City beach. They predicted this storm was going to be one for the books, and it already is. The strongest hurricane to hit the Florida Panhandle in reported history, and the strongest storm to hit the continental United States since hurricane andrew more than a quarter century ago. Marked by its devastating winds, the storm ripping off the roof of this hotel, honest lely, lik its a toy. But the fwragreatest danger to and the storm surge. Its always the water, huge walls of ocean water topping 14 feet in some areas and as bad as this is that were seeing here, the danger is far from over. Our reporters are spread out across the panhandle tonight to give you some perspective. I want to begin, though, with scott mclean in albany, georgia, where the hurricane is headed right now. Scott, what are you seeing there . Reporter hey, kate. Well, you can see the wind and the rain really starting to come down. Within the next hour, maybe hour and a half is with when were going to start to see really the peak of this, the worst conditions to come and perhaps an even more telling sign is actually right over there behind me that dark building in the distance, thats a waffle house and it is closed. It closed about an hour ago. If youve been through hurricanes before, you know that one of the most reliable places to stay open is the waffle house restaurant, so perhaps that is a sign of just how severe this storm is and how seriously they are taking it. Were talking about wind gusts 70, perhaps even 75 Miles Per Hour and sustained winds of 40, maybe 50 Miles Per Hour. That is important to note because i spoke to the fire chief earlier today and he says, look, First Responders, they will not be going out responding to calls once winds reach 35 Miles Per Hour sustained. That could be potentially a twohour window where if you call 911, nobody is going to come and respond. Of course we knew that this hurricane was going to hit and hit hard along the coastline but perhaps not as many people expected it to reach this far inland. The schools in this area and albany, they are closed today. They are expected to be closed tomorrow as well. But this area is not evacuated. Theres another one of those gusts coming up, kate. When i asked officials why this area was not evacuated, they said, look, you have to drive a very long way in order to get out of, really, the affected area, and so youd have to go quite far to really get out of harms way so its simply not practical in this case. The more Vulnerable People were asked to leave. For everybody else, though, they want them to stay inside of their homes. In this area, if you live in a mobile home or less sturdy structure, they want you to be staying with friends or going to one of the shelters that theyve set up. Theres a couple hundred shelters in a couple hundred people, excuse me, in those shelters. Officials are expecting those numbers to rise as the worst of this weather really starts to rip through this area, kate. Scott, i mean, i can just see its looking brutal where you are, and its really amazing to think that this started early today, heading through the panhandle and now just beginning to hit you and ive been watching you throughout the evening and its these bands are really starting to come your way. Can you describe where you are . I just want to make sure youre safe. Reporter yeah, so, were actually just outside of a hotel right now, because we want to keep the power as long as there is power in this area. Were just on the outskirts of albany, but that center of that tornado or that hurricane, excuse me, it is coming straight for this area, so thats why were seeing, really, those really strong gusts of wind, these really strong bands of rain. They are concerned about flash flooding in this area. They think that river flooding, perhaps, because its such a fastmoving storm may not be as big of a concern, but flash flooding certainly is, and so for the past couple of days, they have been providing sand, providing sandbags for people, theyre trying to protect their homes for whatever may come their way. One more thing to point out is that it is not just people that are going to be affected by this. It is an entire industry. This area is very big for agriculture. Were talking about pecans and cotton, peanuts, things like that and they are expecting multimillion dollars in losses from this hurricane, kate. Scott, thank you so much. Looks like its just about beginning for you. Well stick close to you. Thank you. I want to go from georgia now back down to florida where john berman is out front in panama city where there is catastrophic damage. Oh, man, john, i can see it right behind you. Youve been in it all day and this is whats left afterwards. Reporter yeah, kate, i almost cant believe were hearing scott mclean from albany, georgia, right now, when it doesnt feel that long ago that i was standing outside in 100plus Miles Per Hour winds. The winds here did reach over 100 Miles Per Hour sustained winds and gusts of 120 Miles Per Hour and we have had a chance to assess some of the damage nearby. This was a gas station. You can see the corrugated metal awning that was above here simply torn off, twisted about, metal everywhere, and strewn about is some of these pieces of debris that were really projectiles all during the storm and what made it so dangerous to be walking about. We also have a different view, i think its still light enough to show you, of some of the other damage in and around Panama City Beach. Down this street here, as we pan around, you can see some of these pine trees snapped in