Miguel, youre at whats being described as ground zero of this devastation. What are you seeing . It is ground zero. It is literally like a giant bomb went off, leveled this town, wiped it almost off the face of the earth. For 20 or 30 miles out, it is devastation. This was a light pole. It is shorn off completely, cleanly. This was part of a house that was probably down here. All the house in this area all around us, theyre scrubbed down to the foundation. This is what we see through town for the most part as we were going through town. All of that debris, that was a house that is now up against a house that is remaining. There are some apartment buildings, some condos that are in large piece, but for the most part, they are hugely damaged. The roof are off. There are boat in the street. Its a wreck. Its going to be a very long time and a very hard hill for mexico beach to climb. Ive heard from people from all over the place who know this place who love this little town and they cannot
Lifethreatening flash flooding. Nearly half a million north carolinaians are without power as a result of a storm, which has knocked out power to more than a Million People in six states so far. Our Brooke Baldwin joins us now. Walk us through, brooke, what you have been seeing. Reporter sure. So we were one of the very first crews to get on the ground and see whats rested to as ground zero, mexico beach with our own eyes. You know, roads as you were pointing out because of the powerful 150mileanhour winds, roads are impassable. Power lines are down. Trees were down so we were able to secure a helicopter really early this morning. I started here in destin. As we flew along what is known as floridas gorgeous emerald coast, we started watching the coastline deteriorate from destin to panama beach and as we landed, in looking at it all first hand, you can tell quickly that its virtually gone. From the air, its clear, much of mexico beach after this stretch of beach is destroyed, while mos
This was a light pole. It is shorn off completely, cleanly. This was part of a house that was probably down here. All the house in this area all around us, theyre scrubbed down to the foundation. This is what we see through town for the most part as we were going through town. All of that debris, that was a house that is now up against a house that is remaining. There are some apartment buildings, some condos that are in large piece, but for the most part, they are hugely damaged. The roof are off. There are boats in the street. Its a wreck. Its going to be a very long time and a very hard hill for mexico beach to climb. Ive heard from people from all over the place who know this place who love this little town and they cannot believe how badly it has been damaged. Miguel, ive got to ask you this because you have name of people who survived the hurricane and they want to get the message out to their family they are okay. Give us some names. A lot of people rode it out here. We are star
Youre in the situation room. Announcer this is cnn breaking news. Were following breaking news on the catastrophic damage from Hurricane Michael. Tonight the death toll from the storm is up to six and its expected to climb higher as rescue and recovery crews reach the hardest hit areas across the florida panhandle. Weve been getting shocking images of the destruction in mexico beach. It is being described as ground zero for this disaster. Michaels 155 mile per hour winds shredded entire neighborhoods, home after home after home. It flipped cars and trailers and up rooted trees. Nearly 1 million customers have lost power in florida and five other states pounded by this ferocious storm. Our correspondents, analysts and guests are standing by, including our team in the hurricane disaster zone. First, lets go to cnns erica hill in Panama City Beach for us in florida. Erica, its really difficult for emergency crews and journalists for that matter to reach some of the most devastated areas a
Bolduan in for erin burnett. Hurricane michael, one of the most powerful storms to hit the continent of the United States in decades roared across floridas panhandle in a matter of hours. In its wake, whole towns were destroyed, businesses wiped out, much of the panhandle a disaster area. Were looking at mexico beach. This really just amazing. It is now called ground zero for Hurricane Michael. The once thriving beach town now gone. Listen to one mans description of what happened as he was riding out the storm there. The water came in, hougses started floating in front of our home and stuff. We had furniture in our house that wasnt even our furniture. The surge had brought stuff in so bad. It was like the walls collapsed and everything, and so the only thing i could find of ours was my briefcase. Hurricane michaels death toll is rising. At least six people, including a child have been killed. And that number is expected to rise. Tonight, a search and rescue operations continue, this is