Irma, Jose, Katia

I lived in Florida for thirty years, so I've got friends and family all over the state. We've been getting updates from them. Everyone is either hunkered down or evacuated (if I were still living in Orlando, I would have lots of house guests), but I'm still worried sick. My husband's nephew works for an airport in St. Pete and because they had to get the airplanes away, he flew he and his sister to Georgia. My mother-in-law, near Crystal River, is not in an evacuation area and chose to stay. She said for the last four days, traffic on the highway out of town has been bumper to bumper even in the middle of the night. She and her partner have been having trouble even getting to the store, so they tried to go to a 24-hour place at 2 am, and traffic was still solid.

I feel for all those Florida folks who travelled North and West only to find Irma now seems to have decided to head straight up the West Coast.

I'm waiting for the Harvey version of Texas house flipping. You know it's coming.

Mexico no longer offering Harvey aid after deadly quake

Can't say I blame them.

The Mexican government had offered to send food, personnel, boats and other supplies as part of the Harvey recovery effort. Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray said last month during a visit to Washington that “We are neighbors, we are friends. That’s what friends do.”

But while homeland security adviser Tom Bossert said President Donald Trump was “deeply touched” by a phone call from his Mexican counterpart offering aid and assistance, the federal government did not officially accept Mexico’s aid. The Mexican government noted in its statement that its offer had been accepted by the state of Texas, which said it could use the logistical support offered by Mexico.


Trump, who has not publicly offered condolences to Mexico in the wake of its earthquake and hurricane landfall, has made getting tough with America’s southern neighbor a key part of his political agenda, pledging to either renegotiate or tear up NAFTA and to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border that Mexico will pay for.

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So we survived it. The winds were much stronger than I anticipated considering we were so far from the eye wall of the storm on the east coast. We got very little rain, though other parts of east coast are flooded. The majority of people lost power though right across the street from us in our community, a bunch of units never lost power! That was very depressing to see. LOL Yay for them but WTF? We lost power for 3 days. Not bad at all except that it was 89 degrees in our apt and the screens in this place (we rent) are bent so we couldn't really open the windows because there were bugs and mosquitoes galore. School closed for the entire week. We go back Monday. Many schools were without power and had some flooding damage and they can't open public schools without meals for the kids because over a hundred thousand kids rely on school bfast and lunch every day. Trucks have to be able to deliver the food and that was not happening for the days after the storm. They opened several schools throughout the county to feed kids as of Weds. Pretty awesome. It was truly amazing to see so many downed trees and huge branches/parts of trees. They were EVERYWHERE. Some of the most gorgeous trees in our community are nearly bare of leaves. It's so freaking sad. It actually looks like the end of fall in the northeast around here. But clean up has been on going and major kudos to all the landscapers working overtime everywhere to clean up the mess. And to all the utility people form near and far who have flooded the area (no pun intended) to help restore electricity. Though, someone majorly fu@ked up with that senior home. So heart broken for them and their families.

Oh, and I know several people who headed west before the storm and then headed back east just before the storm arrived when they realized it would be worse there. One friend of mine went to Orlando a couple of days before, then came back before the storm, and then headed back west after the storm because her aunt had power and she didn't. Craziness. Another friend was in Orlando and headed back before the storm arrived. She was racing against the clock because of the curfews put in place.

Maria's back to being a Category 5.

Virgin Islands and others in for a second battering? I can't imagine all the debris being sucked up and sprayed everywhere like shrapnel. I do hope these poor folk have somewhere solid to shelter.

This is an honest question- I don't know, but could a second hit remove the debris?

Bufty said:

Virgin Islands and others in for a second battering? I can't imagine all the debris being sucked up and sprayed everywhere like shrapnel. I do hope these poor folk have somewhere solid to shelter.

This is an honest question- I don't know, but could a second hit remove the debris?

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Probably not remove, but it sure as hell could move it around.

caw

"It isn't that the wind is blowin', it's what the wind is blowin'..." -- Ron White

Meanwhile, we still have several weeks of peak hurricane season to go. This is without question the strongest hurricane season since 2005. Storms of the ferocity of Harvey, Irma and now Maria are historically rare; not this year.

caw