After losing everything in his Naples, Florida, restaurant to flooding from Hurricane Ian in 2022, one business owner decided to invest in the proper precautions to keep his newly rebuilt establishment safe.
Alberto Varetto, who owns Alberto’s on Fifth, has enlisted the help of Xero Technologies for flood-protective precautions, according to WFTX. Xero Flood, its custom-fit, inflatable device that barricades doors and prevents floodwater from entering the structure, could save the restaurant from a catastrophic flood.
The device works by building pressure as the device inflates and expands to fit the width of an opening, such as a door or a window. The device will counteract the force of external water pushing against the door, preventing the barricade structure from caving in.
According to the company’s website, this device can be installed without additional fixed-point hardware, making it easy to install and remove as necessary.
“It doesn’t matter how big the opening is, how small the opening is — we build it to size,” said Mark Crabtree, CEO of Xero Technologies, per Fox 4 News.
Extreme weather events such as Hurricane Ian are becoming more common and more severe, brought on by rising global temperatures.
The community must work together to protect the town and prepare against unpredictable extreme weather events, because if all but one business survives flooding, then the town may as well be in ruins. That’s not good for business for anyone.
Crabtree recommends that more business owners be proactive and invest in flood-prevention technology such as Xero Flood to avoid a repeat of Hurricane Ian in 2022.
“Don’t wait until the hurricane will come, but start to work and get ready for it,” said Varetto, per Fox 4 News.
Join our free newsletter for weekly updates on the latest innovations improving our lives and shaping our future, and don’t miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Hurricane Ian dramatically changed our coastlines, damaged homes and caused serious flooding when it struck Florida in 2022.Oregon State University researchers looked at Hurricane Ian’s impact on coastal communities and saw an opportunity to investigate storm surges and how to protect people’s homes. “So those houses are 1:3, which means everything is dramatically three times smaller than the real house… but also the response of the house, how it’s broken and how is damages is also scaled properly to represent what happens in nature,” Pedro Lomonaco, director of the Hinsdale Wave Research Lab, said.It’s all about seeing how houses in coastal communities hold up to storm surge.”We build those in our directional wave basin. Our directional wave basin is imagined like an Olympic-size swimming pool where we can generate wave,” Lomonaco said. The researchers replicated waves as close as possible to what you find in nature with increasing storm surges. One house was built to meet the 100-year-flood standard which is the current FEMA guideline. Another was built to a 500-year-standard and sits higher above the water.The researchers increased the wave strength every 15 minutes until the houses collapsed.“The houses that are lower are going to be affected by waves sooner, and they are going to be damaged sooner. And the higher elevation houses are going to be more resilient and more resistant to those storm surge and wave,” Lomonaco said. Lomonaco says they’re still processing all the data; however, the information can be helpful in the future.The researchers are still processing all of the data from the experiment, but Lomonaco believes this research will be helpful in the future.He added that awareness is one of the main takeaways from the experiment, “We have to accept that we have placed the houses in the wrong place is the first point. and we allowed the construction of houses in places that were too risky and now we’re paying the price of that.”He acknowledged that this may not be the popular answer, but people may need to move their houses to places which are safer.Lomonaco anticipates the experiment’s results could be incorporated into building codes and where houses are built.
Hurricane Ian dramatically changed our coastlines, damaged homes and caused serious flooding when it struck Florida in 2022.
Oregon State University researchers looked at Hurricane Ian’s impact on coastal communities and saw an opportunity to investigate storm surges and how to protect people’s homes.
“So those houses are 1:3, which means everything is dramatically three times smaller than the real house… but also the response of the house, how it’s broken and how is damages is also scaled properly to represent what happens in nature,” Pedro Lomonaco, director of the Hinsdale Wave Research Lab, said.
It’s all about seeing how houses in coastal communities hold up to storm surge.
“We build those in our directional wave basin. Our directional wave basin is imagined like an Olympic-size swimming pool where we can generate wave,” Lomonaco said.
The researchers replicated waves as close as possible to what you find in nature with increasing storm surges.
One house was built to meet the 100-year-flood standard which is the current FEMA guideline. Another was built to a 500-year-standard and sits higher above the water.
The researchers increased the wave strength every 15 minutes until the houses collapsed.
“The houses that are lower are going to be affected by waves sooner, and they are going to be damaged sooner. And the higher elevation houses are going to be more resilient and more resistant to those storm surge and wave,” Lomonaco said.
Lomonaco says they’re still processing all the data; however, the information can be helpful in the future.
The researchers are still processing all of the data from the experiment, but Lomonaco believes this research will be helpful in the future.
He added that awareness is one of the main takeaways from the experiment, “We have to accept that we have placed the houses in the wrong place is the first point. and we allowed the construction of houses in places that were too risky and now we’re paying the price of that.”
He acknowledged that this may not be the popular answer, but people may need to move their houses to places which are safer.
Lomonaco anticipates the experiment’s results could be incorporated into building codes and where houses are built.
VENICE, Fla. — In its 75th season, going through a chain-link fence is not exactly what Kristofer Geddie envisioned he would do to showcase the Venice Theatre’s main performance space, the Jervey Theatre.
What You Need To Know
The Venice Theatre continues to rebuild its main stage following the major damage that was dealt from Hurricane Ian
A major concern for the theater was that more damage might’ve happened when Hurricane Milton made landfall
Kristofer Geddie, the theater’s executive director, says the theater essentially suffered very little damage from the storm and they’re able to still do performances in their two smaller venues
According to Geddie, he hopes to reopen their main stage during their 76th season in 2026
Each time he opens this gate, it’s a reminder of what happened.
“The trauma, the daily trauma, is something that I can’t deny,” said Geddie, the executive director of the Venice Theatre. “It’s every day.”
Because through the construction, the site is the empty shell of the Jervey. When Spectrum Bay News 9 visited the space a year ago, there were still some walls here and pieces of memories from shows gone by.
Now, that’s all gone because of the destruction from Hurricane Ian.
That major storm destroyed the roof, blanketed the space in water and left the Venice Theatre with a new and unanticipated $14 million project.
“The walls have been taken out from last year, but the progress is slower than I would like,” Geddie said.
There were some delays, which Geddie says they anticipated, but the last thing they wanted to see was another hurricane, this time, named “Milton.”
“We at one point thought it was going to be a direct hit to Venice, and we didn’t think we would have survived that,” Geddie said.
While storm surge and damage impacted most of Venice, with branches and debris on many street corners, the Jervey, for the most part, made it through unscathed.
“We didn’t suffer as much as so many folks here in Venice,” Geddie said.
Even with that minor bright spot, a lot more work is left to be done. Geddie says they need to keep raising money to fund the rebuild.
One way they’re doing that is by following the number one cliché in theater: “the show must go on.”
“We use it a lot, but that is the word resilience,” Geddie said. “To know how quickly our team came up with an idea, came up with a plan and executed that plan to make this into a workable space.”
They’re using a building that was intended for educational courses to hold performances.
Right now, “9 to 5: The Musical” is in the spotlight, giving folks a reprieve from the trauma outside.
“Folks are losing their homes,” Geddie said. “People are losing their businesses. We haven’t had that release to laugh.”
While this space is far smaller than the Jervey, just having a place for art to flourish is what excites Geddie about the future of his theatre.
Because soon, the chain link will be gone, and the shows will be back in the Venice Theatre’s main house.
Geddie expects the main stage at the Venice Theatre to reopen in 2026, during the theater’s 76th season.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — As Milton approaches the Bay area, staying aware with the latest information will be vital.
In addition to watching Spectrum Bay News 9, you can stay informed in a variety of ways.
As the storm gets closer to the Bay area, we’ll keep you up to date with the latest weather information and watches and warnings for your neighborhood. You can also find storm shelters, county-by-county evacuation maps and an interactive hurricane tracker.
You can also take the Bay News 9 Weather Experts with you on the Spectrum News app or follow us on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.
You can also listen to Bay News 9 on our hurricane radio partners across the Bay area:
On Thursday night, Hurricane Helene and its 140 mile an hour winds made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region. It was deadly. The full extent of the damage won’t be known for weeks and residents know rebuilding after the storm is likely to be as daunting as the storm itself.
