In what spokesman Michael Hernandez describes as “the biggest evacuation in history,” Miami-Dade has expanded its mandatory evacuations orders to Zone C, forcing over 650,000 to leave Florida in a “traffic nightmare” as Cat-5 Hurricane Irma bears down.
An earlier order included just Miami Beach, other low-lying and barrier island areas and all mobile-home residents, but as the storm grew in intensity and the cone of uncertainty narrowed, County Mayor Carlos Gimenez issued the order this afternoon expanded to Zone C.
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The expansion now covers Zone B, which encompasses Brickell, Miami’s downtown area and South-Dade, including parts of Cutler Bay, Florida City and Homestead. Evacuation orders also touch Zone C, which includes parts of Coral Gables, South Miami, Miami Shores and North Miami Beach.
More than 650,000 residents are reportedly subject to the mandatory evacuation order – that’s up from the 200,000 who were asked to leave to areas outside of evacuation Zones A and B, Wednesday.
Downtown Miami is described as “a ghost town”...
Miami looks like a Ghost Town due to Evacuation in anticipation of Hurricane Irma #HurricaneIrma #Evacuation #Miami pic.twitter.com/YFFxz8WY0l
— Victoire Cogevina (@vhcogevina) September 7, 2017
As the mass exodus begins…
Lines at gas stations were evident everywhere…
Lines for gas in Miami #HurricaineIrma @David_Culver @News4Today pic.twitter.com/A3ZRRDiRer
— Brittany Roembach (@Broembach) September 7, 2017
As AP reports on resident exclaiming:
“There was no gas and it’s gridlock. People are stranded on the sides of the highway,” she said.
“It’s 92 degrees out and little kids are out on the grass on the side of the road. No one can help them.”
Irma’s eventual path and Florida’s fate depends on when and how sharp the powerful hurricane takes a right turn, National Weather Service Director Louis Uccellini said.
“It has become more likely that Irma will make landfall in southern Florida as a dangerous major hurricane,” the Hurricane Center said in a forecast discussion Thursday afternoon.
The last Category 5 storm to hit Florida was Andrew in 1992. Its winds topped 165 mph (265 kph), killing 65 people and inflicting $26 billion in damage. It was at the time the most expensive natural disaster in U.S. history.
U.S. Air Force Reserve weather officer Maj. Jeremy DeHart flew through the eye of Irma at 10,000 feet Wednesday and through Hurricane Harvey just before it hit Texas last month.
He said Irma’s intensity set it apart from other storms.
“Spectacular is the word that keeps coming to mind. Pictures don’t do it justice. Satellite images can’t do it justice,” DeHart said.
Still unsure…Miami-Dade made it simple…
What color are you in on this map?
BE SAFE. pic.twitter.com/6eOCaZK8t0— Miami Dade County (@miamidadeccc) September 7, 2017
Hurricanes, earthquakes, massive solar flares, dogs sleeping with cats, Trump siding with democrats, end times.
Foretold by the transcontinental eclipse two weeks ago. Last time America had a transcontinental eclipse was in 1918 where over 20 million died from Swine Flu.
And the cross eclipse is coming in 2024. Fun times!
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Top speed winds are now down to 150 mph, according to NPR. We’ll see whether those fall further or rise. The only reason all lanes shouldn’t be headed north is if gasoline tankers need to come south to supply stations. I assume FL’s civil engineers are trying to optimize that. What a cluster fuck. Even if you had a trunk full of gasoline tanks, you could be stuck on the highway if everyone else is running out. Hunkering down doesn’t look so stupid after all – if you didn’t leave days ago.
Yeah. Just read that Polk County’s 7000 motel rooms are all booked. Problem is those East Coast refugees who rented those rooms may now have IRMA pass right over them! Ditto for those who fled to Orlando though if the storm track keeps drifting west IRMA could be a disaster for the Gulf Coast and leave the Atlantic coast alone.
A friend and family began looking for temporary housing the day before yesterday and the closest they could find that they considered safe was in Chatanooga, TN!
I’m with Iska on this one, assuming one has necessities on hand when hunkering. Consider the perils that may await on the exodus: gridlock, heat, road rage… Might make more sense to take one’s chances with mother nature than with one’s fellow humans in panic mode.
I had to go to dialysis at 4:00 AM today as they aren’t going to open tomorrow. Almost didn’t get there though because there was a fatal accident blocking Tamiami Trail. They had both directions blocked by the Sarasota Airport to conduct their investigation. Wonder if it was an evacuee trying to avoid traffic on I-95 or someone from Fort Myers/Naples?
