Rescue efforts in Florida intensify as death toll from Michael rises

The death toll wasexpected to rise this weekend in the aftermath of HurricaneMichael as hundreds remained unaccounted for along the FloridaPanhandle where decimated communities remained cut off and in thedark.

As of earlySaturday, state officials were reporting thatat least 18 have been killed in Florida, Georgia, North Carolinaand Virginia.

Rescue teams, hampered by power and telephone outages, weregoing door to door and using cadaver dogs, drones and heavyequipment to look for people in the rubble in Mexico Beach andother Florida coastal communities, such as Port St. Joe andPanama City.

"We still haven'tgotten into some of the hardest-hitareas," said Brock Long, administrator of the Federal EmergencyManagement Agency (FEMA) on Friday, noting that he expects tosee the number of people killed climb.

Newfoundland expected to see storm surges

The storm is expected to makeits exit from Atlantic Canada todaybut not before bringing large swells, minor storm surges and changes in water levels to parts of Newfoundland and Labrador.

According to Environment Canada, Michael will quickly track over the Grand Banks and out to sea today.

The national weather forecaster says these conditions can pose a danger to those near the shoreline, but they expect infrastructure impacts to be minor.

Much of Atlantic Canada was hit by heavy rain and winds on Friday. Winds are expected to stay at around 110 km/h as Michael moves east.

Search continues for Florida survivors

Meanwhile, Houston-based volunteer search-and-rescue networkCrowdSource Rescue said its teams were trying to find about2,100 people either reported missing or stranded and in need ofhelp in Florida, co-founder Matthew Marchetti said.

Social media websites were crowded with messages from thosetrying to reach missing families in Florida's Bay and Gulf counties.

Marchetti said his volunteer search teams, consisting mostlyof off-duty police officers and firefighters, had rescued oraccounted for 345 others previously reported to CrowdSourceRescue.

Watch footage of Hurricane Michael's destruction:

Michael crashed ashore near Mexico Beach on Wednesdayafternoon as one of the most powerful storms in U.S. history,with winds of up to 250 km/h. It pushed a wall ofseawater inland, causing widespread flooding.

The tropical storm, which grew in less than two days into aCategory 4 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, toreapart entire neighbourhoods in the Panhandle, reducing homes tonaked concrete foundations or piles of wood and siding.

Dogs and bulldozers

FEMA crews have been using bulldozers and other heavyequipment to push a path through debris so rescuers can siftthe rubble using specially trained search dogs.

More than 1,700 search-and-rescue workers have beendeployed, Gov.Rick Scott's office said in a statement,including seven swift-water rescue teams and nearly 300ambulances.

Except for the emergency 911 system, authorities in BayCounty, the epicentreof the disaster, were virtually withouttelephone or internet service until late on Friday, makingcommunications internally and with the public difficult.

Ruth Corley, a spokespersonfor the Bay County Sheriff'sDepartment, said local television stations were knocked off theair for two days, and authorities were relying on the Gulf StateCollege radio station to transmit public service bulletins.

By Friday morning the storm remnants were about 440 kilometres southwest of Nantucket, Mass., packing maximumsustained winds of 100 km/h.

More than 940,000 homes and businesses on the U.S. EastCoast were without power and it could be weeks before power isrestored to the most damaged parts of Florida.

With files from The Canadian Press