It’s been two years since Hurricane Ian hit Southwest Florida and an estimated 50 thousand homeowners are still locked in battles with their insurance companies. Tonight, you will hear from insurance insiders who say after years of diligently paying premiums, homeowners are being misled by their insurance carriers. The whistleblowers, who are all licensed adjusters, tell us after Hurricane Ian, several insurance carriers were using altered damage reports to deceive customers.
As Hurricane Ian slammed into Florida with 150 mile an hour winds, Jeff Rapkin took this video from the porch of his home… about 40 miles south of Sarasota.
Jeff Rapkin: (on recording): “All the trees are coming down… they don’t normally look like this, everything’s coming apart… My name is Jeff Rapkin, I live in North Port, Florida…”
Rapkin, an adoption attorney and his wife, Ginny, raised three children in this home and weathered more than a half dozen hurricanes inside it. But Ian, they say, was different.
Jeff Rapkin: It just– it sat above our heads. It wouldn’t move. I mean, it was a nightmare.
Sharyn Alfonsi: And it went on for how long?
Jeff Rapkin: Eleven hours.
Sharyn Alfonsi: Eleven hours.
Jeff Rapkin: It felt like the hurricane was inside the house. We couldn’t keep the windows closed.
Sharyn Alfonsi with Ginny and Jeff Rapkin
60 Minutes
That is the Rapkin’s house. A neighbor just happened to be filming when their steel roof was ripped off. When the storm finally passed, the Rapkins could see clear skies through the new hole Hurricane Ian punched in their ceiling. There were trees on and around their house, the roof was shredded, and everything inside was soaked.
The Rapkins lined up their losses on the curb and called their insurance company, Heritage, to begin the claims process. It sent a licensed adjuster to the house to assess the damage.
Sharyn Alfonsi: Did you get the feeling, speaking to him and showing him around the property, that he understood —
Virginia Rapkin: Oh yeah.
Jeff Rapkin: Yeah.
Sharyn Alfonsi: — what was happening here, that this —
Virginia Rapkin: Oh yeah.
Sharyn Alfonsi: — was serious?
Jeff Rapkin: He was really nice. He was thorough and he said, “your house is probably gonna need to be completely rebuilt.”
Which is why the Rapkins were floored when they finally got a check from their insurance company three months later.
Jeff Rapkin: They sent us a report from the adjustor which said that it would cost $15,000 to put our home back to pre-hurricane conditions.
Sharyn Alfonsi: They sent you $15,000?
Jeff Rapkin: $15,000. And so– the– the deductible was taken out, so it was $10,000 dollars. And then our public adjuster took $1,000 out, so we had $9.
Sharyn Alfonsi: When you called and said, “$9,000? Are you kidding me?” What was the reaction?
Jeff Rapkin: The reaction was– “This is the decision we’ve made.” And I started to pray for– for Mr.– Jordan Lee’s untimely demise because I was so angry.
We found Mr. Jordan Lee… very much alive.
Jordan Lee
60 Minutes
Sharyn Alfonsi: Do you remember the Rapkin family?
Jordan Lee: Yes, ma’am.
Lee is the adjuster who went to the Rapkin’s home after the storm.
Sharyn Alfonsi: What do you remember about them?
Jordan Lee: Their property, a two-story home, metal roof that was blown off by Hurricane Ian. And the interior of the home was just– it was soaked.
Jordan Lee has been a licensed adjuster in Florida since 2017. After major disasters, most insurance companies use third-party firms who hire adjusters, like Lee, to help them with the thousands of claims.
Lee says after he assesses a home, he always leaves his cellphone number with the homeowners so they can call him if they have any questions. After Hurricane Ian, homeowners did.
Sharyn Alfonsi: What were they sayin’?
Jordan Lee: Cussin’ me out left and right, up and down. You know, “how could you do this to us?” It was really bad, actually. And out of the– the– thousands of claims that I’ve handled, I’ve never had phone calls like that.
Confused, he went back to compare the damage report he wrote for the Rapkins to the one the insurance company sent to them.
Sharyn Alfonsi: That’s your work?
Jordan Lee: Correct.
Sharyn Alfonsi: And this is what they were given?
Jordan Lee: Totally different. Totally different.
Sharyn Alfonsi: You said they needed a new roof.
Jordan Lee: I did.
Sharyn Alfonsi: And this report says what?
Jordan Lee: It reads as a repair.
Sharyn Alfonsi: Was that roof able to be repaired in your opinion?
Jordan Lee: Not in my opinion, no.
Later, Jordan Lee learned a desk adjuster – who’d never been to the Rapkin’s home – had deleted entire sections of his report… but left his name and his license number on it – making it look like his work.
Sharyn Alfonsi: Did anybody ever alert you, “Hey, we’re making a change to this report”?
Jordan Lee: No. Nobody told me. The only way that I knew was the homeowner calling me.
It is standard procedure for field adjusters to collaborate with those back in the office to make minor edits. But Jordan Lee says, that is not what happened with the Rapkin’s report.
Sharyn Alfonsi: Did you put a dollar amount on how much you thought they were owed?
Jordan Lee: $231,368.57.
Sharyn Alfonsi: What did the insurance carrier come up with?
Jordan Lee: $15,469.48. So uh, quite a bit of difference.
Sharyn Alfonsi: Mmm. That’s not a difference of opinion.
Jordan Lee: No.
Jordan Lee says as he dug further into his work from Hurricane Ian… he was stunned to discover the Rapkins weren’t the only family whose report was altered.
Jordan Lee: It was basically all of ’em. I mean, I handled 46 of them. 44 of them were changed.
Sharyn Alfonsi: Were any of your reports changed to give the policy owner more money?
Jordan Lee: No.
Sharyn Alfonsi: It was always down?
Jordan Lee: It was always down.
Down… by as much as 98%. One estimate he wrote for $488 thousand was changed to $13 thousand. another, from 239 to 3 thousand. On December 13th, 2022…
Jordan Lee (at hearing): “My name is Jordan Lee. I’m an independent insurance adjuster and I work for the insurance companies.”
Jordan Lee and two other adjusters testified to Florida lawmakers about what one watchdog group called “systematic criminal fraud” by the insurance companies.
Ben Mandell (at hearing): “The scheme was repeated over and over again, not only on my estimates but on estimates written by other adjustors.”
Ben Mandell has been a licensed adjuster since 2017. He did not work for Heritage but says 18 of the 20 reports he wrote for another carrier after Hurricane Ian were altered. And he says he, and other adjusters, were instructed by some of their managers to leave damage off reports.
Ben Mandell: It was a deliberate scheme to do this. And it wasn’t just with one carrier doin’ this. This was six carriers that we discovered were doing this in the State of Florida, they all got the memo.
Sharyn Alfonsi: Which was?
Ben Mandell: Which was, “we’re not going to replace roofs, asphalt shingle roofs. We’re not going to replace them, we’re going to repair them.”
Mandell says he refused to leave off roofs.
Ben Mandell: They were asking me to do something that was illegal.
Sharyn Alfonsi: And why was it illegal?
Ben Mandell: It’s illegal because when I go out to make a damage estimate, I have to put what the damage is, not what they want the damage to be. And so if I leave something off that’s supposed to be on there, I could be prosecuted for that.
Sharyn Alfonsi: So the company’s telling you, “Leave the roofs off, we’re not paying for roofs.” But you keep writing these–
Ben Mandell: That’s correct.
Sharyn Alfonsi: — roofs into your reports.
Ben Mandell: I wrote the way they’re supposed to be.
Sharyn Alfonsi: And you get fired.
Ben Mandell: And I got fired.
Now, Ben Mandell and five other whistleblower adjusters are represented by attorney Steven Bush. Bush worked as a public adjuster for more than a decade.
Steven Bush: What the carriers are doing, in some instances, what they’ve said was, “if the policyholder needs a new roof, then we’re gonna make them make us pay.” In other words, “File a lawsuit, and then we’ll pay you for your roof.”
