right now at noon tracking Michael this
powerful category 4 hurricane set to
make landfall very soon in the Florida
Panhandle the area already feeling the
effects with rain coming down in huge
waves pounding the shore we want to show
you now some live pictures this is going
to be from Panama City Beach I believe
and you can see that the waves are
really starting to crash there it is a
monster storm and we do have team
coverage for you here at noon on Michael
with local 10 News reporter Alex Finney
as well as local 10 News reporter Tyrell
Forte they're both reporting from the
Panhandle and weather authority
meteorologist Luke Dorris as well as
Brandon Orr they're both here tracking
the hurricane in the weather center but
we're gonna start things off with Tyrell
he is live right now in Apalachicola and
boy it already looks like the weather is
deteriorating Tyrell and things are
getting bad here in Apalachicola and
they are getting bad fast
take a look behind me over there what
you see on the other side of those
pilings is the Apalachicola River those
pilings are supposed to be where the
water line stops but as you can tell the
water has long since spilled the banks
you can also see those benches where
people are supposed to be sitting
because this is a bench on a normal day
I'm sorry a park on a normal day that is
certainly not the case today the water
is rising and it is rising fast the
street that we are standing on and
completely covered in water when we got
here about two 45 minutes or so you can
still walk about half of the street but
that is certainly not the case right now
but a little more into town we got some
video that we want to show you because
it shows you just how much wind and how
big these waves are this is on highway
98 and Apalachicola it is a road that
runs very close to the water line but
those winds and those waves kicking up
very very high in fact just yesterday we
were doing some live shots pretty close
to the water line we were able to
actually walk on to appear if we wanted
to and that is certainly not the
today the water is very close to
breaching the road in this next piece of
video I understand that there is some
flooding in the area as well
besides the area that we're in right now
there are some places in Apalachicola
and the surrounding communities that are
now under water because of this so a lot
of these businesses that sit pretty
close to the water they have been
sandbagged they have the boards up on
the windows things of that nature in
this next piece of video it is also
weather related as well it just kind of
paints the picture and how big the storm
is and how dangerous this storm is as
well we're looking at a category 4 storm
and the National Weather Service they
have issued their first ever extreme
wind warning just because of the
monstrous effect that this storm is
supposed to take here along the Florida
Panhandle but out here now live to these
pictures again this water rising very
very quickly here in Apalachicola so we
haven't seen many people out and about
and for good reason because emergency
managers they want people who live in
this community who decided to remain to
seek shelter although we have seeing the
Sheriff's Office they have been out and
about making patrols making sure that
there are no problems with their
business is making sure that people
obviously don't become stranded but a
very dangerous storm to say the least
we are here covering it for you and
we'll have the very latest for you here
on local 10 News and of course on local
ted.com or the very latest I'm Terrell
Fournier I'll send it back to you guys
in the studio okay well we certainly
want to talk to you here for a couple
seconds terrowin and I know we're
concerned before you here in the studio
and I know our viewers are concerned for
you so can you describe where you are
going to hunker down it and and the
safety where you are yeah every place
that we go we actually have a back-up
plan so there is a very sturdy structure
right behind us on this street which is
aptly called again Market Street
I'm sorry Water Street
got Water Street because water normally
forms here but there's a two-story
structure right there if we were to run
into trouble we would go inside of that
building and retreat it is a very safe
and sturdy structure but our plan to
right the storm out is in our hotel
which is about a mile down the road here
so that is our plan we also have a
back-up plan we have plenty of support
as well so we've been in touch with the
sheriff we've been in touch with people
who know this area very very well
including our own a hurricane specialist
max Mayfield he's been providing some
great insight on where to go where not
to go so we are certainly heating that
advise and we're glad you are because
we're look at these images and we got a
bit nervous for you watching that and
Tyrell you mentioned how you saw earlier
the Sheriff's Office sort of patrolling
around but we know in a lot of cases
once we get in the thick of a storm
first responders in the sheriff's office
they say you're on your own is that's
sort of going to be what they do in this
case once we get in the thick of it yes
so the problem with this area highway 98
it's really only one highway that leads
you into town and one highway that leads
you out of town but there's a bridge
that connects it and when those wind
speeds top about 40 45 miles per hour
those bridges shut down and that is the
case right now so we even wanted to
leave Apalachicola we would not be able
to because those wind speeds are just
too high on that bridge obviously the
higher up you are the more powerful the
winds are so we're dealing with wind
speeds of a category 4 storm but
obviously if we were to go up several
stories those wind speeds could equal
about a category 5 storm just because
the higher you are the more stronger the
winds are so it's not safe for any
vehicles to be out on those raised
bridges in the area so the people who
are here in Apalachicola and along the
Florida Panhandle you're sort of stuck
in place until their storm passes and
one more quick question about being
stuck in place I know there were some
folks who went to bed last night and it
wasn't as a category 4 storm they
thought things were going to be ok when
they woke up the storm was much stronger
but their time frame of
being able to leave was gone at that
point right there because of the roads
being closed down yeah we encountered a
couple of people last night who were
still weighing the option of leaving
they say that they had the idea of
perhaps staying but they were still open
to the idea of leaving but we were in
this park yesterday if we can come back
out to our live pictures we were in the
same park yesterday speaking with
several people we were very close to
those pilings they were weighing the
decision of whether they should leave
because they didn't really see the
effects it was a pretty calm night until
about 10:30 last night we really did not
see much rain yesterday definitely not
the win until about 10:30 last night so
that certainly was a very deceiving
process you may also notice me looking
out of the corner of my eye because our
van where we are parked that is our
escape route right there and as we see
this water inching from there that is
where we will eventually retreat
obviously I told you we have a back-up
plan if somehow that does not be the
case so we are keeping an eye on that as
well so a lot of people who remain here
certainly don't have a choice if they
want to leave a lot of the residents
all right Terrell well we want you to
keep an eye of course on the van in your
escape route please be safe out there we
will check back with you of course if
the conditions are safe for that