half. The power lines now down, these roads very difficult to navigate. Even still, i have to say, there are many, many people about now. A lot of people driving around, trying to check out the damage, maybe returning home, which is why on our phones, just a short time ago, kate, we got one of these alerts where your phone beeps like crazy and it said that a mandatory curfew is in place as of now in this county until 8 00 a. M. Tomorrow. Violators will be arrested. They dont want people out on the streets now and there simply are too many people going around looking at all this damage. Well, all you have to do is look behind you. With that coming down behind you, you know theres power lines down, you know theres i mean, there could be gas leaks. Theres i mean, it all theres the initial hit and then the aftermath. John, thank you so much. Well get back to you. Appreciate it. So some of the worst damage we are seeing so far is coming out of mexico beach, florida. Joining me now on the phone is Mexico Beach Council woman linda albrecht. Can you hear me . Yes, i can. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. You evacuated. You are safe. You followed the evacuation orders, but when you look at some of these pictures that were seeing of some of the worst destruction, really, that weve seen yet from Hurricane Michael, being in mexico beach, your hometown, what are you thinking . I am drained. The tears have been flowing all afternoon. It is its something that ive never been i couldnt even imagine how frustrating and debilitating it is. It feels like a nightmare. Somebody needs to come and shake you up and wake you up. And looking at the pictures, im thinking, theres not a house left in that town. Were only, like, three miles by two miles. I cant even imagine. I know somebody whos six blocks away from the gulf of mexico. Their house is under water. And i dont know about my house. Ive had people say im sorry about your house, but i havent had any specifics. I dont know if its under water. I dont know if its just torn to shreds or if a miracle happened and its half there. I dont know. Look, theres always the chance that theres a miracle but youre right across from the beach and what weve seen and heard from folks is it seems theres a good chance youre going to be looking at something pretty bad to return home to. Yeah. Im expecting the worst. I know you shouldnt be. I know you should be optimistic, but at this point, i am expecting the worst and i will be thrilled if i see any glimmer of hope. Have you had a chance and i know getting in touch with folks has been tough. Weve been trying to get in touch with our correspondents, its been hard sometimes because of Cell Phone Service has been down. Have you had a chance to check in with any friends or neighbors who stayed behind and see how theyre doing . I actually dont know. I dont know, personally, anybody who stayed behind. I do know some that were staying behind and left yesterday. About ten of them left this morning. So, i do not know of anybody. There is a couple that were trying to get ahold of and nobody has been able to locate them. Im hoping that they left. So, i dont know. Im just hoping and praying that when the police go around for search and rescue, that they will be able to rescue some of those people that have chosen not to follow their recommendation. Look, the scenes that are being described to us and some of the video that were seeing, were talking about roads that are completely impassable. Even as the initial danger has gone away. Do you have any sense, councilwoman, when youre going to be able to get back in to check on your home . Well, the police im hoping to go back tomorrow, because the police, once they finish search and rescue, they were going to notify the city administrator, and she was going to notify all the essential employees to come back to work. And since im on the council, i would be able to return with them. And so, my goal now, im six hours away, so my goal is to go tomorrow. My concern is i have to make sure that the roads between here and there are open so i can get there. And if i find that theyre not, then i wont be able to leave until friday. So, im hoping by friday afternoon, i will be there. Councilwoman, were you able to take important things with you when you had to leave . Probably pretty quickly to get out of harms way. Well, it was interesting, because michael just developed. You know, usually, you watch it coming across the atlantic from africa. This just developed south of the yucatan. It just developed. And friday, it was a storm. Saturday i thought, okay, its going to be a major storm. But nothing like a hurricane. But the boat captains shared, and they said, theres something going on here. There are a couple of boat captains i know what were very concerned about michael. And they said, i dont know what it is, but dont let it go. This is going to be major. And so, with that information, then i did start to go around the house and id say, okay, my husband passed away last november, and so id go into a room and id say, what here is a memory that i want to keep of him . Or of me or my parents or my children. And so i really just went room to room. Now, i left a whole lot of stuff i wish i would have taken, but i do have a lot of special memories, and i just didnt grab i really thought about each room, what do i want to take for a memory. What do i want to have in two months in my new home. You have those memories and im so sorry. Im so hoping for the best. I will check back in with you and see how things are when you get back