Almost 80 miles of interstate 10 in Florida are closed as a result of Hurricane Michael, according to a state of Florida website.
Florida 511 (fl511.com) reported that all eastbound lanes are closed from mile marker 85 at US 331 to the Appalachicola River at mile marker 160. All westbound lanes of interstate 10 are closed from the river to mile marker 120, at the junction with state road 77.
The closures came after historic winds and storm surge from Hurricane Michael tore apart and flooded a large stretch of the Florida Panhandle on Wednesday. Two people were reported killed as a result of the storm.
A man was killed in Gadsden County when a tree fell on a home. The Orlando Sentinel reported that the sheriff’s department got a call Wednesday evening that the man was trapped. Rescue crews couldn’t get to him in time because downed trees and debris were blocking too many roads.
As the hurricane barreled northward, high winds led to the death of an 11-year-old girl in Seminole County, Georgia, according to EMA Director Travis Brooks. He told The Washington Post early Thursday morning that the girl had been inside a trailer home in an unincorporated area of the county near Lake Seminole, close to the Florida-Georgia border. From what officials could determine, Brooks said, it looked like a metal carport used to store boats had been lifted in the air by the gusting winds and had flipped over. When it landed, its legs crashed through the roof of a neighboring mobile home and hit the girl in the head.
“It looked like a war zone,” Brooks said, adding that it had taken deputies from the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office practically all day to get to the mobile home due to the road conditions in the area.
Michael has weakened to a Tropical Storm, but will cause wind damage and flash flooding in the Carolinas on Thursday.
