TORONTO — ********** is waving flight change fees for almost half a dozen cities in three states as ********* Michael beelines for the ******* Panhandle coastline as a Category 4 storm.

********** passengers due to fly in or out of Atlanta, Savannah, Charlotte, Raleigh Durham and Jacksonville today can change their bookings with no change fees as a result of ********* Michael.

Major U.S. carriers are waiving change fees for a long list of destinations as well, and cancelling flights.

********* Michael gained strength overnight, with potentially catastrophic winds this morning clocked at 145 mph, making it the most powerful storm on record ever to hit this stretch of ******* coastline, according to reports.

With more than 375,000 people up and down the Gulf Coast warned to clear out, the *********’s leading edge began lashing the white-sand shoreline with tropical storm-force winds, rain and rising seas before daybreak, hours before Michael’s centre was expected to blow ashore.

Michael quickly sprang from a weekend tropical depression, reaching Category 4 early this morning as it drew energy from the Gulf of Mexico’s 84 degree waters. That was up from a Category 2 on Tuesday afternoon.

“The time to ******** has come and gone … SEEK ****** IMMEDIATELY,” ******* Gov. Rick Scott tweeted, while the sheriff in Panama City’s Bay County issued a shelter-in-place order before dawn.

As of 8 a.m. this morning Michael was centred about 145 kilometres from Panama City and Apalachicola, moving fast at 21 kph. Tropical storm winds extended 295 kilometres from the centre, and *********-force winds reached out 75 kilometres.

Rainfall could reach up to a foot (30 centimetres), and the life-threatening storm ***** could swell to 14 feet (4 metres).

The storm appeared to be so powerful – with a central pressure dropping to 933 millibars – that it is expected to remain a ********* as it moves over Georgia early Thursday. Forecasters said it will unleash damaging winds and rain all the way into the Carolinas, which are still recovering from ********* Florence’s flooding.

The historical record, going back to 1851, finds no Category 4 ********* ever hitting the ******* panhandle.

With files from The Associated Press