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Earlier this week, hundreds of thousands of people fled the Florida Panhandle as Hurricane Michael began to bear down on the state but more than a few have decided to stare Mother Nature directly in the face and ride it out.
Good luck with that.
We were treated with some absolutely wild footage when Hurricane Florence hit the Carolinas last month but Michael— which just made landfall as a Category 4 storm boasting 155 MPH winds— has the potential to wreak even more havoc than its predecessor.
As is the case with every storm of this severity, a number of meteorologists with balls the size of watermelons have descended upon Florida in order to let people get a sense of just how crazy things are from the safety of their homes.
Some residents have also captured footage of the storm, and based on the videos I’ve come across so far, you’re going to want to stay inside if you happen to be in the vicinity of Hurricane Michael.
Catastrophic wind in eye wall of Hurricane #Michael in Panama City Beach eastern tip @breakingweather @accuweather pic.twitter.com/nPPoBPZkai
— Reed Timmer, PhD (@ReedTimmerUSA) October 10, 2018
A whole house was ripped apart in #Mexico Beach, #Florida. Here is video of parts of the home washing up to other properties. This is one powerful storm. #HurricaneMichael. (via Talarico Tessa) #Hurricane #mexicobeach pic.twitter.com/BBlzMm4Au2
— Josh Benson (@WFLAJosh) October 10, 2018
Incredible video as #HurricaneMichael makes landfall around Mexico Beach as the 3rd strongest Hurricane (919mb) in US history, approaching Cat 5 strength.pic.twitter.com/4LXaMRw8nC
— Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) October 10, 2018
However, none of those clips are as wild as a couple of ones featuring people who purposefully traveled to Florida for Hurricane Michael— like storm chaser Brett Adair, whose car got swept away after getting hit by a storm surge.
Brett Adair's car is floating away in storm surge from #HurricaneMichael. They abandoned the vehicle and "climbed a house to safety" about 15 minutes ago. No idea where or how they are doing: https://t.co/d5ef1JEpEx pic.twitter.com/Is3xpX66Jz
— Andrew Pritchard (@skydrama) October 10, 2018
However, none of these even come close to what happened to the Weather Channel’s Jim Cantore, who almost got nailed by a flying chunk of wood during a live broadcast.
Cantore nearly just got speared by 2×4 it seemed. #HurricaneMichael pic.twitter.com/tyNWrymC3p
— Tim Ballisty (@IrishEagle) October 10, 2018
That could have ended poorly.
It should go without saying that anyone who’s in the path of the storm should continue to hunker down, and while you might feel the urge to go outside and use the high winds to play frisbee with yourself, it’s probably not worth tempting the fate Cantore managed to narrowly avoid.
It’s all fun and games until you get hit by a 2×4.