Hurricane's death toll rises to 26, including 16 killed in Florida

Gaige Williams, 2, cools off in a plastic container outside of the storm-damaged motel in Panama City, Fla., where he and his family live after being uprooted by Hurricane Michael.
Gaige Williams, 2, cools off in a plastic container outside of the storm-damaged motel in Panama City, Fla., where he and his family live after being uprooted by Hurricane Michael.

PANAMA CITY, Fla. -- Hurricane Michael killed at least 16 people in Florida, most of them in the coastal county that took a direct hit from the storm, state emergency authorities said Tuesday. That's in addition to at least 10 deaths elsewhere across the South.

The scope of the storm's fury became clearer after nearly a week of missing-persons reports and desperate searches of the Florida panhandle neighborhoods devastated by the most powerful hurricane to hit the continental U.S. in nearly 50 years.

The count of 16 dead was twice the number previously tallied by The Associated Press.

Emergency authorities said 12 of the deaths were in Bay County, where the storm slammed ashore with 155 mph winds and a towering storm surge last Wednesday.

Bay County includes Mexico Beach, the ground-zero town of 1,000 people that was nearly obliterated, as well as Tyndall Air Force Base, Panama City and Lynn Haven, all of which were heavily damaged.

Florida emergency authorities gave no details on how the victims died.

The Associated Press tally also includes 10 deaths in Virginia, Georgia and North Carolina.

Mexico Beach Mayor Al Cathey said two deaths were confirmed in his town -- a man and a woman who did not evacuate and whose homes were destroyed.

Only one person remained missing in Mexico Beach, Cathey said, adding that authorities were almost certain that the person evacuated before Michael and simply hasn't been contacted.

Nearly 137,000 Florida customers remain without power.

While much of the world's attention has been focused on badly battered coastal communities such as Mexico Beach and Panama City, Michael also devastated mostly rural areas all the way into Alabama and Georgia.

Marianna, Fla., in Jackson County, was hit with stronger winds than it has ever seen despite being about 70 miles north of Mexico Beach.

Days after the storm, 268 people there were still in shelters, power was out throughout the county and cellphone service had been restored only within Marianna. Outlying areas have had no way to communicate. Emergency workers were still conducting search-and-rescue operations because many people remained stuck in their homes.

Meanwhile, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai criticized "slow progress" in restoring wireless service in areas hard hit by Hurricane Michael, and ordered an investigation into the effort.

"The slow progress in restoring wireless service in areas close to where the hurricane made landfall is completely unacceptable," Pai said in an emailed statement. "While the FCC has been in regular contact with companies serving the affected areas, I'm concerned that their actions on the ground aren't matching the urgency that we have conveyed."

Pai said he was joining Florida Gov. Rick Scott in calling on wireless carriers to waive the bills of Floridians in affected areas for October, and to allow them to change carriers without penalty.

The carriers defended their restoration efforts, and several said they were offering free service.

"While we don't have an estimate as to when we'll be fully up and running, we are making progress every hour, and won't rest until service is restored to the entire area," Verizon said in an emailed statement.

AT&T Inc. in a Monday post said that its networks "are nearly fully restored in most affected areas," and that it had deployed portable cell sites "in numerous locations throughout Florida and Georgia."

Verizon service did return this week to parts of the stricken area.

Cathey, Mexico Beach's mayor, had a one-word exclamation when his Verizon phone started working for the first time in nearly a week: "Hallelujah!"

Verizon service also resumed in Panama City, where residents haven't been able to call for help or loved ones.

Sitting outside in the sweltering heat in the Panama City area as she fanned herself with a flyswatter, Christy Tanksley said the sudden improvement in cell service was a huge relief.

"A lot of people didn't even know we had evacuated and come back," said Tanksley, whose phone runs off the Verizon network.

"I turned my phone on this morning and it started going crazy," she said. "There were all kinds of messages, Facebook notifications, emails and emergency alerts."

Information for this article was contributed by Jay Reeves, Curt Anderson, Brendan Farrington and Gary Fineout of The Associated Press; and by Todd Shields of Bloomberg News.

A Section on 10/17/2018

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