Michael Roars Ashore in Florida Nearing Cat 5 Status
*By Carlo Versano*
Hurricane Michael made landfall Wednesday as a monster Category 4 storm with winds near Category 5 status. In the process, it became the most powerful hurricane to hit the U.S. mainland in nearly 50 years.
Washington Post weather editor Jason Samenow told Cheddar Wednesday he was tracking confirmed gusts of 130 mph and was deeply concerned about the storm surge and the potential for flooding.
"We're far from done with this storm," he said.
Michael's eyewall came ashore near Mexico Beach, Fla., just outside Panama Beach on the Panhandle.
Even once the storm weakens over Florida, large areas of the southeast that are still recovering from Hurricane Florence will be at great risk of serious flooding. The saturated Carolinas could see three to six inches of rain, and the winds will expand as the storm unwinds.
Reports of damage in the Panhandle area were beginning to come in as of Wednesday afternoon. Hours after the official landfall, the storm has not weakened substantially.
Although Michael is the second major hurricane to make U.S. landfall in roughly one month, Samenow said, "This has been a fairly normal hurricane season."
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/all-eyes-on-hurricane-michael).
British officials and space scientists said Tuesday they were disappointed but not deterred after the first attempt to launch satellites into orbit from the U.K. ended in failure.
The small coastal town of Montecito, California -- home to celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle and Rob Lowe -- has been evacuated as a result of extensive flooding in the area and surrounding canyons after more than eight inches of rain fell in just 12 hours on Monday.
Virgin Orbit's "Cosmic Girl," a retrofitted Boeing 747 plane, is scheduled for a horizontal launch into orbit Monday night from the United Kingdom's Spaceport Cornwall.