Steven Bush
60 Minutes
Sharyn Alfonsi: But unless they do that, they’re not getting their roof paid for?
Steven Bush: They’re not getting it, they’re not getting it. Most people will not stand up and fight. I cannot tell you how many people come to me and say, “hey, what was I gonna do? I had to replace my roof.”
Sharyn Alfonsi: And do you think the insurance companies know that? They’re betting on —
Steven Bush: Absolutely.
Sharyn Alfonsi: — that those people are just gonna roll over?
Steven Bush: No question they know that. They’re playing the odds and they are winning.
Florida’s insurance market has been a risky gamble for years. After a decade of costly storms, several national carriers exited Florida. Smaller, regional carriers stepped in… but not all were up to the job. Since 2021, at least nine insurance companies in Florida have collapsed and some of the remaining ones, Steven Bush says, altered damage reports.
Sharyn Alfonsi: And is it just in Florida?
Steven Bush: I now have evidence in six different states of where carriers are manipulating the estimates, changing them, and then misrepresenting to policyholders that it’s the work product of the field adjuster.
Sharyn Alfonsi: And did, most times, the policyowner have any idea?
Steven Bush: Policyowner has no clue.
Doug Quinn: Yeah, there’s almost no transparency in the claims process.
Doug Quinn
60 Minutes
Doug Quinn is the executive director of the American Policyholders Association, an advocacy group he started after his home was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
Doug Quinn: The victims of insurer fraud are the last people to find out that they were victims of insurer fraud.
Sharyn Alfonsi: So when the insurance carriers say, look, it’s our right, we’re allowed to go back in there and do what we want to these adjuster reports, you would say?
Doug Quinn: You are not allowed to take somebody who has dutifully paid premiums for years, and when they need their insurance, cheat them. And shave 70%, 80%, or 90% off their claim. You are not allowed to do that. You are allowed to disagree with, you know, the minutiae. But coming in to that degree and faking the facts on a claim is not acceptable and there should be legal consequences for that.
Steven Bush: If you really want to see change in the industry, put somebody in handcuffs.
Attorney Steven Bush says he turned over what he says is evidence of insurer fraud to state investigators and Florida opened a criminal investigation. but two years after the storm, Florida has made no arrests.
Sharyn Alfonsi: We know fraud’s investigated all the time when it comes to homeowners, right? You know, that if you put–
Doug Quinn: And contractors–
Sharyn Alfonsi: –a false claim–
Doug Quinn: –and public adjusters. Everybody’s who’s aligned with the consumer who costs the insurance industry money. Those cases get investigated and prosecuted rather quickly. And aggressively. All we are asking is that cases that are alleged to be perpetrated by the insurance carriers or the vendors that they hire are just as aggressively investigated and prosecuted when fraud is found.
Quinn says it’s difficult to know how many policyholders may have been given less money than they were owed. But two years after the storm, every unrepaired home and tarp tells a story. At the Rapkins, mold and mother nature are gnawing away at what’s left of their home. And upstairs?
Sharyn Alfonis (in attic): Oh, well, there’s the sky! This isn’t a hole, this is a crack down the middle of your house, I can put my whole arm up through here.
That split roof is an open wound for the Rapkins, who still have to mow the lawn and make mortgage payments on their rotting home every month. They’re also paying rent on an apartment nearby and $4,000 a year to Heritage for home insurance.
Sharyn Alfonsi: And you’re still paying?
Jeff Rapkin: I’m still paying.
Virginia Rapkin: Oh, yeah.
Jeff Rapkin: The premiums went up. (laugh) So we’re still paying– we’re still paying and the premiums went up. And I can’t get another insurance company, obviously.
Jeff and Ginny Rapkin filed a lawsuit against heritage accusing it of breach of contract and fraud.
In a statement to “60 Minutes,” Heritage said it couldn’t comment on specific policyholders but aims to “pay every eligible claim” and had no intention to deceive. The company says, in its own random sample, about 42% of damage reports were revised downward and 26% were revised upward.
Heritage says that since Hurricane Ian, it has made “many reforms,” including updating its claims processing software, which it blames for not including the names of desk adjusters who altered reports.
Sharyn Alfonsi: Do you think that was a mis– like, just an innocent mistake?
Jeff Rapkin: Originally I did. I said, “Oh, maybe they made an error.”
Sharyn Alfonsi: And what do you think now?
Jeff Rapkin: I think they did it on purpose. And I think people are getting letters that say they’re not covered when they are. This is a con. That’s what this is. This is: make them go away at all costs. We’re not paying.
Prior to 60 Minutes’ Sept. 29, 2024 broadcast, which featured correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi’s report on Florida insurance, we reached out to Heritage Insurance for comment on our story, “After the Hurricane.” The company responded to 60 Minutes with the following statement:
Produced by Oriana Zill de Granados. Associate producers, Emily Gordon and Kit Ramgopal. Broadcast associate, Erin DuCharme. Edited by Robert Zimet.
Two Florida women — including one who had to be airlifted from Sanibel Island — are commemorating Hurricane Ian with murals remembering the victims and offering hope for the future. Manuel Bojorquez, who reported on the area after the storm hit, has more.
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President Joe Biden is set to travel to storm-ravaged Florida on Saturday, where he will meet with Floridians impacted by Hurricane Idalia, tour damage and thank emergency responders.
But in a stark departure from his previous visits to the Sunshine State in the wake of major disasters, Biden apparently won’t be joined by the state’s firebrand governor and GOP presidential candidate, Ron DeSantis. The moment represents one of the first times the two men have showed signs of their political rivalry while responding to a disaster. Biden and DeSantis have previously met under challenging circumstances – the two convened in response to the 2021 Surfside building collapse and again in 2022 following Hurricane Ian’s damage in southwestern Florida.
On the visit, the president and first lady Dr. Jill Biden will receive an aerial tour of impacted areas, participate in a response and recovery briefing with federal personnel, local officials, and first responders, then tour an impacted community before delivering remarks in Live Oak, Florida, a White House official said. Sen. Rick Scott, a Republican, and other local officials will participate in parts of the visit, the official added.
On Saturday, FEMA administrator Deanna Criswell said that Biden had contacted DeSantis to inform him of the visit.
“When the president contacted the governor to let him know he was going to be visiting … the governor’s team and my team, mutually agreed on a place that would have minimal impact into operations,” Criswell said on CNN This Morning. “Live Oak, you know, the power is being restored. The roads aren’t blocked, but there’s families that are hurting there,” she said.
It’s the latest in a back and forth between DeSantis and the administration, after the governor’s spokesperson Friday night said he had no plans to meet with Biden Saturday, contradicting Biden telling CNN that he would meet with his political rival.
“I would have to defer you to the governor on what his schedule is going to be,” Criswell said to CNN’s Amara Walker.
On Friday afternoon, Biden told CNN that “yes,” he’d be meeting with DeSantis. But by the evening, a spokesperson for DeSantis said there are no plans for two to meet, eschewing an opportunity to once again put their differences aside to navigate a response to a disaster as the governor appeared to pull the rug out on the plans.
“We don’t have any plans for the governor to meet with the president tomorrow,” DeSantis spokesperson Jeremy Redfern told CNN Friday evening. “In these rural communities, and so soon after impact, the security preparations alone that would go into setting up such a meeting would shut down ongoing recovery efforts.”
White House spokesperson Emilie Simons said that Biden’s visit was being planned to minimize disruption to storm recovery efforts.
“President Biden and the first lady look forward to meeting members of the community impacted by Hurricane Idalia and surveying impacts of the storm,” Simons said. “They will be joined by Administrator Criswell who is overseeing the federal response. Their visit to Florida has been planned in close coordination with FEMA as well as state and local leaders to ensure there is no impact on response operations.”
A presidential visit anywhere requires a significant security footprint, and DeSantis suggested to reporters earlier Friday that he had raised concerns about that level of disruption as response efforts continue.
