TALLAHASSEE, Oct 11 — Hurricane Michael, the fiercest storm to hit Florida in a quarter century, was downgraded to a Category 1 hurricane, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said this morning, adding it is expected to weaken further to a tropical storm as it crosses the southeastern United States.

Michael is moving across southwestern Georgia with damaging winds across the central and eastern Panhandle of Florida as well as southwestern and south-central Georgia, with storm flooding still occurring along the Gulf Coast, the NHC said.

Michael, located about 30km southwest of Albany, Georgia and packing maximum sustained winds of 150kph, is forecast to become post-tropical cyclone by tomorrow, the Miami-based weather forecaster said. — Reuters