in, but councilwoman, thank you so much for calling in. Truly, truly sorry for it all. Thank you, kate. Thank you. Thanks so much. Really shows the human toll on this whole thing. Lets go to alison in the cnn weather center. Alison, this storm, the video just says it all. It has been a beast already. What is it doing right now . Right now, the real focus now becomes a lot of these inland cities, as the storm continues to push in. We do know we just got a report in out of tallahassee. Weve got some 61mileperhour gusts and alabama, that southeastern portion, 60 Miles Per Hour and the storm is really passing through those locations heading further up into georgia and then further on from there. We have tornado watches in effect, in fact, about an hour ago, we had a Tornado Warning in the city of atlanta. Thats how far some of these outer bands are starting to stretch. So, keep in mind the center of the storm may still be far enough south, but a lot of these other cities now need to start paying very close attention. Macon, augusta, and atlanta as those outer bands begin to push in. Thats the direction its going to start to go. Its going to shift toward the north and east and eventually even toward charlotte and raleigh, north carolina, as well. Thats why you have those Tropical Storm warnings that extend up through to the carolinas as well. Alison, when is everyone going to be in the clear of this thing . Right, so, for a city, say, like panama city, really in about the next two to three hours, youre going to see the end of the storm as it moves further inland. But the storm as a whole, youre going to have to wait a couple more days. We really dont see this exit back out over open water until friday morning, so again, for a lot of these other locations, like georgia, north and south carolina, youre going to have to wait a little bit longer. Because of that, you still have the threat for tornados. You still have the threat for flooding because look at this map. Youve got widespread totals of four to six inches that could still fall and kate, even some isolated locations that could pick up even more rain than that, especially embedded within those stronger thunderstorms. All right, alison, thank you so much. Really appreciate the update. Outfront for us next, were going to go to Panama City Beach, one of the hardest hit towns on the panhandle. Plus, storm chaser goes inside the hurricanes eye wall, his dramatic images of this lifethreatening storm. Thats ahead. Plus, the deadliest force in a hurricane . The storm surge. Well show you why. The meeting of the executive finance committee is now in session. And. Adjourned. Business loans for eligible card members up to fifty thousand dollars, decided in as little as 60 seconds. The powerful backing of american express. Dont do business without it. burke seen it, covered it. We know a thing or two because weve seen a thing or two. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum dont you get the one of those travel sites . They tell you that, but when you book at hilton. Com, you get the price match guarantee. So if you find your room at a lower rate, hilton is like. Were gonna match that rate and give you an extra 25 off. 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Outfront with me now is republican congressman neil dunn in panama city that was part of his district. Congressman, can you hear me . Yes, i can, kate. Go ahead. Thank you so much for getting on the line. This storm was is so powerful. Have you heard of any injuries or fatalities from the storm so far . Certainly we have injuries. A large number of injuries, were concerned about rescue fatalities because of the nature of some of these injuries, frankly, there are some buildings that are collapsed so we havent had a chance to get into those buildings because the roads are still being cleared. Do you know if people are inside those buildings . Do you have information that folks are stuck inside . We assume. I assume there are some people trapped in buildings, but we dont know how bad that is yet. Weve still got to locate that and i will say, the worst bits of news is that insult to injury, we found out just a few minutes ago there was some early looting and the sheriff has said hes absolutely not going to tolerate any looting. This is a nice southern town. We dont do that staort of thin. So he put our entire county under curfew, beginning at 5 00 p. M. And were going to go until dawn, dusk to dawn until he says otherwise. Curfew in place now, thats an important thing that we get out to everybody in the county. So, can you tell me a little bit more that youre hearing about if folks are it broke up a little bit. If folks are caught in buildings right now. Well, we know the buildings are collapsed. We think they were Holding People because of the history and so were getting the crews down there but the roads are impassable at this point. Theres trees across every line and power lines across roads, so theres a huge amount of work to be done to get the kind of support and resources in the city to really start up and running a good search and rescue, which we will be doing tomorrow. Absolutely. And it did seem because the roads are so impassable that some of this information on injuries and fatalities, i hope not, might be slow to come out as you say. Folks might be caught in buildings right now. Have you been able to get out and survey any of the damage and to see how bad it is . So, only video. Ive stayed in the Emergency Operations in the county and its just the last few hours of seeing the counties north and east. W