decided to ride out the storm to perhaps get in contact with emergency officials. reporting from apalachicola. i'm derek van dam. back to you, dave. >> derek, thank you. michael punished georgia with destructive rain and winds arriving as a category three hurricane as it moved across the state. making it the most powerful storm to hit the area in 120 years. our meteorologist pedram javaheri tracking michael live from the cnn weather center as it moves into the carolinas. what can folks expect? >> christine, tropical storm force wiensnds and rainfall. 13 plus hours after landfall, making itself known as a tropical storm and it is now officially crossing into south carolina at this hour. we have 23 million people under tropical storm force warnings. we expect the winds from 35 miles per hour up to 60 miles