But a White House official said that DeSantis did not raise those concerns about the visit with Biden when the two spoke by phone ahead of Biden’s visit to Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters Thursday, during which Biden announced the trip. Biden’s upcoming travel schedule also presented logistical challenges to setting a date – he celebrates Labor Day with workers in Philadelphia Monday, awards the Medal of Honor at the White House on Tuesday and is headed to the G20 Summit in India next Thursday.
For DeSantis, who catapulted to GOP mega-stardom in recent years in part by taking aim at the Biden White House, staying away from Saturday’s visit will eliminate the possibility of any collegiality between the two being caught on camera during a tense Republican primary.
The White House had earlier attempted to downplay any rivalry between the two when it comes to responding to a natural disaster.
“They are very collegial when we have the work to do together of helping Americans in need, citizens of Florida in need,” deputy national security adviser Dr. Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall told reporters Thursday when pressed on the dynamic.
The Democratic president and the Republican governor have been in close touch leading up to, during and after the hurricane, which made landfall Wednesday in the coastal Big Bend region as a powerful Category 3 storm. Biden joked that he had DeSantis “on direct dial” given their frequent communication this week. But while the president has offered direct praise to DeSantis’ handling of the response, the Florida Republican largely stuck to assuring the public the two can work together.
Asked whether he sensed any politics in their conversations, Biden told reporters during the visit to FEMA headquarters that he didn’t – and acknowledged that it was “strange” given the polarized political climate.
“No. Believe it or not. I know that sounds strange, especially how – looking at the nature of politics today,” he said.
Biden continued, “I think he trusts my judgment and my desire to help, and I trust him to be able to suggest that this is not about politics, it’s about taking care of the people of the state. This is about taking care of the people of his state.”
Still, DeSantis hasn’t shied away from his criticism of the president and his handling of disasters outside his state. During a GOP presidential debate last week, days before the storm made landfall, DeSantis took aim at Biden’s response to the wildfires in Maui.
“Biden was on the beach while those people were suffering. He was asked about it and he said, ‘No comment.’ Are you kidding me? As somebody that’s handled disasters in Florida, you’ve got to be activated. You’ve got to be there. You’ve got to be present. You’ve got to be helping people who are doing this,” he said.
“I’m just thankful everyone has banded together,” DeSantis said, before adding: “Mr. President, welcome to Florida. We appreciate working together across various levels of government.”
That appearance together was rather deflating for Democrats who had hoped to raise concerns about DeSantis’ handling of the storm, particularly the seeming lack of urgency in local evacuation orders. But when Biden called DeSantis’ response to Ian “pretty remarkable,” it closed the door on that.
Both leaders also poured on the niceties in the wake of the deadly condo collapse in Surfside, Florida, a year earlier.
“You recognized the severity of this tragedy from day one and you’ve been very supportive,” DeSantis said during a briefing in Miami Beach.
Biden added, “You know what’s good about this? We live in a nation where we can cooperate. And it’s really important.”
That dynamic will not be on display Saturday.
Biden formally approved a major disaster declaration for Florida on Thursday, making federal funding available to those in affected counties. As of Friday evening, power restoration remained the top response priority as over 70,000 Floridians remain without power amid high temperatures.
Approximately 1,500 federal responders are on the ground in Florida, including search and rescue personnel and members of the Army Corps of Engineers.
As the state seeks to recover from the storm’s devastation, the Biden administration asked Congress on Friday for an additional $4 billion for FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund, pointing to Hurricane Idalia and a brutal stretch of natural disasters across the country in recent weeks. That is in addition to a request for $12 billion last month.
As the White House pushes Congress to pass a short-term spending bill to avoid a shutdown and ensure continuity of government services, the president has signaled that he’s ready to blame Republicans if there isn’t enough funding to respond to disasters.
For his part, DeSantis has lobbied unapologetically for the kind of disaster aid that as a congressman he voted against as wasteful spending.
Asked about the $4 billion request Friday, DeSantis told reporters, “How Washington handles all this stuff, I don’t quite understand. … They just did a big budget deal and did not include that. They included a lot of money for a lot of other stuff.”
He continued, “I trust our senators and congressmen hopefully to be able to be able to work it out in a good way. You know, as governor, I’m gonna be pulling whatever levers I can to be able to help folks. And so, if that’s the state, we’re mobilizing all of our state assets. Private sector, we’re leveraging that. And we will apply for whatever federal money is available.”
Florida is bracing for “major impact” as Tropical Storm Idalia is expected to rapidly strengthen into a powerful Category 3 hurricane and aim for its Gulf Coast, threatening dangerous storm surge and winds, authorities said.
Idalia is expected to intensify over the coming hours before it makes landfall in the Sunshine State on Wednesday morning near the Big Bend of Florida – a rare event for a natural, storm surge-prone divot along the coast stretching from Tampa to just south of Tallahassee.
“Idalia could become a hurricane later this morning, and is forecast to become a major hurricane by early Wednesday,” the National Hurricane Center said.
The storm is churning maximum sustained winds of 70 mph, roughly 190 miles southwest of the Dry Tortugas, where tropical storm conditions were expected Tuesday morning, the hurricane center said in a 2 a.m. ET Tuesday update.
“This is going to be a major hurricane,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a Monday news conference.
On its current track, Idalia’s center is forecast to soon pass near or over western Cuba, trek over the eastern Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday, before slamming into the Gulf coast of Florida Wednesday – though its impacts could be felt from the Florida Keys as soon as Tuesday.
It’s not just Florida that’ll feel the impacts. After the storm makes landfall, damaging winds and heavy rain will spread far inland into Florida, parts of Georgia and even the Carolinas.
The storm is expected to dump 4 to 8 inches of rain from Tuesday into Thursday across parts of the west coast of Florida, the Florida Panhandle, southeast Georgia and the eastern Carolinas – where streets could flood.
As the storm makes its way to Florida, preparations could be seen across the state. Here’s the latest:
Airports close: Tampa International Airport will suspend all commercial operations beginning Tuesday and stay closed until it can assess any damages later in the week, airport officials announced. The St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport Terminal building will close Tuesday afternoon.
Evacuations in at least 10 counties: Hillsborough, Franklin, Taylor, Levy, Citrus, Manatee, Pasco, Hernando, Pinellas and Sarasota counties have all called for residents to evacuate certain at-risk areas.
Schools close: 32 County School Districts have issued closures, as did multiple colleges and universities, including Florida State University, the University of Florida and Florida A&M University.
Emergencies declared: DeSantis expanded an emergency declaration to 46 of 67 Florida counties on Monday morning. Several local jurisdictions have also declared emergencies.
The Florida National Guard activated: More than 5,000 National Guard members were activated to help respond to the storm.
US Navy ships begin leaving: Navy ships have begun leaving Florida ahead of Tropical Storm Idalia’s landfall, the Navy said Monday.
Power outages expected: DeSantis told residents to prepare to be without power. “If you are in the path of the storm, you should expect power outages so please prepare for that,” the governor told residents Sunday.
Hospital system suspending services: Patients will be transferred from at least three hospitals: HCA Florida Pasadena Hospital, HCA Florida Trinity West Hospital and HCA Florida West Tampa Hospital.
“We want everyone to take this storm seriously,” Barbara Tripp, Tampa’s Fire Rescue Chief said during a news conference.
The Fire Chief also asked citizens to clear debris from property ahead of the storm’s arrival and look out for neighbors who may need help.
“Once the wind reaches a certain miles per hour, Tampa Fire Rescue will not be able to respond,” Tripp warned.
With the storm forecast to strengthen quickly as it tracks through the Gulf of Mexico, it’ll be tapping into some of the warmest waters on the planet ahead of making landfall in Florida.
If it does so, it would join a growing list of devastating storms like monster Hurricane Ian — which leveled coastal Florida and left more than 100 dead — to rapidly intensify before landfall in recent years.
Idalia posed a “notable risk” of this phenomenon, the National Hurricane Center warned Monday, as it travels through the Gulf of Mexico.
Water temperatures around southern Florida climbed to 100 degrees Fahrenheit in some areas this summer, and temperatures in the Gulf overall have been record-warm, with more than enough heat to support rapid strengthening.
