Nope it was supposed to be at most a Cat 3 until about 24 hours out it turned into a strong Cat 4 and actually determined 6 months later as a Cat 5. Too late to leave so battened down the hatches and stayed at a friends house a little further in shore by about 10 miles. Unfortunately it moved us closer to the eye as it moved in land. I got some scary videos. We got hit with winds that were well over 120mph. The house we were in held together and luckily had no big trees near it but the neighborhood was full of huge oaks, magnolia and pine trees. After the storm was over which lasted about 4 hours no trees survived. Houses all around us looked like tornadoes had hit them. We were trapped in the neighborhood for about 24 hours because all the roads were blocked by trees, debris, power lines and power poles. With an army of chain saws we made one squirrelly lane out to Hwy 231. Then south towards Panama City. Took another 2 hours to travel the 10 miles because of again all the mess.
I went to south Florida on a hurricane Andrew convoy with our police department back in 1992. That was the only thing close to what I saw here. Andrew was bigger as far as square miles effected. That was the only good thing about Michael it was quick and not very wide but it was an A** Kicker.
No power in some areas for over a month. No cable or internet for 2 months, phone service sketchy for a month. They literally had to replace 90% of all power poles and every foot of power and cable lines. The debris took 6 months to clean up and some areas of Mexico beach, Parker (my mom lives there) and Callaway still have debris in several spots.
Every business, restaurant, grocery store, mall, Walmart’s, Targets, everything was closed for weeks, months or some have never reopened.
it has been an experience I hope to never repeat and yes the next one I am probably hauling butt out of here.
