Hurricane Michael: Trump says authorities doing ‘incredible job’ in Florida as search for survivors continues

Death toll expected to rise from 18

Donald Trump arrived in Florida just days after it was devastated by Hurricane Michael and said Republican governor Rick Scott was doing fan incredible job” in overseeing relief efforts.

Michael was a Category 4 storm with winds reaching speeds up to 155 mph.

The president and first lady Melania Trump, are touring the state, as well as parts of Georgia.

“You wouldn’t even know they had homes,” Mr Trump said about residents as they landed at Elgin Air Force Base, approximately 100 miles west of Mexico Beach, Florida, where Michael made landfall on 10 October.

The president said the main goal for relief operations was “just making sure everyone is safe, that they’re fed”.

“Some of them have no trace of a home... so our big thing is feeding, water and safety,” he said.

Mr Scott noted said of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema): “Everything we ask for, they have delivered”.

“The job they’ve done in Florida has been incredible, and likewise I’m hearing in Georgia pretty good things,” Mr Trump said about the agency.

Michael has resulted in at least 18 deaths across four states in the Gulf region, while dozens remain missing.

Mr Scott had warned residents before landfall Michael would cause “unimaginable devastation” and could affect areas as far away as North and South Carolina.

He noted at the time it would be “most destructive storm the state has seen in a century” and that he was “scared to death” over the safety of residents” who had not evacuated to safety in the Panhandle before it became too dangerous to do so.

Rescuers have said they expect the death toll to rise and they were using cadaver dogs and heavy equipment to search collapsed homes in the several small towns which dot the Panhandle’s Gulf coast.

In Mexico Beach alone, up to 46 people are missing.

Mayor Al Cathey told journalists in the ravaged town of just 1,200 people: “If we lose only one life, to me that’s going to be a miracle.”

Efforts are slow going as roads have been blocked from downed trees and power lines, destroyed homes, and flooding.

Steve Moss, vice chairman of Bay District School Board told CNN “every single school” in the district had been damaged by Michael.

The majority of the district’s 26,000 students have been displaced and it could “take weeks or months to get [some schools back] online. Some it will take years,” Mr Moss noted.

Mr Trump said electricians were out in full force attempting to restore power, but officials estimated it could take weeks to fully do so.

The president had previously visited North and South Carolina in the wake of Florence, a Category 4 storm which then made landfall as a tropical storm just a few weeks ago.