Video: Mexico Beach, Florida, Wiped Off the Map by Hurricane Michael

Mexico Beach, Florida, was totally devastated by Hurricane Michael on Oct. 10, according to flyover footage from CNN.

Mexico Beach is “gone. It’s gone,” said Brooke Baldwin, the CNN reporter in the video. “It’s obliterated ... it’s awful to look at.”

“I’ve never seen anything like this ... I see smoke in the distance. This is all Mexico Beach,” she added.

The footage showed numerous homes totally destroyed by the hurricane’s winds and storm surge. Trees were also flatted by the storm.

Footage posted by an Instagram user (seen below) showed destroyed houses and buildings floating in several feet of storm surge.

Hurricane Michael, now a tropical storm, hit near Mexico Beach at around 2 p.m. on Oct. 10 with 155 mph winds, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC). That’s enough to make it a strong Category 4 storm, but some meteorologists said that the storm’s minimum central pressure of 919 millibars could make it a Category 5 storm. A Category 5 storm is defined by 157 mph or greater winds. Some forecasters said that Michael was likely the strongest hurricane to hit the Florida Panhandle in recorded history, and meanwhile, it was one of the strongest storms to hit the United States in history.

“Mexico Beach took the brunt,” FEMA Administrator Brock Long said via the Weather Channel. “That’s probably ground zero.”

The NHC said the storm is currently swirling over North Carolina and South Carolina, producing heavy rainfall and high winds.

Michael as of 11 a.m. on Oct. 11, 2018, is located over South Carolina. (NHC)

Latest Update

“Michael is moving toward the northeast near 23 mph and this motion is expected to continue with an increase in forward speed through tonight,” said the NHC at 11 a.m. on Oct. 11. “A turn toward the east-northeast at an even faster forward speed are expected on Friday and Saturday. On the forecast track, the center of Michael will continue to move across central and eastern North Carolina today, move across southeastern Virginia this evening, and move into the western Atlantic Ocean tonight.”

According to reports on Oct. 11, at least two people died during the storm. More than 900,000 customers were left without power in the southeastern United States.

“This morning, Florida’s Gulf Coast and Panhandle and the Big Bend are waking up to unimaginable destruction,” Gov. Rick Scott told The Associated Press. “So many lives have been changed forever. So many families have lost everything. ... This hurricane was an absolute monster.”

Scott urged Floridians not to go home yet due to search-and-rescue and recovery efforts in the area.

“I know you just want to go home. You want to check on things, and begin the recovery process,” Scott told AP. But “we have to make sure things are safe.”

Long said that now, search-and-rescue operations are a priority, adding, “The power’s not going to be on for a while,” the Weather Channel reported.

Other nearby areas like  Apalachicola and Panama City were devastated by the storm. Sally Crown, of Apalachicola, told the outlet: “It’s absolutely horrendous. Catastrophic.” And also added, “There’s flooding. Boats on the highway. A house on the highway. Houses that have been there forever are just shattered.”