Authored by Sarah Burris via RawStory.com,
Hurricane Harvey was a tragic nightmare that hit the Texas shores with force and then lingered for days, dumping truck-loads of rain on a city ill-equipped to handle it. Florida is next, and if predictions are accurate, Hurricane Irma is going to be far worse than Houston was, and worse than anyone has prepared for.
Already, Irma is setting records and being named the strongest storm the Atlantic Ocean has seen on record. Here is a short list of things meteorologists and experts at the Hurricane Center have already seen from Irma that should give everyone pause.
1. The wind speeds broke the measuring tool.
The wind was so strong when Irma passed over Barbuda that the monitoring equipment used to measure the wind was damaged and couldn’t report an accurate account of the wind speed. It tapped out at 151 mph.
2. The prospect of 185mph wind should strike fear into our hearts.
The gusts for the Category 5 storm have reached 185 mph. That’s the equivalent of an EF4 tornado sitting on an area, nonstop for hours. To put that into perspective, the photo below is of the damage sustained by residents of Garland/Rowlett, Texas after an EF4 tornado blew through in 2015.
Damage in a residential area as a result of the EF4 Garland/Rowlett, Texas tornado. (Photo: Wikipedia)
To make matters worse, NOAA’s tools dropped into the hurricane to measure the storm and recorded 226mph gusts from its northeast eyewall.
7:15 PM – Whoa. Dropsonde in NE eyewall 196 knot winds just 19mb above the surface, 167 knot winds in lowest reported level. #Irma pic.twitter.com/rB31sZf61B
— Alex Lamers (@AlexJLamers) September 5, 2017
3. No one has heard from the tiny island it hit in hours.
Barbuda is a tiny island with barely over 1,000 residents. The top elevation on the island is 125 feet above sea level. Storm surges, however, predict waves will reach seven to 11 feet in the Northern Leeward Islands. That was worse for Turks and Caicos, which is expected to see 15- to 20-foot storm surges. As long as the surges are under 10 feet, Barbuda will be fine, but storm surges like those expected for Turks and Caicos would destroy the island.
Already, what scientists have seen from Barbuda is leaving them speechless. Tide sensors in Barbuda recently reported 7.89 feet above what the average height of the top tide is each day.
“I am at a complete and utter loss for words looking at Irma’s appearance on satellite imagery,” tweeted Taylor Trogdon, of the National Hurricane Center.
I am at a complete and utter loss for words looking at Irma's appearance on satellite imagery. pic.twitter.com/B0ewFyvcSv
— Taylor Trogdon (@TTrogdon) September 5, 2017
4. Irma ripped grass from its roots.
CNN meteorologist Chad Myers reported that there were parts of Bermuda that saw vegetation ripped from the soil, the winds were so strong. The claim hasn’t been reported by other outlets and there are no photos or video yet that show the full extent of the damage.
5. Miami isn’t prepared — no one is.
Florida is as good as it gets at handling hurricanes, similar to states that are accustomed to navigating tornadoes or weathering earthquakes. Florida citizens know how to prepare for a storm. However, the strength of Irma seems to dwarf more recent hurricanes.
Already, the city of Miami is being forced to raise its roads to accommodate rising waters creeping into the city. A report from The Atlantic notes that the last major hurricane to hit Miami was in 1926 and 400 people were killed. Back then, the city boasted 100,000 residents, but today the population is more like 6 million.
Disaster planners have long been concerned about a natural event of this magnitude hitting a major U.S. city. If Irma turns toward Florida, this could be the horrific event they’ve feared.
“It won’t survive,” said former top emergency manager Craig Fugate in 2014.
6. President Donald Trump only barely understands the crisis.
During a meeting with Democratic and Republican leaders, Trump acted as if he had special insider information on the severity of Hurricane Irma. All he could manage to tell them was it is “not good.”
"(Irma) looks like it could be something that will be not good. Believe me, not good," Trump says in Oval. https://t.co/hdhl52fs8u
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) September 6, 2017
Barbuda “Totally Demolished” After Hurricane Irma Levels 90% Of All Dwellings
by Tyler Durden
Sep 7, 2017 5:32 AM
Having mauled the Caribbean island of St. Martin overnight, where this morning the French government said that the four “most solid” buildings have been destroyed, Hurricane Irma – now at 185mps for a record 33 straight hours – has just passed north of Puerto Rico, buffeting the US island territory’s capital, San Juan, with heavy downpours and strong winds that scattered tree limbs across roadways, but not before “totally demolishing” the island of Barbuda, with 90% of all dwellings leveled, Prime Minister Gaston Browne said.
