Hurricane Michael cuts power to over 162,000 in Florida, Georgia, Alabama

(Reuters) - More than 162,000 homes and businesses in Florida, Georgia and Alabama were without power on Wednesday after Hurricane Michael hit the Florida Panhandle, according to local power companies. Hurricane Michael hit the northwest Florida coast as a strong Category 4 storm with maximum sustained winds of 155 miles per hour (249 kilometers per hour). Duke Energy estimated Hurricane Michael could cause between 100,000 and 200,000 of its customers to lose power in Florida. The company said some outages could last several days to more than a week. (Reporting by Scott DiSavino, editing by Jonathan Oatis)