Hurricane Michael, the latest named storm of the 2018 hurricane season, is expected to make landfall in northwest Florida on Wednesday. | Photo: NASA/Wikimedia Commons

Horse owners in Florida and elsewhere on the Gulf Coast are hunkering down as they await the arrival of Hurricane Michael.

The latest named storm of the 2018 hurricane season is expected to make landfall in northwest Florida on Wednesday.

Just days after forming in the Gulf of Mexico, Hurricane Michael began marching toward Florida’s Gulf Coast including the Florida/Alabama border on Oct. 8. By Tuesday, the storm sharpened its aim at Panama City, Apalachicola, Pensacola, and Tallahassee and strengthened into a powerful Category 4 storm, promising strong winds, severe flooding, and storm surge capable of impact impacting areas as far south as Tampa, Florida. In response, Florida Governor Rich Scott declared a state of emergency for 35 counties in the state’s Panhandle region and ordered mandatory evacuations in 11 counties