Thread: Hurricane Irma may soon grab spotlight from Harvey

https://youtube.com/watch?v=fDzKdoG1yj8

Originally Posted by S Landreth

Cat 2 storm. It’s pretty much over thankfully

Yes that's a relief. Category 2's not so bad.

Originally Posted by S Landreth

https://www.windy.com/KMCO?28.429,-82.408,8

it is a great app also - https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...indyty.android

We shall see what's happened in Bradenton and Tampa in a couple of hours.

Naples took a hit.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=S6eJbe5GyDo

^ It was cat 3 when it hit. Nothing compared to what happened to the Caribbean islands that took the full brunt of that 185 mph cat 5.

Still an f'ng mess.

Originally Posted by bsnub

Nothing compared to what happened to the Caribbean islands that took the full brunt of that 185 mph cat 5.

Cat 5 down to a 3 @ landfall is still gonna have real strong storm surge (arguably the more dangerous/costly aspect of hurricanes) on par with a higher category storm.

Could've been worse (of course).....

<casts an eye of suspicion at that loopy, crazy-lookin' Jose' mudda pucka>

Proceed with caution:

IT was Trump who turned it down to a Cat 1 , mystical powers that man possessive.

French Hurricane Rescues Raise Anger, Racial Questions

PARIS —
Some black and mixed-race residents of the hurricane-devastated French territory on the island of St. Martin are expressing anger at a perception that white tourists have been given priority during evacuations.

The anger over perceived discrimination exposes underlying racial tensions that have long plagued France's far-flung former colonies — especially its Caribbean territories, where most of the population identifies as black, and is poorer than the white minority.

St. Martin resident Johana Soudiagom was disturbed to find herself among a tiny handful of non-whites evacuated on a boat to nearby Guadeloupe after Hurricane Irma ravaged her island.

"It's selective. Excuse me, but we saw only mainlanders,'' she told Guadeloupe 1ere television, visibly shaken. "That's a way of saying, `I'm sorry, only whites. There are only whites on the boat.'''

It's common practice for tourists to be evacuated first from disaster zones for practical reasons, as they are staying in hotels and not in their homes, and tend to have fewer resources such as food and vehicles. The French prime minister insisted Monday that the only people being prioritized are the most vulnerable.

Yet Soudiagom and other witnesses told Guadeloupe 1ere that the boat they took Friday carried tourists, including Americans, to safety but left many St. Martin residents behind, including needy mothers and children.

On Monday, France's Representative Council of Black Associations wrote to the government asking for a parliamentary inquiry into the handling of the Irma recovery, amid concerns that those evacuated weren't "necessarily the most in distress.''

"In my eyes, Irma is for the French Antilles what Hurricane Katrina was for Louisiana in the U.S. — an exposer of racial and social inequalities,'' the group's spokesman, Louis-Georges Tin, told The Associated Press.

The terror of facing down a Category 5 hurricane has combined with a long-held sense of isolation among local residents of St. Martin, some 6,700 kilometers (4,200 miles) from the French mainland and popular with European tourists.

"The natural catastrophe occurred in a place that's very vulnerable socially, where there is a population of many different skin colors and a history of slavery,'' said Michel Giraud, a French researcher who writes on race. "Of course there will be a perception of racism.''

The island of St. Martin — divided in the 17th century into the French territory of Saint-Martin and the Dutch territory of Sint Maarten — measures just 87 square kilometers (34 square miles). Its 80,000 residents are a vibrant ethnic mix descended mainly from Africa, Europe and Asia. The two sides of the island share a creole language that draws heavily on English vocabulary.

The French part of St. Martin is similar to other French holdings in the Caribbean in that its white minority is generally wealthier than its black majority. Because France bans the collection of data on race, there are no statistics to show how much wealthier.

It began as a colony whose economy was fueled by African slaves. But after slavery was abolished in 1848, Tin said, "there were no reparations for the slaves, only for the slave owners,'' so the former slaves won freedom but remained destitute. "The economy is now based on tourism but it is still poor. The wages are significantly lower than the mainland France.''

The government isn't the only one being accused of racial bias in the wake of the storm. Giraud said French television reports on the devastation focused disproportionately on white people.

"When I saw the pictures I was shocked,'' Giraud said. "In the coverage I saw, the victims were mostly white tourists, or white French mainlanders. But the poorest are always the first victims.''

Irma hit St. Martin on Wednesday, killing at least nine people on the French part of the island and damaging a majority of its buildings.

The following day looters were seen hauling food, water and televisions from shops, and videos featuring predominantly black people raiding shops circulated online. Some took to social media to blame the thieving on non-whites, and characterizing the white evacuees as innocents escaping the chaos.

Tin said the island's poorer residents were doing what they had to after an ineffective government response.

