Hurricane Irma

[Mortblanc]

Down to Tropical Storm rating at this point.

Yes there will be much whining and wailing, as there always is. Especially from the Yankee tourists who live down there part time and never experienced a direct hit. They will make the trip to check on their Caravan and find it washed to sea and wail like a banshee that they have "lost everything, it's all gone!" when they have a half million dollar home somewhere in Ohio.

And there will be many people that were not equipped for either the storm, the evacuation, or the recovery.

Just remember that these people chose to live in a hurricane danger zone, it is the middle of hurricane season and they had nearly two weeks notice that this storm was on the way and how bad it was. They watched the storm ravage the Leeward Islands for a week before the evacuation order was given.

If they chose to stay for the storm there is no reason for them not having proper preps to sustain themselves until recovery is possible. If they are returning from evacuation there is no reason for them to not bring the food, water, tools ad fuel they need for proper recovery. If they do not have what they need it is their own fault. Not the government's fault, not the mayor's fault, not FEMA's fault and not Trump's fault.

And the media is still milking this event for all it is worth, making things look much worse than it really is by using selected video footage and still photos.

Yes, trees are down, power lines are down, phone lines are down, basements are flooded and there are alligators in the streets, on the lawns and in the swimming pools. They are there every day, that's part of living in Florida! You check the pool before you dive in and you do it every time, not just after a hurricane.

They have snakes too! All kinds including pythons and boas and 5 different poisonous species. Tey coe out looking for dry land during the flooding too.

Power companies from all over the southern U.S. have sent crews to both Texas and Florida. While everyone else was driving away from the storm the recovery crews and FEMA workers were driving toward the storm. One of the Florida Light and Power officials was talking about how they had restored power to 100,000 homes while the hurricane was still blowing and as soon as the wind speed decreased to less than 30 mph the crews would be at work. Selected areas where there was less damage to the infrastructure (poles, transformers and lines) will be restored by simply flipping a remote switch. They shut much of the grid down to preserve it.

Lots of work to do now. My friends have mostly all checked in. Even the ones down in the southern swamps (Everglades). They were out of contact for almost 36 hours but reported in last night. They were in the high surge zone, but their houses are on stilts because it is a high surge zone.

Now there is another question to ask.

Where is Jose going to land?