By Rebecca Leber 8 September 2017 (Mother Jones) – Three weeks ago, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that reversed an Obama-era requirement that future construction in areas likely to flood need to be built at a higher elevation [cf. Trump signs order to end Obama-era flood risk building standards]. But after the devastation […]
By Rachel Lewis 8 September 2017 (TIME) – President Donald Trump’s seaside resort Mar-a-Lago and the surrounding barrier islands have been ordered to evacuate as the ferocious Hurricane Irma approaches Florida.Palm Beach County officials ordered that residents of the islands and low-lying areas should start to leave by 10 a.m. on Friday, the Miami Herald […]
Dr. Jeff Masters 8 September 2017 (Weather Underground) – Hurricane Irma weakened from Category 5 to Category 4 strength on Friday morning, but still represents an extreme danger to much of Southern Florida, as well as portions of northern Cuba and the southernmost Bahama Islands.If you live by the coast in an area that that […]
By Kathryn Watson 8 September 2017 (CBS News) – Four Texas Republicans on Friday voted against the bill that included aid for Hurricane Harvey recovery in their state, along with a debt limit extension.The House approved the legislation 316-90, in a vote that authorized $15.3 billion in aid for those affected by Harvey, raised the […]
Dr. Jeff Masters 7 September 2017 (Weather Underground) – Hurricane Irma plowed through the Turks and Caicos Islands (population 31,000) on Thursday evening, as it headed west-northwest at 16 mph towards The Bahamas and Florida. Irma maintained Category 5 intensity with 175 mph winds as its eye crossed the small privately-owned Big Ambergris Cay, but […]
By Molly Rubin 7 September 2017 (Quartz) – For the first time in modern history, three hurricanes in the Atlantic are lined up in the most dangerous of ways, according to Eric Blake, a hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center.The National Hurricane Center (NHC) has issued advisories on Hurricane Irma (currently located north of […]
By Eric Holthaus 7 September 2017(Grist) – The last Category 5 hurricane to make landfall in the United States was Andrew, which lashed South Florida with wind gusts of up to 177 miles per hour in 1992. It caused immense devastation and forever changed Florida’s approach to hurricanes.Twenty-five years later, we have Hurricane Irma — […]
By Eric Mack 5 September 2017 (Forbes) – While flood waters still stand in Houston, another dangerous storm – Hurricane Irma – is on a track toward the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and perhaps Florida, according to multiple models. Thanks in part to the same warm ocean waters that helped make Hurricane Harvey so destructive, […]
By Graham Lanktree 6 September 2017 (Newsweek) – Hurricane Irma made landfall on the small island of Barbuda as a Category 5 hurricane Wednesday as it heads toward the U.S. Virgin Islands and Florida.The size of the storm left hurricane and weather scientists speechless. “I am at a complete and utter loss for words looking […]
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, 5 September 2017 (Associated Press) – Hurricane Irma strengthened into a dangerous Category 5 storm Tuesday as it roared toward the northeast Caribbean on a path toward the U.S.The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Irma had sustained winds of 175mph (280 kph) and was centered about 270 miles (440 kilometers) east […]
