SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Hurricane Irma has left widespread damage throughout the Caribbean, leaving Barbuda "uninhabitable" and destroying much of the island of St. Martin. (Photo: @AmyGehrt/Twitter)
Florida Warned 'Don't Let Your Guard Down' as Irma Roars for Direct Hit
After devastating Caribbean, historic hurricane expected to bring catastrophic winds and flooding to low-lying south Florida
Sep 08, 2017
Despite media reports of weakening winds, weather experts warned South Florida residents to remain vigilant and prepare for the worst as Hurricane Irma approaches the region, headed north from the Caribbean.
The National Hurricane Center called the storm "extremely dangerous" even though it's been downgraded from a Category 5 to a Category 4 storm, with winds currently rushing at 155 miles per hours.
The hurricane could make landfall in South Florida by early Sunday, with a potential direct hit in the densely-populated and low-lying Miami and Ft. Lauderdale areas. According to FEMA, many of the area's 4.5 million residents live in flood-hazard zones, and Miami lies only about six feet above sea level, leaving the city highly vulnerable to storm surges which are expected to reach five to ten feet.
Meanwhile, officials in Turks and Caicos assessed the damage after Irma ripped through the islands on Thursday night. Dozens of roofs were ripped off homes by howling winds, flooding was reported, and Grand Turk was coping with an island-wide blackout after utility poles were demolished.
Haiti, whose fragile infrastructure was ill-prepared for the hurricane, appeared to have avoided the worst, but officials warned that flooding risks and damaged infrastructure remain a threat.Flooding and power outages were seen in the impoverished country, which experienced hundreds of fatalities when it was hit by Hurricane Matthew last year, as well as a cholera outbreak following the storm.
A confirmed nineteen people have been killed since Irma first hit the Caribbean region on Tuesday, but that number could still rise. Thousands have been left homeless, and the financial costs from the storm, according to estimates, now range in the hundreds of billions.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Despite media reports of weakening winds, weather experts warned South Florida residents to remain vigilant and prepare for the worst as Hurricane Irma approaches the region, headed north from the Caribbean.
The National Hurricane Center called the storm "extremely dangerous" even though it's been downgraded from a Category 5 to a Category 4 storm, with winds currently rushing at 155 miles per hours.
The hurricane could make landfall in South Florida by early Sunday, with a potential direct hit in the densely-populated and low-lying Miami and Ft. Lauderdale areas. According to FEMA, many of the area's 4.5 million residents live in flood-hazard zones, and Miami lies only about six feet above sea level, leaving the city highly vulnerable to storm surges which are expected to reach five to ten feet.
Meanwhile, officials in Turks and Caicos assessed the damage after Irma ripped through the islands on Thursday night. Dozens of roofs were ripped off homes by howling winds, flooding was reported, and Grand Turk was coping with an island-wide blackout after utility poles were demolished.
Haiti, whose fragile infrastructure was ill-prepared for the hurricane, appeared to have avoided the worst, but officials warned that flooding risks and damaged infrastructure remain a threat.Flooding and power outages were seen in the impoverished country, which experienced hundreds of fatalities when it was hit by Hurricane Matthew last year, as well as a cholera outbreak following the storm.
A confirmed nineteen people have been killed since Irma first hit the Caribbean region on Tuesday, but that number could still rise. Thousands have been left homeless, and the financial costs from the storm, according to estimates, now range in the hundreds of billions.
Despite media reports of weakening winds, weather experts warned South Florida residents to remain vigilant and prepare for the worst as Hurricane Irma approaches the region, headed north from the Caribbean.
The National Hurricane Center called the storm "extremely dangerous" even though it's been downgraded from a Category 5 to a Category 4 storm, with winds currently rushing at 155 miles per hours.
The hurricane could make landfall in South Florida by early Sunday, with a potential direct hit in the densely-populated and low-lying Miami and Ft. Lauderdale areas. According to FEMA, many of the area's 4.5 million residents live in flood-hazard zones, and Miami lies only about six feet above sea level, leaving the city highly vulnerable to storm surges which are expected to reach five to ten feet.
Meanwhile, officials in Turks and Caicos assessed the damage after Irma ripped through the islands on Thursday night. Dozens of roofs were ripped off homes by howling winds, flooding was reported, and Grand Turk was coping with an island-wide blackout after utility poles were demolished.
Haiti, whose fragile infrastructure was ill-prepared for the hurricane, appeared to have avoided the worst, but officials warned that flooding risks and damaged infrastructure remain a threat.Flooding and power outages were seen in the impoverished country, which experienced hundreds of fatalities when it was hit by Hurricane Matthew last year, as well as a cholera outbreak following the storm.
A confirmed nineteen people have been killed since Irma first hit the Caribbean region on Tuesday, but that number could still rise. Thousands have been left homeless, and the financial costs from the storm, according to estimates, now range in the hundreds of billions.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.