Hurricane Michael: Historic storm makes landfall with 155 mph winds

MEXICO BEACH, Fla. — Never was there a more powerful hurricane to strike the Florida panhandle.

Meteorologist were tracking Hurricane Michael for days, watching it churn through the Gulf of Mexico, growing in size and intensity.

The central pressure in Michael dropped to 919 mb before landfall, making it more intense by pressure than both Katrina and Maria.

"This is the worst storm the Florida panhandle has seen in more than 100 years," Florida Governor Rick Scott said in his last press briefing before the storm Wednesday morning. "The time for those along the coast to evacuate has come and passed.

This is the first category four hurricane to make landfall in the Florida panhandle and Michael's 155 mph winds fell just one mile-per-hour short of the requisite for bumping that status to category five.

The strongest Atlantic hurricane ever recorded was Wilma in 2005 -- another storm to head north toward the Gulf of Mexico -- but that storm never made landfall as it was pushed past the Florida keys and out to sea. Wilma was also an October Hurricane.

The storm registered historic numbers before even making landfall Wednesday afternoon, but it remains to be seen how much damage will be done by the storm.

As the National Weather Service noted on Twitter Wednesday, the shelter-in-place needed for this hurricane was the equivalent of being under a 3-hour tornado warning.

Anyone left along the coast of the panhandle was told to get to an interior room and take shelter.

MORE: Hurricane Michael: Storm threatens Florida Panhandle with 150 mph winds, 175 mph gusts

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