Hurricane Michael, now a tropical storm threatening flash flooding in Virginia and North Carolina plus tornadoes farther south, was not oversold. If anything, hurricane forecasters and locals were taken by surprise at the speed with which Michael exploded into a Category 4 hurricane — at one point it was just 1 mph below Category 5 status — and its ability to maintain hurricane strength as it rolled over the Florida Panhandle and into Georgia.
"There is simply no precedent for a storm this strong striking this part of Florida," says Dennis Mersereau at Popular Science. It's among the four most powerful hurricanes to hit the U.S.
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