Several dozen PSO workers are in Panama City, Florida, helping with recovery efforts in the aftermath of the hurricane.

Crews with heavy equipment scooped up splintered boards, broken glass, chunks of asphalt and other debris in hurricane-flattened Mexico Beach on Sunday. 

Hurricane Michael came ashore in the Florida Panhandle Wednesday afternoon with winds of 155 mph. That makes it the fourth strongest hurricane ever to make landfall in the U.S.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) says Hurricane Michael is packing even more punch: It strengthened into a Category 4 storm early Wednesday, with maximum sustained winds of 130 mph.

Michael gained new strength over warm tropical waters amid a forecast that it would swiftly intensify into a major hurricane before striking Florida's northeast Gulf Coast

A tropical storm strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane and could become a dangerous Category 2 storm before an expected midweek strike on the Gulf Coast in the Florida Panhandle.

A tropical depression strengthened Sunday into Tropical Storm Michael, which the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said could bring heavy rainfall and flooding to Mexico, Cuba and the U.S. Gulf Coast. 

Just as the long holiday weekend marked summer's unofficial start in the U.S., Alberto gave the unofficial start of what forecasters recently predicted would be an active hurricane season. 

Beaches in Florida were largely empty ahead of Memorial Day as a slowly intensifying storm carrying brisk winds and heavy rain approached the U.S. Gulf Coast on Sunday. The storm disrupted plans from Pensacola in the Panhandle to Miami Beach on Florida's southeastern edge.