After Hurricane Michael: Thousands of people join recovery efforts as many people still go missing

Authorities were also investigating reports of a deadly shooting in Panama, WEAR reported.

The future of thousands of students also remains uncertain.

"It will not be a normal school year, we are not in the current situation," said Bay District Superintendent of Schools Bill Husfelt to WMBB, a CNN affiliate.

With the majority of its 26,000 students displaced and many schools deemed unsafe because of the damage, officials discuss ways to bring students back to school or provide them with psychological help.

"Read to the children, calm them, they were scared, the adults were frightened, but imagine those little hearts, tell them how brave they were," said Husfelt.

On Sunday, more than 435,000 customers are still without electricity in seven states from Florida to Virginia. The death toll remains at 18 but the authorities say it could continue to climb.

Residents could still be trapped

Hundreds of calls from people across the country in search of loved ones continue to accumulate as emergency teams attempt to reach the most remote areas.

The teams work tirelessly, causing the bulldozers to move debris and cutting trees with a chainsaw to clear the highways and hundreds of roads blocked by the wreckage.

"What's taking you the most time now is simply to access some of these areas," said Panama City Fire Chief Alex Baird.

The fire department received over 200 calls from residents and Baird said it could be days or weeks before they were completed. Residents still missing could be stranded in remote areas and crews have to go door to door because there is no electricity and the mobile phone service is uneven.

We did not know how many people were still missing on Saturday. About 280 of the city's 1,200 residents have announced plans to weather the storm, but authorities say many fled at the last minute when Michael recovered, Mayor Al Cathey said.

Only an elderly man has been found dead and the authorities fear that more people will have died.

The woman saw her husband die

Sitting in a red pickup truck just steps from her damaged home, Gayle Sweet recalled the last moments that she shared with her husband.

"I told her," Wait, wait, call for help now, "she told CNN affiliate WFTS on Thursday, sobbing.

Her husband, Steven, was killed by an oak tree who destroyed their home in Gretna, Florida, and landed on it. The 44-year-old was among 18 people who died since Hurricane Michael, who landed on Wednesday.

A few hours after the storm left her house in ruins, Gayle Sweet refused to leave. Her husband's body was still trapped in the rubble.

"I hope they (the emergency teams) will be here soon, I'm not going anywhere until they get him out," she said. declared.

Six people died in Virginia. Four people drowned and a firefighter was killed when a semitrailer lost control and struck his truck on a soggy highway in Hanover County. The Emergency Management Department of Virginia announced Saturday the death of the sixth person in Charlotte County.

The impact of climate change on storms

Michael's strength can reflect the effects of climate change on storms. The planet has warmed considerably over the last few decades, leading to changes in the environment.

According to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, man-made greenhouse gases create an energy imbalance: more than 90% of the remaining heat is trapped by gases entering the oceans.

The Climate Central research group says that unless the rate of greenhouse gas emissions changes, hurricanes should intensify more rapidly in the coming decades.