"What some call theft, others call survival,'' he said. "When the state doesn't do its job, it's normal that the poorest do what's necessary to survive.''

"In Florida there were more than 1 million evacuated, and France says that with four days' notice they couldn't evacuate a much smaller number,'' Tin said. "The question must be asked, does it have to do with racism?''

The government argues that it is more difficult to transport tens of thousands of people off small islands in stormy weather than it is to tell people to drive to safety.

French President Emmanuel Macron will fly to St. Martin on Tuesday to inspect the damage and relief operations and to reassure the local population.

Christophe Castaner, the French government's spokesman, said that he perfectly understands islanders' anger with the government's response — but blamed part of the controversy on their "emotional shock, an impact that's extremely hard psychologically.''

https://www.voanews.com/a/french-hur...s/4023763.html

Florida Keys Could Be Inaccessible for Weeks Due to Irma Devastation

WASHINGTON —
Residents of the chain of islands at Florida's southern tip could be prevented from returning to their homes for weeks by the extensive devastation from Hurricane Irma, the White House said Monday.

U.S. homeland security adviser Tom Bossert said recovery in the Florida Keys is “going to take a while” because of damage to bridges that link the islands to the U.S. mainland.

“I would expect that the Keys are not fit for re-entry for regular citizenry for weeks,” Bossert said. The archipelago, a popular tourist destination, has about 70,000 full-time residents.

Bossert's assessment came as Florida officials got their first look at the damage Irma left behind. The hurricane weakened to a tropical storm Monday as moved through northern Florida and into Georgia, dumping torrential rains across the region. Numerous communities were flooded, from Florida's western shoreline on the Gulf of Mexico to the state's biggest city, Jacksonville, on the Atlantic Ocean coast.

Six million without power

Some officials in Florida said they were relieved, since damage overall was not as severe as had been predicted, after Irma raked over fragile Caribbean islands last week and wrecked their normal sun-and-sand, tourist-based economies. Dutch King Willem-Alexander flew to St. Maarten, the Netherlands’ tiny Caribbean territory, for a firsthand look at the devastation.

The damage in mainland Florida may have been less concentrated, but it spread across a much larger area. The state is the third most populous in the U.S., with more than 20 million residents. Nearly six million people had no power Monday, and large areas were devastated by fallen trees, roofs ripped from homes and roads closed by wind-swept rains; many harbors were filled with the wreckage of storm-tossed yachts.

Winds diminish, waves still a concern

The National Hurricane Center said the storm's maximum sustained winds — over 200 kilometers per hour (125 mph) at times on Sunday — have diminished to 95 kph (60 mph), with some higher gusts. Tropical gales were still felt more that 650 kilometers (400 miles) from the center of the swirling weather system.

The hurricane center warned that swells along the southeastern U.S. coast could still cause “life-threatening surf and rip current conditions.” Forecasters also warned that tornadoes were possible near the Georgia and South Carolina coasts.

The U.S. State Department said it reopened embassies and consulates in the Dominican Republic, Haiti, the Bahamas, Barbados and Curaçao, although services were limited. The Defense Department said 4,600 American troops were supporting relief operations in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and that more than 10,000 service members were in Florida.

Keeping an eye on Jose

Meanwhile, weather forecasters are keeping an eye on Hurricane Jose, now with maximum sustained winds of 165 kph. Jose is expected to gradually weaken as it meanders in the Atlantic off the eastern U.S. seaboard in a near circular pattern, posing no immediate threat to populated areas.

Rescue teams continued to pull people out of their homes in some Florida communities on Monday as floodwaters rose.

Declared a disaster area

After ravaging the Leeward Islands and other parts of the eastern Caribbean last week, Hurricane Irma passed over Puerto Rico and grazed Cuba before turning north and slamming into the Florida Keys early Sunday, when it was near its maximum strength. By evening it closed in on Tampa and St. Petersburg, the two largest cities around Tampa Bay, near the northern end of the Florida Peninsula.

President Donald Trump declared Florida a major disaster area Sunday, a step that will release federal aid funds for storm victims more quickly.

Only three storm-related deaths were reported in Florida through late Sunday, but at least 25 other people died as a result of the storm during its earlier passage through the Caribbean.

Prime Minister Gaston Browne of Antigua and Barbuda said 95 percent of Barbuda's buildings were destroyed or severely damaged.

The power grid in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico was so badly damaged that repairs could take months, authorities on the island said. More than one million residents have no power.

Puerto Rico says it received more than 1,000 people, mainly U.S. citizens, evacuated from St. Thomas and St. Maarten.

The Pentagon deployed Navy ships and aircraft and hundreds of Marines to help with recovery efforts in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The U.S. Air Force flew evacuation flights to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and to the Dutch Caribbean island of St. Maarten, which also suffered severe damage.

