Commissioner Murman quoted in this Appsforpcdaily.com article on Hurricane Irma:
WHERE WILL HURRICANE IRMA HIT IN THE U.S.?
Author Floyd Cook
10 September, 2017
If you’ve ever watched how a storm surge works, it flows in fast, very fast, then it flows out.
Officials said that hurricane-force winds are expected in the Floriday Keys around daybreak on Sunday. I think it’s ‘You run from the water and hide from the wind.’ ” Hillsborough County Commissioner Sandy Murman said, urging residents to take all precautions at an emergency briefing on Saturday. The area hasn’t been hit by a hurricane since 1921.
It is then forecast to change direction and head north towards the USA stateof Florida, where a state of emergency has been called. The Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Tampa and Orlando airports shut down.
If Irma’s eye wall cuts across the Tampa-St. It was set to close at 8:00 p.m. with no word yet on when it would re-open. “The hurricane is expected to move along or near the southwest coast of Florida Sunday afternoon”.
As of early Saturday morning, the storm was still making its way across Cuba with the full extent of the damage unclear.
Evacuations were ordered for several areas in South Florida and the Florida Keys this week.
She said the storm hit at about 2 a.m., and at 4 a.m., they realized the 7th floor of the hotel was flooded.
Orange juice prices have already been creeping higher as Florida braces for the storm.
Throughout this week, Irma’s projected course has changed multiple times.
Florida’s agriculture, fishing and horticulture industries bring in $150 billion per year.
“This is your last chance to make a good decision”, Rick Scott, governor of Florida, warned residents in the state’s evacuation zones, which encompassed a staggering 6.4 million people, or more than 1 in 4 people. Almost 30,000 people had lost power, mostly in and around Miami and Fort Lauderdale, as the wind began gusting.
Some 54,000 people have already taken refuge in the 320 shelters across the state – and the number of evacuees continues to grow, Scott said.
“We are in touch with community leaders in Florida area”, Indian Ambassador to US Navtej Sarna, told PTI after a review meeting he had on hurricane Irma preparedness. “This likely will be one of the most challenging restorations that our country has ever seen”.
Jaspert made the announcement Friday telling residents; “I come to you with a heavy heart after experiencing and observing the extent of devastation caused by Hurricane Irma”.
– HurricaneTracker App (@hurrtrackerapp) September 9, 2017There is the potential that up to 20 million people lose power!
Flood-prone Miami Beach, also under mandatory evacuation order, has been emptied of people but is bracing for high waters. Almost 40% of Miami’s gas stations, for example, were completely out of stock Friday. Even 25 miles off the coast, the Gulf of Mexico is only about 60 feet deep.
Florida is also home to thousands of Indian-Americans. And visitors pump billions of dollarsinto the state’s economy every year.
And hurricane-force winds are expected to lash the peninsula as it rolls north toward Georgia. It’s unknown how many pythons are in the Everglades – estimates range from 10,000 to 100,000 – but the evidence of their presence is the eerie, near-total absence of rabbits or other small animals reported by the hunters now paid by the state to kill pythons on public lands.
Florida’s economy has been chugging along lately, showing promising signs of recovery after the 2008 market crash wreaked havoc on the state.