Life-threatening storm surge up to 12 feet is possible in Florida’s Big Bend – a danger that will only be worsened by waves fueled by hurricane-force winds stronger than 100 mph.
Storm surge, which is when a storm blows the ocean onshore, is one of the deadliest aspects of a hurricane and the reason behind most storm evacuations.
Cedar Key could be cut off by the high storm surge, National Hurricane Center Deputy Director Jamie Rhome said.
“I’m especially concerned for them,” Rhome said during a briefing on Facebook Live. “If you’re watching from Cedar Key, it is imperative that you take this very seriously and if ordered to evacuate, heed those evacuations immediately. The entire island could be completely cut off with conditions like that.”
Rhome stressed that evacuation orders that have been issued along the coast are in place because of the projected storm surge.
Inland areas, where people may evacuate to, could see hazardous flooding and heavy rainfall from Idalia.
Andrew Kruczkiewicz, senior researcher at the Columbia University’s Climate School, warns that heavy rainfall-related hazards can also occur as far as 100 miles away from where the storm center tracks.
“This is something that we’re seeing more and more, and this is a climate change connection because we’re seeing wetter tropical cyclones and wetter hurricanes,” he told CNN. “So we need to pay more attention to the risks associated with intense precipitation, especially in areas that are distant from the coastline.”
With the eyes of the country on Hurricane Idalia as it spins toward Florida’s Gulf Coast, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ presidential ambitions are also under the spotlight as he puts his campaign on hold to manage the crisis at home.
DeSantis flew back to Tallahassee from Iowa on Saturday night and has since appeared regularly on Florida televisions with updates on Idalia’s path and state efforts to prepare for the approaching storm. From behind a lectern with the state seal, the Republican governor has matter-of-factly shared logistics and warnings.
The coming days will present a range of tests for DeSantis to navigate during a critical juncture in his governorship and White House bid. His stewardship of the hurricane response and recovery efforts will be closely scrutinized by his political opponents and Republican voters, watching whether he can lead through difficult moments, comfort the aggrieved and learn from the lessons of past storms.
It is not clear when DeSantis will return to the campaign trail. In a text message to supporters, his campaign said it would go dark for a few days, adding: “Before we sign off, can we ask you to chip in any amount you can to support our end-of-month fundraising push?”
For his part, DeSantis said he will be in Florida for as long as necessary.
“You do what you need to do,” DeSantis said Tuesday. “So that’s what we’re doing. It’s going to be no different than what we did during Hurricane Ian [last year]. I’m hoping that this storm is not as catastrophic as Hurricane Ian was, but we’re gonna do what we need to do because it’s just something that’s important.”
While no Florida executive would publicly suggest a hurricane is an opportunity to showcase leadership chops, past storms have certainly tested governors and forged their legacies. DeSantis’ predecessor, Republican Rick Scott, dealt with Hurricane Michael just weeks before the 2018 election, when he was running for US Senate against incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson. Scott leaned into managing the crisis with gusto and ultimately won his race in a recount.
Perhaps no one did more to solidify their standing among Floridians during such disasters as former GOP Gov. Jeb Bush, whose handling of eight hurricanes during a deadly two-year stretch of tropical weather is still remembered by those who experienced the devastation. One of those hurricanes, Katrina, forever altered perceptions of the presidency of Bush’s older brother, George W. Bush, showcasing how storms can also plunge an executive into crisis.
Those past Florida governors, though, were not running for president. Rarely have incumbent state executives faced a disaster of Idalia’s potential magnitude in the throes of a White House bid.
The most notable recent exception is Republican Chris Christie, who as New Jersey governor in 2016 returned to his home state to manage a blizzard amid criticism for putting the presidential race ahead of his elected duties. At the time, Christie was campaigning in New Hampshire, which was just weeks away from holding the first-in-the-nation primary. Christie is once again running for the GOP nomination.
“I don’t think any presidential candidate wants to be taken off the campaign trail. But you can’t ignore your day job,” said Alex Conant, a senior adviser to Florida Sen. Marco Rubio’s 2016 presidential campaign. “Insufficient responses to storms have ended political careers. Every governor takes the threat of a hurricane seriously because if the response is mishandled, not only are lives at stake, but there’s political fallout.”
In the past 24 hours, DeSantis’ team has signaled it would not shy away from showcasing the governor’s storm response to Republican voters. His aides have shared posts on social media of people praising DeSantis’ activity so far, with his office press secretary writing on X, “Find you a leader that shows up like @GovRonDeSantis.” In a memo sent Tuesday, DeSantis spokesman Andrew Romeo wrote that DeSantis is “now at the helm of Florida’s hurricane response and is working with local officials across the state to do everything necessary to ensure Florida is fully prepared.”
“This is the strong leadership in times of crisis that Americans can expect from a President DeSantis,” Romeo added.
Just as he did last year, when Hurricane Ian slammed into Florida amid his race for reelection, DeSantis has vowed to put partisan politics aside for the time being. Though a regular critic of President Joe Biden – including over the Democrat’s response to the Maui wildfires – DeSantis said he has spoken with the president and expects the two administrations to work in concert toward Florida’s recovery.
“There’s time and a place to have political season, but then there’s a time and a place to say that this is something that’s life-threatening. This is something that could potentially cost somebody their life, it could cost them their livelihood, and we have responsibility as Americans to come together,” DeSantis said Monday.
(Coming off the devastation in Hawaii, Biden is facing a separate range of questions about his administration’s response to yet another natural catastrophe.)
DeSantis’ departure from the campaign trail comes just days after the first GOP presidential debate at a moment when his team believes voters are starting to tune into the race. He is trailing Donald Trump in GOP primary polling but is aggressively challenging the former president in early nominating states.
The Florida governor is also staving off a field of GOP contenders, who must now also balance sensitivities around Hurricane Idalia with their attempts to overcome DeSantis in the polls.
“DeSantis is going to get a breather in terms of attacks,” said Todd Belt, director of the political management program at George Washington University and author of “The Post-Heroic Presidency.”
“This is similar to what we see in the rally-around-the-flag phenomena,” Belt said. “When there’s something that affects the country more generally, the other party ceases attacks on the incumbent party. It helps in the polls, at least temporarily. It would look really bad for other Republicans to criticize DeSantis during this time, and the question is how long will they wait? It’s worth noting that Florida is an extremely important electoral state.”
Storm response has already become part of DeSantis’ pitch to voters. On the campaign trail, he has often shared the story of the swift reopening of two bridges destroyed by Hurricane Ian as evidence of his executive management. DeSantis has also asserted that he could send his “Florida people” to the southern border to build a wall.
“Come on, Joe (Biden),” he said earlier this year. “Let us get it done. We’ll do it.”
But Ian also generated some negative attention for DeSantis. Images of the governor wearing white rain boots and campaign gear as he surveyed storm-ravaged regions provided fodder for his political detractors and were spread widely on social media by Democrats and Trump supporters.
DeSantis was also forced to defend the late local evacuation orders last year that left many coastal residents in Lee County unprepared for Ian’s deadly turn, despite the persistent threat of cataclysmic storm surge.
Though DeSantis said this week that the state has not changed its evacuation protocols, he and state officials have emphasized that Idalia could bring dangerous storm surge all along Florida’s west coast, even outside the projected path of the storm. This year, he has spent time warning residents who are outside the forecasted “cone” – or the probable track of the center of the storm.
Idalia is forecast to make landfall near Florida’s Big Bend area as a Category 3 hurricane or stronger, potentially bringing record storm surge to a part of the state’s west coast that has not experienced a storm of this magnitude in more than 150 years.
While the storm is perhaps an opportunity for DeSantis to show strength in mobilizing his administration to respond to a storm, the expected devastation also has the potential to challenge DeSantis’ limitations as a consoler in chief, a role Biden has embraced during national tragedies.
DeSantis’ capacity for compassion has already come under fire this week following his rushed response to Saturday’s killing of three Black people by a White gunman in Jacksonville. His office on Saturday shared a video statement from DeSantis that seemed hastily shot in front of white vinyl siding in Iowa, during which he called the racially targeted attack “totally unacceptable.” The next day he attended a vigil for the victims where he called the shooter a “major league scumbag.”