Browne said that Irma has unleashed “absolute devastation” on the island making Barbuda, home to some 1,800 people, “basically uninhabitable” with preliminary damage estimated at some $150 million.
He said that the island’s communication network is 100% destroyed.
A before and after photo confirms the devastation:
“This rebuilding initiative will take years,” Browne told local television after a visit to the island, where he confirmed at least one person had died due to the storm. A second storm-related fatality, that of a surfer, was reported on Barbados and the French government said at least two people were killed in Caribbean island territories of St. Martin and Saint Barthelemy.
Irma, with top sustained winds of 185 miles per hour (300 km per hour), was on track to reach Florida on Saturday or Sunday, becoming the second major hurricane to hit the U.S. mainland in as many weeks.
While Irma’s intensity could fluctuate, and its precise course remained uncertain, the storm was expected to remain at least a Category 4 before arriving in Florida.
Irma is not alone, and as reported earlier, two other hurricanes formed on Wednesday. While Katia, in the Gulf of Mexico, poses no threat to the U.S. Hurricane Jose in the open Atlantic, about 1,000 miles (1,610 km) east of the Caribbean’s Lesser Antilles islands, could also eventually threaten the U.S. mainland, a third hurricane landfall on the U.S. in under a month.
According to Reuters, Florida emergency management officials, chastened by Harvey’s devastation, began evacuations days in advance of Irma’s arrival, ordering all tourists to leave the Florida Keys, a resort archipelago off the state’s southern tip, starting Wednesday morning. Evacuation of residents from the Keys was to begin Wednesday evening.
Ed Rappaport, acting National Hurricane Center director, interviewed on Miami television station WFOR-TV, called Irma a “once-in-a-generation storm,” adding that for Florida, “It’s the big one for us.”
Chuck Watson, disaster modeler with Enki Research, said in a note that “Irma is the kind of storm where you get thousands of lives lost. This is not going to be the big slow-motion flood like Harvey – this is a real, honest-to-God hurricane.”
Late on Wednesday, the eye of Irma passed just north of Puerto Rico.
“The winds that we are experiencing right now are like nothing we have experienced before,” Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello told CNN. “We expect a lot of damage, perhaps not as much as was seen in Barbuda.”
At least half of Puerto Rico’s homes and businesses lost electricity by nightfall, according to a Twitter message posted by an island utility executive. According to the Miami Herald, Puerto Rico residents could be left without power for four to six months after Hurricane Irma grazes the island.
“There are going to be blackouts. Areas that will spend three, four months without electricity,” Ricardo Ramos, executive director of Puerto Rico’s energy agency, said, according to the Spanish-language news agency EFE.
On its current path the core of Irma, which the Miami-based center said marked the strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean, was expected to scrape the northern coast of the Dominican Republic on Thursday. It was on a track that would put it near the Turks and Caicos and southeastern Bahamas by Thursday evening.
Trump, whose waterfront Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, could take a direct hit from the storm, has already approved emergency declarations for Florida, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, mobilizing federal disaster relief efforts. He spoke with governors of all three by telephone on Wednesday, the White House said.
Florida Governor Rick Scott said Irma could be more devastating than Hurricane Andrew, a Category 5 storm that struck the state in 1992 and still ranks as one of the costliest ever in the United States.
Residents in most coastal communities of densely populated Miami-Dade County were ordered to move to higher ground beginning at 9 a.m. ET (1300 GMT) on Thursday, Mayor Carlos Gimenez announced on Wednesday. The evacuation orders will affect more than 100,000 residents, the Miami Herald reported. Miami-Dade has a population of 2.7 million.
Scott told a news conference in the Keys that 7,000 National Guard troops would report for duty on Friday, ahead of the storm’s expected arrival. Statewide emergency declarations were issued in both North and South Carolina, and Georgia Governor Nathan Deal declared an emergency for six coastal counties in anticipation of Irma’s arrival.
Projections I have seen is that by the time it hits Florida it may have dropped to a Cat3 storm. Which will be not the end of Florida – just another clean-up foisted off onto taxpayers at large.
Nah; wait for Yellowstone or San Andreas.
The two main models I’ve been looking at have shown a rapid deepening of the hurricane just as it turns to hit Florida. They have shown this for quite a few days now.
So I guess it could be a cat3 at landfall or a rapidly intensifying cat 4/5 at landfall. Guess we’ll know by Sunday. At anyrate be somewhere else.
It’s early fall / late summer , HURRICANE SEASON !
