, you see an island on the other side of that, the east bay which is a pretty large body of water, then you had the florida coastline again. The one upside of where this hurricane is striking and where all of this 913 feet of anticipated storm surges coming its its a very little populated area, theres a lot of trees, Apalachicola National forest, it few people comparatively to the rest of the state along the southern and western coastline that live there. Fewer people will be impacted by the storm surge and these winds but for them it doesnt matter. Its got to be terrible, the stop sign and the water, stop sign itself almost a foot and a half away from getting to the red of the stop sign but all these utility poles are Still Standing which is impressive, a positive thing here. This is water street, asphalt paved street takes you north and south here on the eastern side of apalachicola, its a complete river right now, storm surge and flood waters. A mix of fresh water from the river, mostly salt water from the gulf of mexico. The wind is coming very well and it does appear to have shifted now, it doesnt happen superfas superfast. Youve got to watch and catch it every 5 minutes. But yeah, it we narrowly escapd some flying debris. I am you can really see right to left on your screen, the way its shifted, coming to the east now, the bottom of the hurricane now affects this area. Shepard one place its hitting is Port Saint Joe. Remember, theres a counterclockwise circulation and the worst of it all, the worst of the storm surge going into Port Saint Joe florida right now. Its a small, coastal community, fishing community, right along the st. Josephs bay, theres a Barrier Island where there was, we will find out what remains of it. The mayor of Port Saint Joe, official landfall on the storm after a quick commercial break on Fox News Channel. Coaching means making tough choices. Jim youre in but when you have high Blood Pressure and need Cold Medicine that works fast, the choice is simple. Coricidin hbp is the 1 brand that gives powerful cold symptom relief without raising your Blood Pressure. Coricidin hbp. Why didnat hilton. Com,r Family Vacation on a travel site . I get the price match guarantee. And i can choose from their 14 Different Hotel brands, so i get the right hotel for every member of my family. Like a doubletree for my cousins who love their warm chocolate chip cookies. A homewood suites for my uncle who likes a long stay. A hampton for my sister and her kids. Thats a lot of syrup. And the waldorf astoria Beverly Hills for me. But i thought your Family Vacation was in miami . It is. I hear theyre having a great time. Book at hilton. Com and get the hilton price match guarantee. If you find a lower rate, we match it and give you 25 off that stay. Shepard the eye of the storm has made landfall in parts of northwest florida. U. S. Highway 98, leading edge of the eye wall, informed dale and along Tyndall Air Force base, you are in the eye of the storm. Calloway and parker florida, its about to get the western eye wall. The National Hurricane center looks to me, that the center of circulation will cross in less than a minute. We are just talking about it on commercial break, it looks like landfall just northwest of mexico beach. Thats between Tyndall Air Force base and mexico beach. Thats with the landfall. Spew on our radar, the local radar is showing Copious Amounts of rain over panama city proper, panama city is just getting beaten up. The rainfall is just incredible, these tropical rains are interesting because they also handed me the latest observation, incredible winds, incredible rainfall. Intense rain but we are also seeing this, a lot of times you are starting to have landfall and see it we can a little bit with time. Hurricane force winds well away from the center. Shepard i know were losing you, you have to move on. We will watch for the alerts in the hurricane center. Full on this map if we could because the exact coordinates of this thing, absolutely matter. Whats next, this is parker, bay harbor, callaway, cedar grove, and panama city as well. Lets back it out just a little bit, this down here is Port Saint Joe, the eye has come and passed that area, now extreme westerly winds are coming in out of the southwest. An enormous amount of water, see this right here . The st. Josephs state peninsula park, this is a Barrier Island that protects Port Saint Joe. Lets go to the mayor there there, what is it l theres so much rain, so much wind. Weve got downed trees, im in my house in the center of town, trees down on the side of it, trees on top of my house, those trampolines, we will just hunker down and pray that all of our residents that didnt get out are going to be safe. Shepard any idea how many people stayed behind . I would say 2500 people left. Shepard we are expecting a storm surge there of 1213 feet and for that storm surge to go right over your Barrier Island out there. The saint joe peninsula, and come right into town. A storm surge of 12 feet in the city proper with within the net couple of hours. Would that put your house underwater, mr. Mayor . Not at present time. It may be before the day is ove over. Shepard there is breaking news now on Fox News Channel. The hurricane has just officially made landfall north and west of mexico beach between Tyndall Air Force base and mexico beach. That means the center of circulation crossed over the land within the last 23 minutes. And it did so with maximum sustained winds, 155 miles per hour. In 30 years of covering hurricanes firsthand and on the ground, ive never experienced storm that when it actually made landfall, the eye of the winds of 155 miles an hour. Unheard of and unprecedented in northwest florida, not in recorded history has there been anything like that and when you consider that well to the west of the eye wall, well to the west, dozens of miles west on Panama City Beach, they reported wind gusts of 129 miles an hour. We can expect wind gusts to reit 165, 170 miles an hour. Along Tyndall Air Force base in england, the towns of windhaven, parker, callaway, as far west as springfield, we have no reporters in the city of panama city proper, population 37,000. The storm itself is coming right over it. Just west of that city is where Rick Leventhal is, you should be getting pounded right now. Yeah, we are. Theres a lot of stuff lying around so im trying to protect myself. This is a piece of i believe the siding. If you look past me in the parking lot you can see a bunch of chunks of this stuff, its pretty heavy and it would hurt if it hit you, trust me. You can see the wind swirling out here, its definitely gusting pretty strongly. Palm trees seemed to be holding up pretty well, we were showing you the pine trees across the street. The visibility has increased pretty dramatically, watching these big suvs in the parking lot, seeing it bounced around by these gusts of wind, pretty remarkable. I told you last hour, the officials here have told people you have to shelter, the time to evacuate his past, its no longer safe for First Responders to go out on this so if someone is having an issue or has some sort of accident, they will not be able to get rescued and thats why county officials were so determined to get people to evacuate, 120,000 people in this county alone to head for Higher Ground and they said only about half of them observed that. We dont know how many of those people might be in trouble or might get in trouble and how long it might take for help to get to them. Eres some significt structures around us, we dont know if they will survive the storm because they havent seen anything like this in this part of the world ever. Shepard your winds are coming out of the northwest now and as you well know in about an hour they are going to shift and come out of the west end of the southwest and thats going to mean the trees were blowing one way them blew the other and thats when they become projectiles. The structures being weakened on one side get smacked on the other and that can deteriorate them and force them to fall and one of the things, as you well know in the storm, the noises you hear because you dont know what that crashes, that breaking the sound if its something over your head or something about to fly at you and we are hearing a lot of noises out here and its pretty brutal. Shepard indeed it is. I want to look at this map full again because this is an extraordinary thing to see here. Full screen off the map, i will manipulate it. Take that full, there you go. I am going to zoom in in real time and you can see the eye of the storm, how it is right over Tyndall Air Force base. Reaching east bay in parker, parker florida, the western eye wall is going to cross over you. East bay, callaway florida, you are about to be hit. The eastern side of panama city proper as weve been saying for the last 30 minutes will get this eyeball in the next 30 minutes. This is near mexico beach and the heart of it all, lets listen live. A strong cap 4 with winds up to 150 miles an hour, again, this whole area will experience some devastation, high winds and rainfall, possible tornadoes in all of this business. This is bad news from northern florida, as it moves inland it will affect georgia and north and South Carolina which officials are on alert as well. The president of the United States was briefed by fema and the white house, expect some Power Outages for quite some time. Lets go a little northeast, experiencing a little bit of this. Shepard destin as well to the west of the center of the storm but theyre still getting a lot of weather. All the way up to birmingham, alabama, it will begin raining in atlanta within the next couple of hours. And everything in between, montgomery, columbus, albany, just pouring rain and all of those areas and on the backside of the storm and Panama City Beach, wind gusts well over 100 miles an hour. If Rick Leventhal is available lets get straight to him. It appears that the area where you are is going to be sustained winds for quite some time. Youre looking at the parking lot outside of our hotel where you can see the winds swirling and picking up debris, its definitely gotten worse. I have been in 100mileanhour winds, im