The tone of his remarks and his appearance at the vigil drew criticism from those who wanted DeSantis to acknowledge efforts by his administration to alter how Florida students learn about race and the lived experience of Black Americans.
“A white man in his early twenties specifically went to kill BLACK PEOPLE,” Democratic state Rep. Angie Nixon, who represents Jacksonville and was photographed next to DeSantis at the vigil wearing a “Stand with Black Women” shirt, posted on X. “The governor of our state of Florida has created an environment ripe for this.”
From a small island in Polynesia to the white-sand beaches of Florida, the planet experienced a dizzying number of climate and extreme weather disasters in 2022.
Yet against the backdrop of these catastrophic events, this year also sparked some glimmers of hope:
Scientists in the US successfully produced a nuclear fusion reaction that generated more energy than it used – a huge step in the decades-long quest to replace fossil fuels with an infinite source of clean energy.
And at the United Nations’ COP27 climate summit in Egypt, nearly 200 countries agreed to set up a fund to help poor, vulnerable countries cope with climate disasters they had little hand in causing.
“There was some encouraging climate action in 2022, but we remain far off track to meet our goals of reducing global heat-trapping emissions and limiting future planetary warming,” Kristina Dahl, principal climate scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists, told CNN. “There must be a stronger collective commitment and progress toward slashing emissions in 2023 if we are to keep climate extremes from becoming even more devastating.”
Here are the top 10 climate and extreme weather stories of 2022.
When the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano erupted in January, it sent tsunami waves around the world. The blast itself was so loud it was heard in Alaska – roughly 6,000 miles away. The afternoon sky turned pitch black as heavy ash clouded Tonga’s capital and caused “significant damage” along the western coast of the main island of Tongatapu.
The underwater volcanic eruption also injected a huge cloud of ash and sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere, more than 30 kilometers (around 19 miles) above sea level, according to data from NASA satellites.
But months later, scientists found that the eruption actually belched an enormous amount of water vapor into the Earth’s stratosphere – enough to fill more than 58,000 Olympic-size swimming pools. The massive plume of water vapor will likely contribute to more global warming at ground-level for the next several years, NASA scientists reported.
Severe drought reveals incredible discovery at bottom of Mississippi river
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Searing temperatures, lack of rainfall and low snowpack pushed some of the world’s most vital rivers to new lows this year.
Northern Italy saw its worst drought in more than 70 years. The 400-mile River Po hit a record low due to an unusually dry winter and limited snowpack in the Alps, which feeds the river. The drought impacted millions of people who rely on the Po for their livelihood, and roughly 30% of the country’s food, which is produced along the river.
Also fed by winter snowpack in the Alps along with spring rains, Germany’s Rhine River dropped to “exceptionally low” levels in some areas, disrupting shipping in the country’s most important inland water way. Months of little rainfall meant cargo ships began carrying lighter loads and transport costs soared.
Biden signed the bill into law in August and signaled to the world that the US is delivering on its climate promises.
Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin was influential in delaying the bill’s passage. Multiple White House and Biden administration officials for months had tried to convince the senator to support the bill over dinners in Paris and ziplining in West Virginia.
An analysis suggests the measures in the bill will reduce US carbon emissions by roughly 40% by 2030 and would put Biden well on his way to achieving his goal of slashing emissions in half by 2030.
‘We are in trouble here in Daytona’: Coastal homes collapse into the ocean
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Hurricane Nicole was the first hurricane to hit anywhere in the US during the month of November in nearly 40 years. The rare, late-season storm also marked the first time that a hurricane made landfall on Florida’s east coast in November.
Although Nicole was only a category 1, it had a massive wind field that stretched more than 500 miles, coupled with astronomically high tides that led to catastrophic storm surge. Homes and buildings collapsed into the ocean in Volusia County, with authorities scrambling to issue evacuation warnings.
Hurricane Nicole flooded streets, destroyed power lines and killed at least five people. The storm came just 42 days after deadly category 4 Hurricane Ian wreaked havoc on the west coast of Florida.
Negotiators from nearly 200 countries agreed at the UN climate summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, to set up a new fund for “loss and damage,” meant to help vulnerable countries cope with climate disasters. It was the first time wealthy, industrialized countries and groups, including longtime holdouts like the US and the EU, agreed to establish such a fund.
“We can’t solve the climate crisis unless we rapidly and equitably transition to clean energy and away from fossil fuels, as well as hold wealthy nations and the fossil fuel industry accountable for the damage they have done,” Rachel Cleetus, policy director and lead economist for the climate and energy program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, told CNN.
The summer’s series of floods started off in Yellowstone National Park in June, when extreme rainfall and rapidly melting snow washed out roads and bridges in the park, causing significant damage to the nearby town of Gardiner, Montana, at the park’s entrance. Authorities had to rescue more than 100 people from the floods.
The year also brought several 1,000-year rainfall events. A 1,000-year rainfall event is one that is so intense it’s only seen on average once every 1,000 years – under normal circumstances. But extreme rainfall is becoming more common as the climate crisis pushes temperatures higher. Warmer air can hold more moisture, which loads the dice in favor of historic rainfall.
Deadly flooding swept through Eastern Kentucky and around St. Louis in July after damaging, record-breaking rainfall in a short period of time.
Wildfires threaten London during record-breaking heat wave
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Europe experienced its hottest summer on record in 2022 by a wide margin. While the heat kicked off early in France, Portugal and Spain, with the countries reaching record-warmth in May, the most significant heat came in mid-July, spreading across the UK and central Europe.
The UK, in particular, topped 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) for the first time on record. Stephen Belcher, the UK Met Office’s chief scientist, said this would have been “virtually impossible” in an “undisrupted climate.”
Throughout western Europe, the heatwaves gravely increased wildfire risk, with one London fire official noting that the 40-degree day led to an “unprecedented day in the history of the London Fire Brigade.”
As water levels drop at this major lake, bodies begin to appear
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The past few years have been a reality check for western states that heavily rely on the Colorado River for water and electricity. Plagued by decades of overuse and a climate change-fueled drought, the river that serves 40 million people in seven western states and Mexico is draining at an alarming rate.
The water levels in its two main reservoirs – Lake Mead and Lake Powell – have plunged rapidly, threatening drinking water supply and power generation. In late July, Lake Mead – the country’s largest reservoir – bottomed out and has only rebounded a few feet off record lows. Its rapidly plunging levels revealed human remains from the 1970s and a sunken vessel from World War II.
The federal government implemented its first-ever mandatory water cuts this year for states that draw from the Colorado River, and those cuts will be even deeper starting in January 2023.
Floods caused by record monsoon rain and melting glaciers in Pakistan’s northern mountain regions claimed the lives of more than 1,400 people this summer, with millions more affected by clean water and food shortages. More than a third of Pakistan was underwater, satellite images showed, and authorities warned it would take months for the flood waters to recede in the country’s hardest-hit areas.
UN Secretary General António Guterres said the Pakistani people are facing “a monsoon on steroids,” referring to the role that the climate crisis had in supercharging the extreme rainfall. The hard-hit provinces Sindh and Balochistan saw rainfall more than 500% of average during the monsoon season.
Hurricane Ian was a Category 4 storm when it made landfall in southwest Florida in late September and left a trail of destruction from the Caribbean to the Carolinas. Insured losses from Ian are expected to reach up to $65 billion, according to recent data from reinsurance company Swiss Re.
The storm first struck Cuba before undergoing rapid intensification from a tropical storm to a category 3 hurricane in just 24 hours – something scientists told CNN is part of a trend for the most dangerous storms. That same week, Super Typhoon Noru in the Philippines grew from the equivalent of a category 1 hurricane to a category 5 overnight as residents around Manila slept, catching officials and residents unaware and unable to prepare.
Hurricane Ian’s size and intensity allowed it to build up a storm surge higher than any ever observed in Southwest Florida, devastating Fort Myers and Cape Coral. Ian killed more than 100 people, most by drowning. It will likely be one of the costliest hurricanes on record not only in Florida, but in the US.
