MIAMI (AP) Hurricane Michael, which devastated a swath of the Florida Panhandle last fall, has been upgraded to a Category 5 storm, only the fourth to make recorded landfall in the United States and the first since 1992.
The announcement by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Friday came as no surprise to those still struggling to recover from the storms destruction.
My thought is simply that most of us thought we were dealing with a (Category) 5 anyway, said Al Cathey, mayor of Mexico Beach, which bore the brunt of the storm when it hit.