Hurricane Michaelis expected to make landfall on the 300-mile Florida Panhandle and Big Bend on Wednesday asa massive Category 4 storm— the strongest hurricane ever to hit the Gulf Coast.

The rapidly approaching storm has only been strengthening as it has made its way across the eastern Gulf of Mexico. The National Weather Service has since declared Michael a Category 4 storm (out of 5), warning Florida residents of itspotentially deadly 140 mph. sustained winds, 13 foot storm surges, and heavy rainfall that’s expected to bring dangerous flash floods.

Florida residents in this area haven’t seen a hurricane of this strength in their lifetimes. According to Dr. Phil Klotzbach, tropical scientist at Colorado State University, the Gulf Coast has never recorded a Category 4-plus hurricane landfall in records dating back to 1851.

Officials with the NWS’ office in Tallahassee said on Monday that the storm would be “apotentially catastrophic eventfor the northeastern Gulf Coast.”

States of emergency have been declared across 35 counties, withover 500,000 residents ordered to evacuate up and down the coast, Reuters reported.

For those that haven’t already, Gov. Rick Scott encouraged residents on Wednesday to quickly find shelter.

“The time for evacuating along the coast has come and gone,” he tweeted. “First responders will not be able to come out in the middle of the storm. If you chose to stay in an evacuation zone, you must SEEK REFUGE IMMEDIATELY.”

“This is as SERIOUS as it gets gets,” said NWS Tallahassee. “Major #HurricaneMichael has continued to intensify over the Gulf of Mexico. We want everyone to know this is an EXTREMELY dangerous storm and unfortunately the time for preparation is ending!”

The NWS said Michael’s winds will likely inflictsubstantial damage to the roofs and wallsofthe most well-constructed homes, Reuters reported.

Aside from the structural damage that’s expected, it’s likelyover a million power outages will occur after landfall, the Associated Press reported.

“You cannot survive this, no one is going to survive this,” Scott said on Tuesday’sGood Morning America, encouraging residents to evacuate and comparing the wave sizes to those oflast month’s devastating tsunami in Indonesia. “The water just flows in fast and sucks things out. … Don’t take a chance.”

source: people.com