(Reuters) - Hurricane Michael, the fiercest storm to hit Florida in a quarter century, was downgraded to a Category 1 hurricane, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said on Wednesday, adding it is expected to weaken further to a tropical storm by Thursday morning as it crosses the southeastern United States.

Michael is moving across southwestern Georgia with damaging winds across the central and eastern Panhandle of Florida as well as southwestern and south-central Georgia, with storm flooding still occurring along the Gulf Coast, the NHC said.

Michael, located about 20 miles (30 kilometers) southwest of Albany, Georgia and packing maximum sustained winds of 90 miles per hour (150 km/h), is forecast to become post-tropical cyclone on Friday, the Miami-based weather forecaster said.