Potentially 'Devastating' Michael Could Slam Florida as Hurricane

The Atlantic hurricane season officially runs through Nov. 30, and it looks like Florida may be about to get socked with at least one more. CNN reports Gov. Rick Scott has declared a state of emergency in 26 counties in preparation for Tropical Storm Michael as it heads away from Cuba and toward the northeastern Gulf Coast, expected to make landfall anywhere between Tuesday night and early Thursday, depending on which way the storm travels and how quickly. But the weather system may not remain a tropical storm much longer: "Michael expected to become a hurricane very soon," read a National Hurricane Center advisory early Monday.

In a Sunday presser, Scott, who has activated 500 National Guard troops, warned that Michael—which the Weather Channel noted "rapidly intensified" from Sunday into Monday morning—could come ashore as a Category 2 hurricane, with winds gusting at more than 100mph. "This storm has the potential to bring devastating impacts to communities across the Panhandle and Big Bend and every family must be prepared," he noted. "We're going to get storm surge, we have wind, we have a chance of flooding, we have a significant chance of tornadoes." (More Tropical Storm Michael stories.)