not sure we are there yet. It pushes you around but i think my wind gauge isnt that accurate. Shepard you are on Panama City Beach, im talking about panama city a good 10 miles east of you. You should be in Tropical Storm force winds where you are. Still doing some damage out here, obviously we are in a bit of a lull. The big difference between this storm in florences florence had so much rain associated with it and it was moving so slowly. This one is barreling through here and its not going to dump as much water. Thats good news for the panhandle but with the winds predicted, winds they havent seen before, there could be significant damages. On the other corner, i watched a sign get blown out and another sign looked like it was about to come down, we saw some trees come down over there, that was about an hour and a half ago before things got progressively worse. They are going to be in for it here. Shepard they certainly are, the center of circulation is now well over Tyndall Air Force base, theyve been in the eye of the storm for the past 15 minutes or so. Right where it made landfall, theres almost no residential housing. The entire 15mile stretch, certainly there is simon davis beach, some down in mexico beach but not enormous population areas. If you live where the storm has just made landfall, this is a worstcase scenario but if you look at the northwest florida coast, destin, fort long beach, all the rest, see grove beach and continue to move to the east, Panama City Beach, all that area will get heavy winds and heavy rains, there will be some destruction, the worst of it all is over Tyndall Air Force base and if anybody knows the military, you know theyre ready for this. Thats where the storm crossed, but whats next is callaway and parker, they will get the western eye wall just beating those towns, parker and callaway, Eastern Suburbs of panama city, grown into one city, panama city, parker, callaway, cedar grove, east bay. On the way north to bayou george and we believe it will take a turn to the right. If you are in the city of tallahassee, where i happen to have some friends who have hunkered down with their wives and children in their homes in a very low lying area, you are about to get Copious Amounts of rain in tallahassee. You can expect Power Outages, extreme wind gust. Not Hurricane Force winds in tallahassee. More serious problems, and as we move on in, donaldsonville, get up into the state of georgia, blakely and camilla george, all the way up to albany. This will be your storm later in the day, no time to relax at this point, the eye wall of the storm is maintaining very good strength as its moving ashore as we all know once it moves off the water and onto land it is that warm gulf of mexico water which made this thing explode into a historic hurricane. But now that its over the land it will begin to diminish in strength but make no mistake, this will be a hurricane for hours on end before it loses its strength from all that moisture and all that heat. By the time it reaches the bills in alabama, marianna florida, camilla georgia, by the time it gets there it is still potentially hurricane strength with lots and lots of rain, theres much more ahead for everyone in that area. Wsb and is in commercial break, our best camera appears to be Rick Leventhal. The reason we can get to you, the reason your signal is Still Available is because you are still to the west of this storm. Weve been getting some pretty significant gusts in the swirling wind, as phil was saying earlier, it hurts when the rain hits you, it definitely hurts. We have cell service in this part of Panama City Beach. A lot of signs down but thats really that. We have limited vantage points, we are not going to venture out into this until the worst of it is over but so far it looks like minor stuff. There could be a major step ahead. Shepard it appears that there will be, it looks like heavy rains will continue at least for the next couple of hours. Thats great, im already soaked, i cant get any wetter. Shepard what do you know about the number of people, in town and across bay county, that stayed behind . What we heard from bay county officials was that they strongly encouraged everyone in the lowlying areas to get out, about 120,000 people were under the mandatory Evacuation Order and i talked to a guy yesterday who was really frustrated, using language i cant put on tv telling me that these people were not heeding the warnings and werent getting out and he was upset about it because he knew that once things got bad and people started calling 911 theyd be hardpressed to rescue them. They are not heading out, its not safe to be out, its too late to evacuate, people need to shelter in place. That number, 50 is not very good. If you want people to leave because they are in danger, their lives are in danger and only half of them do, that puts half the population in danger. Theyre pretty nervous about how many people might still be in harms way. We were on the gulf coast, we were on the beach, trying to find a suitable location to go live from and every single hotel closed and made