The fact that a couple of severe storm events are tracking and building in intensity just means we need to be more vigilant in preparing as a nation . Realistically we must remember living on a Coast or an island has inherant risks especially in a tropical or near tropical climate . Some live there due to life’s cirmanstances but many by choice . The federal flood insurance programs were intended to keep fertile farm land in americas bread basket producing by protecting losses from that flood that invariably happens . This program worked to keep the country feed ! It was not intended to protect that oceanfront condo or house on the bay or river because of a life style choice or business investment .
Living at or below sea level like New Orleans is just a bad idea but again for many it’s a choice . For those that choose you roll the dice . Those stuck by inherent circumstances we help but you do not move back to the risky location then it’s on you . We all make good and bad choices in life , we should reap the benefits of our good choices and accept responsibility and accountability for the bad ones . Choose wisely
The Houston disaster we must remember like the food line it’s the fuel line and the majority of people that work in that industry are as vital to our country as the farmer !
Go to higher ground seems like the best thing to do.Get the Hell out of Dodge.Run like wind but most probably will stay and suffer the consequences.
“I’m sitting here on the north east side of Puerto Rico….and this is NOT a category 5 hurricane. I lived in the Florida Keys on and off for 8 years and this is barely a CAT 3 in my experience.
The media claims “185 mph winds” and other lies such as “Puerto Rico is getting battered” but the wind is barely blowing at all. The worst damage we have so far is 2 potted plants have been knocked off the table by our fence, a 2 inch branch fell, and a few branches on our palm tree snapped off. That’s it.
And we’re on a hill top, totally exposed to the wind.
We have not lost power the entire time. The hurricane is pretty much moving northwest and away from us at this time and the rain finally picked up a little but its still not what I would consider a CAT 5 far as wind speed. The media is lying about the strength of this storm. A few days before the hurricane hit us I watched one news station on Youtube say “The eye of the storm has disappeared…but dont worry folks, It will come back!” They obviously want people to believe this is going to be the “Storm of the century” – Report from member of warriormatrix.com website.
All weather is hyped to the max for the NWO control using GloBull Warming (Climate Change – CO2 causes everything negative) as the means to subdue our Grey Matter (it has already worked with Registered Democrats).
“north east side of Puerto Rico”.
So first the strongest winds in a hurricane are generally in the east and northeast side.
Looking at the radar imagery. The inner eye wall (strongest) passed about 40miles north of the NE coast of PR.
An outer eyewall (weaker) just brushed the coastline, barely.
Short of it is….equating a slight grazing to a direct hit is apples to oranges.
“Not good.”
Brilliant, Donald. Just. Brilliant.
You are being a Dick. WTF did you want him to say that would appease your emotional distress.
He should have used the opportunity to blame Irma on democrats.
He could of said “Don’t worry Florida. After Irma passes I’ll make Florida great again, let me tell you.”
No disagreement about my dickish proclivities, though.
OK
Stucky,
You simply deserve an ass-kicking.
Many have tried. All have failed. Give it your best shot!
LOL! Dan done got triggered!
I’ll go get the popcorn!
Stucky,
What would you have POTUS 45 say ?
You are a flaming asshole !
I doubt this qualify as being even close to the worst in history by the time it reaches Florida.
People like to panic for some reason, whether the cause of it real or not.
Media hair on fire is just a diversion. The real news is that Trump is a Democrat now. There will be no wall, there will still be Obamacare and the government is going to legalize 12,000,000 illegal Democrat voters. If I am wrong I will humble myself in this forum but I smell treason.
Trump isn’t a Democrat or a Republican, he’s a Populist that got in through the Republicans.
The Republicans refuse to work with him, especially on Obamacare which only Congress can do anything about, so he has to work with somebody to get anything at all done.
Still, Trump is accomplishing more of what the Republicans claim to stand for and campaign on than anyone else has in spite of massive Republican resistance to it.
Trump was a plant to insure HC election…backfired. He’ll be just HC without tits or a blond Obee. Ouirphuqed. (Plagiarized)
I’m perplexed. Are you saying that a hurricane may actually hit the coastal areas where hurricanes form during hurricane season?
How did this happen? It’s not fair. Doesn’t the weather know that millions of people have spent billions of dollars building their homes, businesses and industries right where these things form annually based on the geography and climate of the planet? Why don’t they just hit the empty deserts or something?
And now, for something completely different-
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Now that’s scary, Hardscrabble Farmer
Except that it’s not “natural” http://asheepnomore.net/2017/09/07/hurricane-irma-obvious-manmade-origin/
El Moron, unless your name is Colma, you can’t use that moniker.
Should I be worried here in the East Valley of Phoenix? I don’t have flood insurance.