Music artists team up with Greater Good Music to deliver food to families hit by Hurricane Ian
Press Release –
Nov 22, 2022 13:00 EST
NASHVILLE, Tenn., November 22, 2022 (Newswire.com)
– Earlier this fall, Hurricane Ian roared through Florida as one of the worst disasters in the state’s history. In the Fort Myers area, more than 5,000 homes were destroyed with thousands more sustaining damage. With many grocery stores and restaurants closed, food has not been readily available for Southwest Florida residents. It can also be difficult to afford food for families who suffered financial impacts of the disaster.
Greater Good Music is partnering with music artists from across the nation to provide help in the way of truckloads of grocery supplies delivered directly to Florida neighborhoods damaged by Hurricane Ian.
Stevie Nicks, Lauren Daigle, 38 Special, Foreigner, and more music artists are partnering with Greater Good Music to have food trucks delivered to Florida residents in need during the Thanksgiving season.
Greater Good Music has teamed up with the Harry Chapin Food Bank to organize these food distributions, donated by music artists, during the holiday season. Each distribution delivers 40,000 pounds of food and provides six hundred families with a week’s worth of groceries.
Food distributions will continue into December bringing fresh fruits, vegetables, and protein to Florida families. The holidays are a particularly critical time for this help as other relief organizations end their operations, yet hurricane impacted families are still feeling the strain of recovery efforts.
“It’s critical to be here for these families around the holidays. This could be a sad time in Southwest Florida with so much destruction. We want to bring comfort and nourishment. Music has so much power to heal, and these music artists sending food is a hands-on way to provide that healing,” stated Sheila Jones, director of Greater Good Music. Online donations can be made at GreaterGoodMusic.org
Greater Good Music’s mission is to prevent food insecurity by partnering with music artists to help families in need. According to the US Department of Agriculture, more than 34 million people, including 9 million children, in the United States are food insecure.
About Greater Good Music: Greater Good Music brings people and music together to do good. We partner with music artists on concert tours across the nation to supply food distributions before show time to low-income families and disaster victims.Find us atwww.GreaterGoodMusic.org, and on Instagram (@GreaterGoodMusicCharity) and Facebook (facebook.com/GreaterGoodMusic). Greater Good Music is operating through a fiscal sponsorship with Players Philanthropy Fund (Federal Tax ID: 27-6601178), a Maryland charitable trust with federal tax-exempt status as a public charity under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Contributions to Greater Good Music are tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law.
SARASOTA, Fla., November 17, 2022 (Newswire.com)
– While Hurricane Ian blew through the state of Florida in a handful of days, the devastation it brought to The Sunshine State will be felt for months and years to come. The storm caused an estimated $67 billion dollars in damages to residences and businesses. As part of the recovery effort, Altrua HealthShare and Altrua Ministries, along with several top musical artists, has been able to donate $20,000 to Convoy of Hope to help those in need. The contribution comes from a combination of Altrua Ministries, online donations from fans, and a matching donation from Danny Gokey’s nonprofit, Better Than I Found It.
“It’s our mission at Altrua Ministries and Altrua HealthShare to care for one another,” says Altrua Ministries Director Dr. Kevin Hull. “We’re honored to partner with such great people to be able to bring needed funds to the areas that have been so deeply impacted by this historic storm.”
Altrua Ministries and Altrua HealthShare are based out of Austin, Texas, and have a long history of helping provide resources to those in need. Altrua Ministries focuses on working with nonprofits for spiritual encouragement and needed physical resources, while Altrua HealthShare is a health care sharing ministry in which like-minded, health-conscious individuals share in one another’s eligible medical needs.
The $20,000 check was presented to Convoy of Hope in the hurricane-affected regions of Florida. The check presentation featured two Altrua HealthShare ambassadors, artists Danny Gokey and Jordan Feliz, joined by Tasha Layton. Convoy of Hope, through its large community of volunteers, goes into devastated areas with resources like clean water, clothing, and other items needed in the wake of disasters.
“Groups like Convoy of Hope make such a tremendous difference for communities as they are trying to get back on their feet,” says Dr. Hull. “To be able to help them do the work they do is an honor, and it’s our hope that the people of Florida find comfort in knowing that we have not forgotten the long road they have ahead of them in the wake of this hurricane. We’re here to help where we can for the long haul.”
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA remained on track for Wednesday’s planned liftoff of its new moon rocket, after determining that hurricane damage provided little extra risk to the test flight.
Hurricane Nicole’s high winds caused a 10-foot (3-meter) section of caulking to peel away near the crew capsule at the top of the rocket last Thursday. The material tore away in small pieces, rather than one big strip, said mission manager Mike Sarafin.
“We’re comfortable flying as is,” based on flight experience with this material, Sarafin told reporters Monday night.
Liftoff is scheduled for the early morning hours of Wednesday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, with test dummies rather than astronauts on board. It’s the first test flight for the 322-foot (98-meter) rocket, the most powerful ever built by NASA, and will attempt to send the capsule into lunar orbit.
The nearly monthlong $4 billion mission has been grounded since August by fuel leaks and Hurricane Ian, which forced the rocket back into its hangar for shelter at the end of September. The rocket remained at the pad for Nicole; managers said there wasn’t enough time to move it once it became clear the storm was going to be stronger than anticipated.
Sarafin acknowledged Monday night that there’s “a small likelihood” that more of the pliable, lightweight caulking might come off during liftoff. The most likely place to be hit would be a particularly large and robust section of the rocket, he noted, resulting in minimal damage.
Engineers never determined what caused the dangerous hydrogen fuel leaks during the two late summer launch attempts. But the launch team is confident that slowing the flow rate will put less pressure on the sensitive fuel line seals and keep any leakage within acceptable limits, said Jeremy Parsons, a deputy program manager.
The space agency plans to send astronauts around the moon in 2024 and land a crew on the lunar surface in 2025.
Astronauts last visited the moon in December 1972, closing out the Apollo program.
A microwave oven-size NASA satellite, meanwhile, arrived Sunday in a special lunar orbit following a summer liftoff from New Zealand. This elongated orbit, stretching as much as tens of thousands of miles (kilometers), is where the space agency plans to build a depot for lunar crews. The way station, known as Gateway, will serve astronauts going to and from the lunar surface.
The satellite, called Capstone, will spend six months testing a navigation system in this orbit.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA’s moon rocket needs only minor repairs after enduring a hurricane at the pad and is on track for its first test flight next week, a top official said Friday.
“Right now, there’s nothing preventing us” from attempting a launch on Wednesday, said NASA’s Jim Free, an associate administrator.
The wind never exceeded the rocket’s design limits as Hurricane Nicole swept through Kennedy Space Center on Thursday, according to Free. But he acknowledged if the launch team had known in advance that a hurricane was going to hit, they likely would have kept the rocket indoors. The rocket was moved out to the pad late last week for its $4.1 billion demo mission.
Gusts reached 100 mph (160 kph) atop the launch tower, but were not nearly as strong farther down at the rocket. Computer models indicate there should be no strength or fatigue issues from the storm, even deep inside the rocket, Free noted.
NASA had been aiming for an early Monday launch, but put it on hold for two days because of the storm.
The 322-foot (98-meter) rocket, known as SLS for Space Launch System, is the most powerful ever built by NASA. A crew capsule atop the rocket, with three test dummies on board, will shoot for the moon — the first such flight in 50 years when Apollo astronauts last visited the moon.
NASA wants to test all the systems before putting astronauts on board in 2024 for a trip around the moon.
Two previous launch attempts, in late summer, were thwarted by fuel leaks. Hurricane Ian also forced a return to the hangar at the end of September.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
WILBUR-BY-THE-SEA, Fla. — Tropical Depression Nicole was moving through Georgia Friday morning after a day of causing havoc as it churned through Florida as a hurricane and then tropical storm.
