While several worse case scenarios were avoided at the last minute, Hurricane Irma has left a mark on the southern and western portions of Florida that is only now beginning to come to light this morning, on 9-11 of all days. Irma battered the west coast and dumped more than a foot of rain as far east as Miami and West Palm. About one quarter of the state’s 24 million residents are without power with more sure to come as the storm now batters Tallahassee, Orlando and Jacksonville. The latest 8 AM NHC update now rates Irma as a strong tropical storm with max sustained winds of 70 MPH as it stubbornly subsided from hurricane status over night.
The storm itself was bad enough, we will not know the full loss of people and property for days. But the days and weeks afterward can be equally trying, as millions now face life without basic utilities. No electricity, phone and Internet coverage, in muddy, soaked debris ridden towns and hamlets, in humid, dank conditions, for those who rode it out. Not to mention the thousands still in shelters unsure what they will find when they finally return and see their homes and neighborhoods.
Hopefully, the long term response will consist of more than the tax cuts for the rich promised by the president, downplaying climate change as possible under the entire cabinet and the new NASA head, or cutting hundreds of EPA jobs as promised by Scott Pruitt.
The width of the storm complicates emergency response:
The 9-11 cavalry on the way:
At least two manatees have been stranded by the weird tidal effects sweeping out miles of ocean along the lower west coast and are now being rescued