Widespread Catastrophic Damage Across Florida Panhandle
KING: We're getting a better picture throughout this day of the devastation caused by Hurricane Michael across the Panhandle of Florida. It's the strongest storm to hit the region in recorded history. Wind speeds at 155 miles-per-hour at landfall. At least two people have died as a result of Michael including an 11-year-old girl. Storm surge up to 12 feet, sweeping through coastal communities. Nearly 500 customers across the southeast now without power. 7,800 people at the moment taking shelter in Red Cross facilities and thousands of rescue personnel combing through that horrible debris today. CNN's Brian Todd is in -- one of the most devastated areas in Mexico Beach, he joins us now on the phone. Brian, tell us where you are and what you're seeing.</s>BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Well, John, we're probably about 50 miles north of Mexico Beach. We've been trying frantically all day to try to get into Mexico Beach over roadways and bridges. And it's been unsuccessful. Every roadway is, you know, blocked with massive trees in the way or power lines or it's been blocked by law enforcement. One road we were not able to pass because law enforcement told us that only first responders and power crews could get in. So we tried several other roads and right now we're kind of stuck on Route 71 heading south and it's</s>KING: And as you try to get in, Brian throughout the day, when you encountered law enforcement, when you're encountering maybe families trying to return. Tell us -- just take us through your day and who you've met and what you're seeing.</s>TODD (via telephone): OK. Well, we've encountered a lot of law enforcement and there was</s>KING: Brian Todd, appreciate the live reporting. Keep in touch throughout the day. Now let's check in now with CNN's Jennifer Gray, she's in the weather center to help -- help us understand, Jennifer what we're seeing in Mexico Beach and why that area -- how that area got hit so bad.</s>JENNIFER GRAY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. I just want to give context to that video that you're seeing because this is one of the areas that was hardest hit. They got brushed with that inner eyewall so they had the strongest winds. And if we zoom down, this is the area in that video. This is what it looked like before and you saw the video just a moment ago, it almost looks like tornado damage. Of course the winds within the storm were probably equivalent to say, an EF-3 tornado. So definitely the wind damage is going to be very, very strong, it's going to flatten structures that aren't as sturdy. And here is on down the beach when you can see first couple of blocks, it looks like storm surge basically took those homes off their foundations. And then beyond that, they either got hit with a lot of the debris from the first couple of blocks and it compromised those structures or the winds itself. We had inside that eyewall, almost like little fingers that looked like somewhat like a starfish. And so we almost had little vortexes inside the center of that hurricane that just whipped it even more and made those winds even more -- even stronger and more destructive because it goes blowing in all different directions. It was winds well over 100 and 150 miles-per-hour. And so it's incredibly sad, John to see the before and after of that video and know that it's going to be months, maybe years before some of these places get back to normal.</s>KING: It is stunning, stunning. Jennifer Gray, appreciate that helpful context there in the weather center. And if you're wondering how you can help people impacted by Michael, you can go to cnn.com/impact. We'll continue updating you. Impact Your World page as more information becomes available to us. Up next, back to politics. The closing days of the 2018 midterm campaign and healthcare ads flooding the airwaves. Both parties now using it in their closing sales pitches.