Gainesville will be rid of any remnants of Hurricane Michael by Thursday afternoon.
As of now, the storm is passing through Georgia, on its way toward North and South Carolina and the Atlantic Ocean, said National Weather Service Jacksonville meteorologist Will Corless. The hurricane made landfall in the Florida Panhandle this afternoon as a Category 4 hurricane, he said.
The storm was the most powerful to hit the continental United States in 50 years, flooding and ravaging fishing towns and beach resorts along the Panhandle, according to the Associated Press.
Despite a tornado watch issued this afternoon for North Florida and South Georgia, the effects in Gainesville mainly consisted of rain showers and gusty winds, with a peak wind gust of 31 mph, Corless said.
“For right now, it’s actually not as bad as it could be,” Corless said. “It’s not as potentially destructive as what has happened with previous storms.”
UF remained open throughout today and does not have plans to close, said spokesperson Steve Orlando. Santa Fe College closed at 3:30 p.m. today, in a post on Twitter.
Contact Dana Cassidy at dcassidy@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter at @danacassidy_
The storm's projected path as of 11 p.m. on Wednesday.
