Hurricane Irma (since August 30th 2017) is, by some measures, the strongest Atlantic hurricane on record – and it is headed right towards Florida, after leaving a trail of destruction in the Caribbean.
Caribbean: It spent Saturday in Cuba, the first Category 5 hurricane, the worst kind, to hit there since 1924. It hit Barbuda on Wednesday, where it cut it off from the outside world and then damaged 95% of its buildings – the worst storm in living memory.
US: It is expected to hit the Florida Keys Sunday morning and then spend Sunday and Monday going up the west coat of Florida. The big city there is Tampa. By Tuesday it will have likely turned into a bad rainstorm in Georgia. Over 7 million people who live near the coasts of Florida and Georgia have been told to flee their homes. The waves at the shoreline are expected to be as high as 5 metres (15 ft) – taller than many houses. This comes on the heels of Hurricane Harvey hitting Houston, Texas the other week.
Disney World: will be closed for the fifth time ever, from Saturday night to Tuesday. They were already starting to get rain at Cinderella’s Castle Friday night, at what will now be their last fireworks show before the storm.
The reported death toll so far, as of Saturday (September 9th):
- 1 Barbados
- 1 Antigua and Barbuda
- 2 Dutch St Martin
- 11 French West Indies (St Martin, St Bart, etc)
- 1 Anguilla
- 0 British Virgin Islands
- 4 US Virgin Islands
- 3 Puerto Rico
- 0 Dominican Republic
- 0 Haiti
- 0 Turks and Caicos
- 0 Cuba
- 0 Bahamas
- 1 US mainland
That is 24 in all. But it has yet to reach Florida, which has way more people than the other places it has hit.
Hurricane Irma was born on August 30th on the other side of the Atlantic, near Cape Verde off the coast of Africa. As it moved west it grew stronger and stronger until it reached winds of 295 km/h (185 mph), something not seen in the Atlantic Ocean since 1980. It has weakened since, but is expected to be as strong as Katrina (205 km/h) when it hits Florida.
Worse than Andrew: People still remember Hurricane Andrew that hit Florida 25 years ago. It was a Category 5. Irma, like Katrina, is expected to be “only” a Category 4 when it hits Florida. But where Andrew went across the southern tip of Florida, Irma will be going along whole length of the state, from south to north. Irma is also larger, larger than even Florida itself.
Fake news: Rush Limbaugh, a right-wing blowhard on the radio, has been saying that the media has been playing up Irma to increase ratings, while the government is playing it up to persuade people of climate change. But now even he has left south Florida, for “parts unknown”.
Climate change: Those who push climate change see in Irma a sign of things to come. Global warming will not necessarily increase the number of hurricanes, but it will make them stronger (hurricanes are made stronger by warmer waters) and flooding worse (as sea levels rise).
Update (Sunday night, 10.16pm US Eastern time): Irma crossed the Florida Keys this morning and is now halfway to Tampa. It has moved inland, weakening to a Category 2, with winds of “only” 105 mph (165 km/h). Three million people have lost power, some as far north as Orlando. It is tearing off roofs as far away as the east coast. It is also giving rise to tornadoes.
Update (Monday night, 8.03pm): Irma has moved into Georgia leaving five reported dead in Florida and some 58% without electric power. Tampa avoided a direct hit, but Orlando got hit harder than expected. Winds are down to 50 mph (85 km/h), so it is no longer officially a hurricane.
– Abagond, 2017.
See also:
- hurricane
- Disney World
- fake news
- climate change
540
[…] read at source […]
LikeLike
Reblogged this on Project ENGAGE.
LikeLike
This thing with the ongoing hurricane Irma hitting Florida makes me ask myself if President Trump will deliver a better response to it compared with the way former President Bush handled Katrina years ago. And what does it mean if he delivers.
By the way, where comes this habit of meteorologists on giving a feminine name to such weather disasters?
LikeLike
@ munubantu
I found a recent article that gives a good overview of how the practice started in the 1940s/50s and why men’s names were added in the late 1970s.
https://www.google.com/amp/amp.timeinc.net/time/4927889/hurricane-names-history/%3fsource=dam
LikeLike
Prayers up for Florida everyone stay safe.