472,
this last track has it possibly going over sarasota bay-
go watch the video i posted below-
why don’t you hop in your truck and haul butt up to the va hospital in tampa and fake chest pains–
it’s only about 5 miles off i-75,you can say you were going north and started having chest pains–
both the fowler av and fletcher av exits lead right to it–
To stay or go? It would be a hard decision to make:
Not really if it is a Cat 4 like it is supposed to be. Unless one enjoys watching The Deer Hunter.
It just would be hard to leave all of my stuff.
Hey Gator and Starf*ker (and any other flurried or fleeing Floridians) – stay safe & keep us updated if/when you can.
I Irma hits every sanctuary City/state in the country at cat5. Just leave the Pollo restaurants standing. Me like Pollo.
All there fuckers that want to avoid the ‘cold weather’ – there’s a price.
Those traffic jams look like normal everyday traffic on the Garden State Parkway, or any other shitty Noo Joisey highway. Ain’t no thang …
Geeze, what do they think they’ll do if that Canary Island tsunami senario ever plays out?
650000? That’s it? These people running for their very lives.
Shit, there we an estimated 500,000 dumbfucks on I-25 on Aug. 21 driving up to Wyoming to see some stupid fucking Astronomical phenomenon.
Me and my family? We left at 4AM and returned after 9PM. There was no fucking way I was missing it…I heard about it 30 years ago.
Not trying to make light of Irma, just whistling in the dark. It is a dreadfully difficult decision to make and I sincerely hope it works out for everyone in Irma’s path.
Same wishes here. Hope everyone stays safe. The TBP’ers in path should get cameras ready to roll. I would make a interesting post here in aftermath.
Type and density of population is the difference between now and 1972. Back then, a hardier more self-sufficient breed of person lived down there. They kept the plywood in the garage to shutter down their homes in bad weather. Did it all themselves and didn’t wait for the Govt to tell them what to do. Also fewer people meant a less frantic evacuation.
Alot of those damn Floridians are coming towards Charlotte NC .I knew it. It will be a circle jerk for weeks in this area.
Damn Floridians? You mean like the ones that worked at the Crystal River nuclear plant? Those damn Floridians? This Floridian is staying put.. To Hell with your Queen City.
We’ve seen these “monster” hurricanes peter out before making landfall on US shores. This one may do the same.
Meanwhile, did Israel take advantage of the media’s hyper-coverage of Irma to attack Syria?
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-09-08/israel-launches-air-strikes-syria-and-assads-waiting-game
Once everyone is evacuated blow all the road bridges and turn the place into a statewide wildlife preserve with no human habitation allowed. That will be cheaper than the endless cycle of predictable destruction/rebuilding.
agreed indecent-and for many of us the great northwest has always had the allure of the promised land-
see you in a couple of weeks neighbor–
Come on up! You can watch me drink a beer for you! Besides you’ll be moving down to AZ with SSS by the time winter hits. It gets colder than a witches titty in Dec/Jan but I’ve got a spare snow shovel if you want to stay.
You’ll really enjoy the low nig count so you’ll probably stay.
650,000 people gone ?
That’s a lot of potential looting, murder and carnage.
USA USA USA USA !
I have a suggestion for Florida insureds,and possibly those in other states as well.
Florida has been such a risky state to insure property in for many years that many companies have set up separate companies in Florida to mitigate loss and save the parent company in case of a catastrophic storm such as Irma.
Your policy might say AllState or State Farm but if you read your policy there is a good chance that you are actually insured by a subsidiary company.These companies are Massively under capitalized and they will rapidly run out of money to pay claims.
If I have a major or total loss I will not haggle with them-I will take what they offer and cash the check b4 the company goes bellyup.You can always re open your case later.
We had massive evacuations in the Houston area in advance of Ike in 2008. It led to loss of life, extreme deprivation, mass dislocations and transportation paralysis. Contrast this with the fact that there were limited evacuations in the Houston area, focused on the coast, in advance of Harvey in 2017 — the emphasis was on survival-in-place if at all possible. The problem with Irma seems to be the number of people who are housed right on the coasts of Florida — when you are on the coast, you DO need to move inland!
With Harvey, evacuations were able to be ordered AFTER the worst of the storm, from areas that had been swamped and had proven to be unlivable. Also, remember that most of the rescues you saw with Harvey were by people in BOATS, floating through the storm waters. The cars and trucks were disabled and useless. I shudder to think about 650,000 people out in the teeth of a hurricane on the open roads in their flimsy cars and trucks! Unlike Houston, there will probably be numerous tornados spinning around. God help them!
the latest update from tropical tidbits-about 11 minutes–
based upon this,i am screwed,but so is all of florida–
it’s not far enough west of miami not to do massive damage there but it’s also looking like it might follow the west coast all the way up from naples,port charlotte,sarasota/bradenton,st.pete/clearwater,tampa–there is a possibility here for huge storm surges coming up these bays–massive property damage,modest loss of life–
https://www.tropicaltidbits.com/