French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to arrive in the adjoining French territory of St. Martin on Tuesday. The smaller French island of St. Barthelemy, which is nearby, also was badly damaged.

https://www.voanews.com/a/irma-weake...h/4023411.html

Mother Nature at her worse.

One can only wish the affected families the best of luck at receiving help and getting their lives back to normal asap.

Well thank god Thailand doesn't have Hurricanes or Cyclones as they're called over here. Yesterday my True WIFI went down and is still down after lightning hit my local Tesco Lotus. All it took was one hit and 150 houses Wifi's have been taken out. We keep on calling the customer service desk but it takes forever to get through. How hard is it to fix? Cons on Truevisions it's hardly Hurricane Irma! Ffs.

And we have the corporate chain minimum wage greed $$$$$$$$. And Jacksonville, suffered horrendous flooding and dangerous surges. People would definitely be going to eat out at Pizza Hut or order delivery during Irma.

Pizza Hut bashed after store threatened workers fleeing Irma

Pizza Hut has apologized after a Florida store circulated an announcement saying employees would be disciplined for fleeing Hurricane Irma outside of a narrow time window.

An announcement posted in a Jacksonville, Florida, store as Irma barreled toward the state was shared on Reddit this weekend and quickly made the rounds on social media. The posting spelled out the circumstances under which workers would be allowed to evacuate, and threatened to discipline them if they did not work their scheduled shifts.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pizza-h...-fleeing-irma/

And looters in Ft. Lauderdale:

A $150 Billion Misfire: How Disaster Models Got Irma Wrong

Twenty miles may have made a $150 billion difference.

Estimates for the damage Hurricane Irma would inflict on Florida kept mounting as it made its devastating sweep across the Caribbean. It was poised to be the costliest U.S. storm on record. Then something called the Bermuda High intervened and tripped it up.

“We got very lucky,” said Jeff Masters, co-founder of Weather Underground in Ann Arbor, Michigan. If Irma had passed 20 miles west of Marco Island instead of striking it on Sunday, “the damage would have been astronomical.” A track like that would have placed the powerful, eastern eye wall of Irma on Florida’s Gulf Coast.

By one estimate, the total cost dropped to about $50 billion Monday from $200 billion over the weekend. The state escaped the worst because Irma’s eye shifted away from the biggest population center of Miami-Dade County.

The credit goes to the Bermuda High, which acts like a sort of traffic cop for the tropical North Atlantic Ocean. The circular system hovering over Bermuda jostled Irma onto northern Cuba Saturday, where being over land sapped it of some power, and then around the tip of the Florida peninsula, cutting down on storm surge damage on both coasts of the state.

“The Bermuda High is finite and it has an edge, which was right over Key West,” Masters said. Irma caught the edge and turned north.



https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...amage-so-wrong

Originally Posted by Grampa

And looters in Ft. Lauderdale:

That's racist. They're not showing the white people looting.

Florida governor vows aggressive probe of Irma nursing home deaths



HOLLYWOOD, Fla./SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (Reuters) - Florida Governor Rick Scott vowed on Wednesday that the state would aggressively investigate how six people died at a nursing home that lost power when Hurricane Irma rampaged through the region, as millions coped with another day without electricity.

The death toll from the storm approached 80 as officials continued to assess the damage after Irma powered through the Caribbean as one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes on record and slammed into the Florida Keys archipelago with sustained winds of up to 130 miles per hour (215 km per hour).

Irma killed at least 36 people in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina, according to officials. Some 4.2 million homes and businesses, or about 9 million people, were without power on Wednesday in Florida and nearby states.

Police opened a criminal investigation at the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills in Hollywood, north of Miami, where three elderly residents were found dead at the facility and three later died at a nearby hospital, officials said.

“I am going to work to aggressively demand answers on how this tragic event took place,” Scott said in a statement. “This situation is unfathomable. Every facility that is charged with caring for patients must take every action and precaution to keep their patients safe.”

More than 100 patients at the nursing home were evacuated on Wednesday along with 18 patients from a nearby facility that was cleared due to the criminal investigation, Hollywood officials said.

Florida governor vows aggressive probe of Irma nursing home deaths | Reuters

Jose's headed for the East cost now.

Maria......

(CNN)Three storms are spinning in the Atlantic, with one already a hurricane and another one strengthening and forecast to threaten areas battered by Hurricane Irma last week.

Tropical Storm Maria formed Saturday in the western Atlantic Ocean and is expected to be a hurricane by late Monday and a major hurricane by Wednesday, the National Hurricane Center says.

Atlantic hosts three storms, with Maria on Irma's path - CNN

Maria upgraded to Cat 1, still following Irma's path.