Continental United States since hurricane andrew more than 25 years ago. Winds approaching category 5 intensity. Homes and buildings simply torn to pieces. The video youre about to see was taken in Panama City Beach, florida. Were playing an extended clip so you can really see what people there went through late today and get a better idea of the devastation theyll be dealing with when the sun comes up tomorrow. Take a look. Holy hell. Those scenes were repeated across the panhandle. Forecasters predicted that wind would be punishing and it certainly was that. Local officials warned of heavy flooding and they were right. Trees and power lines are down throughout the region. Nearly 400,000 floridians are without power. Destruction in places is especially heavy. Tyndall air force base, across the bay from panama city, took a direct hit. The base is reporting extensive damage. No injuries, thankfully, or loss of life. Some of the worst damage appears to have been in mexico beach, florida.
solid surface. and we re near the exit of the crawl space, so we could get out if we wanted to very quickly. right. well, i m so sorry about the oak trees. i know, you know, it s such when you love trees like that, it s just awful to see, but loretta and martin, i m glad you both are safe. and martin, again, kudos for the vacuuming and the blankets and whatever alcohol you brought down as well. i wish you both the best. hope you re able to come out quickly. thank you so much. appreciate it. thank you very much. you take care. joining us, a busy man, andrew gillum, mayor of tallahassee. mayor, we talked to two of your constituents in a crawl space. what are your biggest concerns for everyone in the city of tallahassee tonight? well, thank you, anderson, and wishing well wishes to both loretta and martin. right now, obviously, our hearts and minds are going out to those on the coast who we watched all
they re safe, thankfully. they join us now. loretta, martin, thank you for being with us. at what point during the storm did you move down to the crawl space and what made you seek shelter there? we had decided to stay in our home. we had talked about our plan of action. my husband suggested this idea, and i thought he was crazy. i m afraid of certain bugs and i assumed they would be under my house and he came actually down here and vacuumed it and cleaned it and laid down blankets and made it very inviting and when the storm got really going and limbs, large limbs, were falling, it became a very inviting space to be. first of all so all credit to him. you have the nicest husband who would vacuum underneath the crawl space. i can t even imagine. i know. crawl spaces are not very fun to hang out in. that was very nice of him to do. what was it like riding part of the storm out down there? i imagine people would think,
the eyewall coming through right now making landfall in mexico beach. that s about 45 minutes from where we are. we re told the winds are 155 miles an hour. 157 miles an hour is what would make it the most powerful category storm. a category 5. so right now, you are looking at the strongest, most powerful category 4 hurricane to exist. and this is one for the history books. this is going to be a record breaker. and unfortunately, we are so very concerned for those in the path. local reporter witnessing, sadly, a hurricane that now lives in the record books. in tallahassee, loretta denes and her husband, martin kendall reid, rode out hurricane michael in a crawl space under their home.