LikeLike
“where comes this habit of meteorologists on giving a feminine name to such weather disasters?”
Easy: it is beautiful when you see it coming. Once you’re in it’s hot and humid, and when it’s gone so are your car and house.
😉
LikeLike
@ In Vino Veritas
…it is beautiful when you see it coming. Once you’re in it’s hot and humid, and when it’s gone so are your car and house.
A male point of view.
What natural disaster describes the effect of men in women’s lives? A woman is bowled over by some hot stud who turns out to be just a sperm donor. Whether married or not, he runs off with other women and leaves you to foot the bill for his kids for life?
Perhaps the house and the car are not enough.
Maybe a wine buzz is not so truthful after all….
LikeLike
@ In Vino Veritas
It’s sexist crap like that which led women to call for a change to begin with.
For almost 40 years now, meteorologists have been equally alternating between feminine and masculine names for storms, yet these old insulting “jokes” still live on.
LikeLike
A sad and silly story from Time.com: “Florida Police Warn People Not to Shoot Their Guns at Hurricane Irma”.
http://time.com/4935117/hurricane-irma-guns-florida/
https://t.co/CV4Y9OJknv
LikeLike
African American culture is rich with many myths and legends. I read one story about hurricanes and The Middle Passage. The true meaning of hurricane, (Her-ricane). The spirit of the African woman who has been stolen, beaten, molested, murdered and thrown overboard the slaveships en route to enslaved lands. This is why all hurricanes start at the same point of exodus of Africa, the post of the Atlantic Slave Trade, and hit every stop where slaves were sold. All through the Caribbean and American coast.
LikeLiked by 2 people
@ Mary Burrell
What a story. Thanks for sharing.
LikeLiked by 1 person
@Afrofem: It’s only folklore and myth but i thought it was an interesting Afrocentric tale.
LikeLike
A post on climate change would be interesting I would be interested in what the posters of this forum think about this subject.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Update (Sunday night, 10.16pm US Eastern time): Irma crossed the Florida Keys this morning and is now halfway to Tampa. It has moved inland, weakening to a Category 2, with winds of “only” 105 mph (165 km/h). Three million people have lost power, some as far north as Orlando. It is tearing off roofs as far away as the east coast. It is also giving rise to tornadoes.
LikeLike
@ Mary
That is an interesting way to think of it.
LikeLike
“…The true meaning of hurricane, (Her-ricane). The spirit of the African woman who has been stolen, beaten, molested, murdered and thrown overboard the slaveships en route to enslaved lands. This is why all hurricanes start at the same point of exodus of Africa, the post of the Atlantic Slave Trade, and hit every stop where slaves were sold. All through the Caribbean and American coast.”
Mary, I didn’t know you were a comedian! Her-ricane!? Really? That reminds me of some African American ‘wit’ who thought that Jews were big in the diamond trade because, diamonds are, I kid you not, Jewellery! Hilarious ain’t it? In other words, this ‘spirit’ of the African woman has taken leave of her senses to the point of chastising the children of her sisters on a regular basis! Some folktales are just dumb.
LikeLike
Some people never met a disaster they couldn’t use for their own gain.
Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine, wrote in the Intercept about how Trump and his posse are pushing for massive tax cuts for mega corps and the mega rich. They are focusing on tax cuts while most of the country is distracted by monster hurricanes, flooding and wildfires.
According to Democracy Now!, Klein is quoted as tweeting: “One for the shock doctrine record books: Trump uses #Irma to push for tax cuts WHILE THE STORM IS STILL HAPPENING.”
Klein goes into more detail about why she believes some people deny science in the Intercept article, “IRMA WON’T “WAKE UP” CLIMATE CHANGE-DENYING REPUBLICANS. THEIR WHOLE IDEOLOGY IS ON THE LINE”.
LikeLike
Update (Monday night, 8.03pm): Irma has moved into Georgia leaving five reported dead in Florida and some 58% without electric power. Tampa avoided a direct hit, but Orlando got hit harder than expected. Winds are down to 50 mph (85 km/h), so it is no longer officially a hurricane.
LikeLike