Hurricane Michael Aftermath: Death toll seen rising as Florida towns remain cut off

Death toll expected to rise this weekend after the devastation by Hurricane Michael, which is ranked among the four most powerful hurricanes ever striked United State. So far hundreds remained unaccounted for along the Florida Panhandle where decimated communities remained cut off and in the dark, so the number of casualties is likely to go up.

State officials reported early on Saturday that at least 18 have been killed in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia.

Rescue teams, hampered by power and telephone outages, were going door-to-door and using cadaver dogs, drones and heavy equipment to hunt for people in the rubble in Mexico Beach and other Florida coastal communities, such as Port St. Joe and Panama City.

“We still haven’t gotten into some of the hardest-hit areas,” said Brock Long, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on Friday, noting that he expects to see the number of people killed climb.

The Houston-based volunteer search-and-rescue network CrowdSource Rescue said its teams were trying to find about 2,100 people either reported missing or stranded and in need of help in Florida, co-founder Matthew Marchetti said.