Sunday 10 September 2017

Hurricane Irma off Florida

LAST night, I e-mailed my sister who has been living in Naples, Florida for many years:
'Hope you are OK dealing with hurricane Irma?  Have you evaculated yet? '
At about half past eleven pm (British time) she replied:
'Hi,
'No we are at our place!  Extremely stressful!  .... More worried about storm surge but not much we can do now.  Have tried to prepare for the worst hope for the best! Not looking good!  Will let you know when we can!
Keep your fingers crossed, love from the gang here. xx'

This morning CNN reported:
'Hurricane Irma strengthened into a Category 4 storm as it inched closer to Florida, where hundreds of thousands are without power hours before one of the most powerful storms in the Atlantic hits.
Irma was 65 miles southeast of Key West early Sunday with winds of 130 mph.  It marched northwest at 6 mph, and is expected to pass Florida Keys between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m.
Its outer rain bands hammered the Florida Keys with whipping winds, heavy rain and powerful surges as it tore itself away from Cuba's northern coast.
' "It's going from crappy to worse," said John Hines, who did not evacuate and stayed in his home in the Key West, at the southern end of the island chain that stretches off the tip of the Florida peninsula.
'Hines said there's some flooding outside his house, but from the rain, not the storm surge.
"All the interior doors are starting to rattle now, sounds like someone is knocking on the front door," he said. "  The winds are picking up. It's only going to get worse as it gets closer."
'More than 288,000 customers lost power in the state, a majority of them in Monroe County, where Key West is, and Miami-Dade County. '
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