2 dead after Hurricane Michael slams Florida Panhandle, Georgia

MIAMI, Fla. —

Officials said Hurricane Michael has claimed the lives of at least two people after battering the Florida coast and moving to Georgia.
Early Thursday morning, an official with an emergency management agency said the storm was responsible for a child’s death in Georgia.

Hurricane Michael 2018: Widespread damage in Florida, storm weakens as it moves north

News outlets report Seminole County Emergency Management Agency Director Travis Brooks said someone called 911 as the storm passed through the area Wednesday afternoon and reported the death.

WMAZ-TV quotes Brooks as saying a tree fell onto a home Wednesday afternoon and killed an 11-year-old girl. Authorities have not released her identity.

Brooks said responding crews reached the home after nightfall due to clear downed power lines, poles, and trees.

Another death was reported in Florida after a man’s home was hit by a falling tree.

Early Thursday, the eye of Michael was about 25 miles east of Macon in central Georgia.

The storm had top sustained winds of 60 mph and was moving to the northeast at 20 mph.

The National Hurricane Center said the core of Michael will move across central and eastern Georgia Thursday morning and then over southern and central South Carolina later in the day.

The storm is expected to arrive in North Carolina by Thursday afternoon.