everyone leave, respected the mandatory Evacuation Order. One hotel that was going to let us stay there at the very last minute, we just cant do it. They really were on the beach getting people off the gulf coast, getting them to move further inland. There are some people still there and they may be at risk tonight. Shepard this is live from panama city proper and you can see they are having some problems. The locals refer to it affectionately, the locals do as the redneck riviera, lived there for years and absolutely love it there. It has been spared, complete disaster by 12 miles. This storm jogged to the right in the last few hours, jogged to the right by ten, 12, 15 miles and as a result Panama City Beach is not destroyed at this moment. By the luck of 1215 miles, Panama City Beach was spared but where Panama City Beach was spared, Something Else is being hit. The entire eye wall has now crossed overland at Tyndall Air Force base and the eye of the storm took the slightest of jogs to the east. The western side is hitting the small town of parker and callaway but only the western tip. I dont think parker and callaway will experience the eye. They are going to get hit by the western eye wall and be in the lower quadrant and thats the same for all of panama city proper. The west side of this storm is hitting panama city violently. We will not know the extent of the damage from the winds. But in the city of panama city, whatever the damages, its going to be wind or tornadoes, not rain, because its on the western side of the eye wall. The big water problems are going to be to the east. Which means mexico beach and Port Saint Joe, all of apalachicola bay. When you move around the big bend of florida, serious coastal erosion with enormous amounts of seawater coming in, 1012foot storm surge above high tide, talking about apalachicola, eastpoint, st. George sound, high bluff, over to st. James island. A small town, live oak island. All areas you probably never heard of in the big bend of florida, they call it the armpit of florida because thats what it looks like. Its not heavily populated, it is a wonderful Rural Community sort of place. Folks live simple and in many cases they live off the water. What happens in apalachicola bay is the sea is the driving economy for the whole region. How the oyster beds will survive this day remains to be seen, they could be shut down for years to come. We can only hope at this point but the eye of the storm is now completely overland. I should say its over east bay, which is an enormous body of water now filled with brackish water to the east and south of panama city. The hurricane itself, the wall, the eye wall of florida is crossing over highway 2. A small town of about 2,000 getting hit pretty badly right now. The front end of the storm headed directly for youngstown and eventually shipley and marianna, larger towns off of interstate 10. This storm is going to cross over interstate 10. From the looks of things on the map, then it will hit georgia, mariana, shipley. Thats the direction of this storm. Atlanta, youre about to get rains from this thing. Macon, georgias getting them now. Augustas getting them now. Just areas all over georgia feeling the effects of this storm. Its raining from this hurricane in cape coral on the southwest florida coast and in ft. Meyers, tampa, up to clear water. All getting rain. Live oak, gainesville, ocala, thomasville, in douglas georgia. The entire region experiencing rains from this massive hurricane that made landfall right about kendall air force base north and west of mexico beach sometime in the last hour. Whats happening now is the eastern edge of panama city, the city itself, not the beaches, but the city itself, is getting pounded. They expect extreme winds, high water, especially east of the storm. Sustained winds close to 130, 140 miles an hour within the city of panama city itself. Along Panama City Beach, that 27mile stretch, there will be damage. There will be Power Outages. But largely, the worst of this storm has missed Panama City Beach. Unfortunately, its been given to the air force base and people in apalachicola. The central pressure of this storm has dropped to 919 millibars making it an extremely powerful storm. If theres good news, it did not hit a great population center. At least upon landfall. The bad news is its still on the move as a hurricane and moving inland. Areas of georgia, northwest florida, even northeast florida, can expect Copious Amounts of rain in the hours ahead. Coverage continues now on fox news. Its 2 p. M. On the east coast, 11 00 a. M. On the west coast and 1 p. M. Where Hurricane Michael has just struck along the Florida Panhandle. Im Shepard Smith in new york on Fox Television stations across the nation and on the Fox News Channel on satellite and cable. 155 mile an hour maximum sustained winds make this the strongest storm ever to hit the panhandle. Lets go to the National Hurricane center for a live update. Welcome back to the National Hurricane center. On the official clock here at the hurricane center, 2 p. M. Eastern, that means 1 p. M. Central