Hurricane Michael was a category 4 monster storm when it made landfall in the Florida Panhandle on Wednesday, on track for a catastrophic and record-breaking afternoon as the region’s strongest cyclone in living memory, with gusts up to 175mph. More than half a million people were either ordered or advised to evacuate as Michael closed in on Panama City, bringing with it a life-threatening storm surge of up to 14ft. The storm has already been blamed for 13 deaths in Central America and the Caribbean.