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Stucky,
You are simply a Soros troll. Eff you and soetoro-obama !
The quality of your posts are better than anything I’ve seen here in quite a while. I can tell you’re pretty dang smart to. I hop you stay a long time.
Hey, how about that Trump? He’s a Demoncrap now! Have you seen the shit eating grin on Pepsi’s face today? Like she sucked all the Republican from his shriveled nutsack.
It was just a Republican patina, a conservative sheen. It’s hilarious that you all fell for it. Heck, we knew it was all make believe. No real Republican violates Uncle Ronnie’s rule about badmouthing other Republicans. Good thing you never saw Trump hanging out with the Clingons.
Trump was our sheep in wolf’s clothing; all’s fair in war and politics, or as Bush 2 would say, win dirty but win.
Wow, Danny Boy, that was harsh. Never have I seen Stucky so ill-treated. I thought you were kidding above. Maybe you should sit in the corner until you learn how to behave on an adult site.
Anyone who builds a lean-to within 20 mies of a beach (Gulf or Atlantic) in Florida has to be just like those who build on the Big Island of Hawaii.
Here you have hurricanes, in Hawaii you have Pele. Build either place, you must be willing to give up what you have built to either storm surge, wind or water in Florida or in Hawaii, give it back to Pele as she floods your home with fresh lava.
I’ve live both places. I know whereof I speak, which is why, living in Florida, I am exactly 65 miles inland from either coast and could still get the shit kicked out of me. But I don’t fret storm surges or rain or water. Wind is another matter but usually by the time it’s rubbed over land that 65 miles, it’s more manageable.
I’ll let the TBPers’ know – next Wednesday or Thursday how Central Florida (far from each coast) fared during the blow.
@llpoh: In Aussie land – if you live in NE Australia your cyclones can do the same kind of damage. Unless you live upcountry where it’s nicer..
muck
Muckster – I need not worry about storms. But the damn snakes worry the hell out of me. The Eastern Browns are thick as thieves around here, are second most poisonous on earth, have a foul disposition, and have killed half the Ozzies to have been killed by snakebite. I hate the bastards.
LLPOH, I gots beaucoup Eastern Diamondbacks here in FL. Wouldn’t live without the ten dollar extractor…Sawyer’s.. A true life saver.. no questions..
https://sawyer.com/products/extractor-pump-kit/
Nkit -studies show they do not work on snakebite:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14747805
Plus, a rattler is no way equivalent to an Eastern Brown, and I shit you not. EBs are enormously more poisonous, and untreated you are a goner. Rattlers an adult usually survives.
A tiny, tiny speck of EB venom is enough to kill. And fast. Some are dead in minutes, but usually you are ok if a compression bandage is used and you get antivenom. Dry bites are around 80%, thankfully.
i thought a tiapan was more deadly than the eastern brown?
and the most deadly were on that island off brazil were the venom if spat at you will kill you and the island is closed to all visitors.
IndenturedServant live through Hurricane Hugo in 1989. IndenturedServant no like hurricane now. IndenturedServant move away from hurricane magnet location. IndenturedServant no longer worry or think much about hurricanes.
Interestingly, Hugo went back to sea and reorganized as a major tropical depression which then traveled all the way across the Atlantic, up the English Channel and came ashore in Suffolk UK (east coast) utterly destroying the Rendelsham Forest where I just happened to move to three months after it struck my home in SC.
Irma looks big enough to pass over the FL peninsula with impunity and into the Gulf. That would certainly tighten some bungholes in the Houston/Nawlins area! I know the Wx shows it taking a more northerly track but I’m a twisted MF’er who looks for the dark lining in every silver cloud!
Shout out to DAN III. We haven’t had such an uniformed moran here on TBP since Robert Finnegan. Go ahead and keep talking out your ass……it’s cheap entertainment!
ah, Finnegan’s Wake. Isn’t he the moran who Outed James Quinn, the notorious shock jock?
Well, he thought he did. That reminds me I need to go troll him to find out if he ever finished part two of his exposé on admin. I’m still waiting for his Marine buddies to show up and break my legs.
I’ve been waiting for you – lifting weights and doing cocaine all day.
I can’t help but imagine all the people wanting to rebuild right by the ocean again. Texas also.
Why not? The gubmint will rebuild for you.
IS…Hugo wasn’t fun. The first time I truly feared Mother Nature .
Living by the sea is like waking up and you say I well just go run into a wall and hurt my self just for the fun of it knowing it will make pay out out money but hell maybe the Gov’t will give me the money to rebuild by dumb ass