Rescuers search for victims as toll mounts in US

Search and rescue teams faced a second day of sifting through the ruined landscape left by Hurricane Michael yesterday as the death toll rose to 11. After devastating coastal communities in the Florida Panhandle, the remnants of the storm, now downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone, killed five people as it passed through the US state of Virginia. “Virginia storm updates as of 7.00 am [1100 GMT Friday]. 5 confirmed Michael-related fatalities. 520,000 without power. 1,200 closed roads. 5 suspected tornadoes,” the Virginia Department of Emergency Management said on Twitter. The storm was over the open Atlantic, east of Norfolk, Virginia, early Friday after leveling entire communities on the US Gulf Coast.

In Mexico Beach, a seafront town where the hurricane made landfall, houses had been razed by a storm surge, boats had been tossed into yards and the streets were littered with trees and power lines. Florida Governor Rick Scott said the storm had caused “unbelievable devastation” and the priority for the moment was looking for survivors among residents who failed to heed orders to evacuate. “I’m very concerned about our citizens that didn’t evacuate and I just hope that, you know, we don’t have much loss of life,” Scott told ABC.