11 lives lost, billions in damage from Michael

Hurricane Michael caused at least 11 deaths as it plowed through the Florida Panhandle and the southeastern United States, and the number dead could rise as rescuers search hardest-hit areas. Falling debris killed some, including an 11-year-old girl in Georgia. Authorities in Virginia, which was inundated with rain, reported five people died there—four who drowned and a firefighter whose truck was struck by a tractor-trailer at the scene of an accident.

More than 900,000 homes and businesses are without power in Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and the Carolinas. Florida Gov. Rick Scott said “push crews” were working to clear debris for utility workers, and officers from state agencies were doing welfare checks at homes in affected areas. In Mexico Beach, Fla., where Michael made landfall Wednesday as a Category 4 hurricane, 285 people defied evacuation orders, and many of them are still unaccounted for. Most of the homes along the town’s coastline were washed away, leaving only concrete slabs. Nearby Panama City also suffered severe damage, though many homes there are still standing. “It looks like an atomic bomb had hit our city,” David Barnes told the Panama City News Herald.

Insurance companies will have to dole out about $8 billion for damages Michael caused, estimated Karen Clark & Company, which produces catastrophe models. That total doesn’t include losses covered by the National Flood Insurance Program or the government’s expenses from responding to the storm.