Hurricane Hunters fly into Michael

MIAMI - Hurricane Michael has become a Category 2 storm over the Gulf of Mexico on Oct. 9 and was being predicted to hit the north Florida coast on Oct. 10. Mandatory evacuations were issued for low-lying coastal areas ahead of the storm. An aircraft and crew from the Hurricane Hunters of the Air Force Reserve unit at Keesler AFB, Miss., flew through the eye of the hurricane off the western tip of Cuba and found wind speeds rising. By 7 a.m. (CT) today, winds were at 100 mph. The forecast was for it to strengthen into a possible Cat 3 hurricane with winds of up to 111 mph. The storm is speeding for the Florida Panhandle at 12 mph. It is moving in a north-northwest direction, but a high pressure system to the west may steer Michael in a more NNE direction sometime in the next 12 hours. Some 120,000 people on Panama City Beach received mandatory evacuation orders Tuesday morning, and across other low-lying areas. (Source: MSN 10/09/18)