Michael Making Landfall News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Look at the big breakers now. there should be 40, 50 feet of beach here and for the most part sweeping all the way up to where we are. it is coming. as officials say, if you are where you are if you haven't evacuated yet stay there and ride it out. >> absolutely. thank you so much. bay county, florida is in the cross hairs of this storm. bay county includes the area where the eye wall could make landfall. we are talking panama city and panama city beach. joining me on the phone is deputy chief of emergency management operations. thank you for calling in. i want to get the latest from you, what...

>> reporter: very much so, john. in fact, this was a quick-moving hurricane. a lot of people said they didn't feel like they had enough time to prepare for it to go from a category 2 to category 4 overnight while they were sleeping especially those who made the decision to try to ride this out. a lot of people were very scared today. this was not the decision they thought they were make frg themselves. we are still a few hours from michael making landfall. we have seen a storm drain ripped off by the gusts of wind for the location that i'm at right now. just about ten minutes ago or so. we are...

City beach where the eye wall could make landfall in the next few hours. this is a very wide storm. it is going to see some towns and cities that are 50, 60 miles away will see hurricane force winds and deal with the storm surge. i want to go to destin. it's such a great fishing location. victor blackwell is there. what are you seeing? >> reporter: the completely abandoned the town. i'm at the harbor walk village where it is full of restaurants and shops. those are all closed. there is no one really here. officials have decided to create or institute an evacuation order for this area. everywhe...

Officials expect although there are about 45 to 50 miles west of potential landfall of the storm that there will be damage here and flooding here, three to six inches of rain expected, a storm surge of five to eight feet here, as well. i spoke with a man who lives here and decided to move ten miles west to get away from the storm and says he expects everything to be okay. a lot of his friends decided to stay. they made that decision when this was a category 2 storm. they woke up this morning and this is a category 4. we learned overnight that more people have gone to local shelters. when i spo...

Of about nine feet. it will be enough to flood the coastal areas, the beach zone. the waterfront areas will see water maybe going into the first floors of some of the structures. the wind here could be devastating. 145 miles per hour sustained gusts in the gulf and it still has yet to make landfall. it still has a chance to strengthen even more. no storm has ever hit the florida panhandle with as much ferosity. governor rick scott said the time to evacuate has come and gone. now it is time whatever plan you made you have to see it through and be as safe as you possibly can. panama city beach h...