The rare November hurricane could dump as much as 6 inches (15 centimeters) of rain over the Blue Ridge Mountains by Friday, the National Hurricane Center said. Flash and urban flooding will be possible as the rain spreads into the eastern Ohio Valley, Mid-Atlantic and New England through Saturday.
Nicole had spent Thursday cutting across central Florida after making landfall as a hurricane early that morning near Vero Beach. The brunt of the damage was along the East Coast well north of there, in the Daytona Beach area. The storm made it to the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday evening before turning north.
The storm caused at least two deaths and sent homes along Florida’s coast toppling into the Atlantic Ocean and damaged many others, including hotels and a row of high-rise condominiums. It was another devastating blow just weeks after Hurricane Ian came ashore on the Gulf Coast, killing more than 130 people and destroying thousands of homes.
Nicole was the first hurricane to hit the Bahamas since Hurricane Dorian, a Category 5 storm that devastated the archipelago in 2019. For storm-weary Floridians, it was only the first November hurricane to hit their shores since 1985 and only the third since recordkeeping began in 1853.
Nicole was sprawling, covering nearly the entire weather-weary state of Florida while also reaching into Georgia and the Carolinas before dawn on Thursday. Tropical storm-force winds extended as far as 450 miles (720 kilometers) from the center in some directions as Nicole turned northward over central Florida.
Although Nicole’s winds did minimal damage, its storm surge was more destructive than might have been in the past because seas are rising as the planet’s ice melts due to climate change, said Princeton University climate scientist Michael Oppenheimer. It adds up to higher coastal flooding, flowing deeper inland, and what used to be once-in-a-century events that will happen almost yearly in some places, he said.
“It is definitely part of a picture that is happening,” Oppenheimer said. “It’s going to happen elsewhere. It’s going to happen all across the world.’’
Officials in Volusia County, northeast of Orlando, said Thursday evening that building inspectors had declared 24 hotels and condos in Daytona Beach Shores and New Smyrna Beach to be unsafe and ordered their evacuations. At least 25 single-family homes in Wilbur-by-the-Sea had been declared structurally unsafe by building inspectors and also were evacuated, county officials said.
“Structural damage along our coastline is unprecedented. We’ve never experienced anything like this before,” County Manager George Recktenwald said during a news conference earlier, noting that it was not known when evacuated residents can safely return home.
A man and a woman were killed by electrocution when they touched downed power lines in the Orlando area, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office said. Nicole also caused flooding well inland, as parts of the St. Johns River were at or above flood stage and some rivers in the Tampa Bay area also nearing flood levels, according to the National Weather Service.
All 67 Florida counties were under a state of emergency. President Joe Biden also approved an emergency declaration for the Seminole Tribe of Florida, ordering federal help for the tribal nation. Many Seminoles live on six reservations around the state.
Parts of Florida were devastated by Hurricane Ian, which struck as a Category 4 storm. Ian destroyed homes and damaged crops, including orange groves, across the state — damage that many are still dealing with — and sent a storm surge of up to 13 feet (4 meters) onshore, causing widespread destruction.
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For more AP coverage of our changing climate: https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment
MIAMI — Hurricane Nicole made landfall early Thursday along the east coast of Florida. The storm was already battering a large area of the storm-weary state with strong winds, dangerous storm surge and heavy rain, officials said.
The rare November hurricane had already led officials to shut down airports and theme parks and order evacuations that included former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club.
Authorities warned that Nicole’s storm surge could further erode many beaches hit by Hurricane Ian in September. The sprawling storm is then forecast to head into Georgia and the Carolinas later Thursday and Friday, dumping heavy rain across the region.
Nicole was a Category 1 storm, with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (120 kph) early Thursday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. It was moving west-northwest near 14 mph (22 km/h).
Tropical storm force winds extended as far as 485 miles (780 kilometers) from the center in some directions. Nicole’s center is expected to move across central and northern Florida into southern Georgia on Thursday and into the evening, and into the Carolinas on Friday.
A few tornadoes will be possible through early Thursday across east-central to northeast Florida, the weather service said. Flash and urban flooding will be possible, along with renewed river rises on the St. Johns River, across the Florida Peninsula on Thursday. Heavy rainfall from this system will spread northward across portions of the southeast, eastern Ohio Valley, Mid-Atlantic, and New England through Saturday.
Large swells generated by Nicole will affect the northwestern Bahamas, the east coast of Florida, and much of the southeastern United States coast over the next few days.
Nicole is expected to weaken while moving across Florida and the southeastern United States through Friday, and it is likely to become a post-tropical cyclone by Friday afternoon.
Nicole became a hurricane Wednesday evening as it slammed into Grand Bahama Island, having made landfall just hours earlier on Great Abaco island as a tropical storm with maximum sustained winds of 70 mph. It is the first storm to hit the Bahamas since Hurricane Dorian, a Category 5 storm that devastated the archipelago in 2019.
For storm-weary Floridians, it is only the third November hurricane to hit their shores since recordkeeping began in 1853. The previous ones were the 1935 Yankee Hurricane and Hurricane Kate in 1985.
Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s club and home, was in one of those evacuation zones, built about a quarter-mile inland from the ocean. The main buildings sit on a small rise that is about 15 feet (4.6 meters) above sea level and the property has survived numerous stronger hurricanes since it was built nearly a century ago. The resort’s security office hung up Wednesday when an Associated Press reporter asked whether the club was being evacuated and there was no sign of evacuation by Wednesday afternoon.
There is no penalty for ignoring an evacuation order, but rescue crews will not respond if it puts their members at risk.
Officials in Daytona Beach Shores deemed unsafe at least a half dozen, multi-story, coastal residential buildings already damaged by Hurricane Ian and now threatened by Nicole. At some locations, authorities went door-to-door telling people to grab their possessions and leave.
Disney World and Universal Orlando Resort announced they likely would not open as scheduled Thursday.
Palm Beach International Airport closed Wednesday morning, and Daytona Beach International Airport said it would suspend operations. Orlando International Airport, the seventh busiest in the U.S., also closed. Farther south, officials said Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and Miami International Airport experienced some flight delays and cancellations but both planned to remain open.
At a news conference in Tallahassee, Gov. Ron DeSantis said that winds were the biggest concern and significant power outages could occur, but that 16,000 linemen were on standby to restore power as well as 600 guardsmen and seven search and rescue teams.
“It will affect huge parts of the state of Florida all day,” DeSantis said of the storm’s expected landing.
Almost two dozen school districts were closing schools for the storm and 15 shelters had opened along Florida’s east coast, the governor said.
Forty-five of Florida’s 67 counties were under a state of emergency declaration.
Warnings and watches were issued for many parts of Florida, including the southwestern Gulf coastline that was devastated by Hurricane Ian, which struck as a Category 4 storm Sept. 28. The storm destroyed homes and damaged crops, including orange groves, across the state. — damage that many are still dealing with.
Daniel Brown, a senior hurricane specialist at the Miami-based National Hurricane Center, said the storm would affect a large part of the state.
“Because the system is so large, really almost the entire east coast of Florida except the extreme southeastern part and the Keys is going to receive tropical storm force winds,” he said.
Early Wednesday, President Joe Biden declared an emergency in Florida and ordered federal assistance to supplement state, tribal and local response efforts to the approaching storm. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is still responding to those in need from Hurricane Ian.
Hurricane Ian brought storm surge of up to 13 feet in late September, causing widespread destruction.
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Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico. Associated Press writers Zeke Miller in Washington and Terry Spencer in Palm Beach, Florida, contributed to this report.
MIAMI — Tropical Storm Nicole forced people from their homes in the Bahamas and threatened to grow into a rare November hurricane in Florida on Wednesday, shutting down airports and Disney World as well as prompting evacuation orders that included former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club.
Hundreds of people sought shelter in the northwestern Bahamas before the approaching storm, which had already sent seawater washing across roads on barrier islands in Florida.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center said the center of the sprawling storm make landfall on Great Abaco with estimated maximum sustained winds of 70 mph.
“We are forecasting it to become a hurricane as it nears the northwestern Bahamas, and remain a hurricane as it approaches the east coast of Florida,” Daniel Brown, a senior hurricane specialist at the Miami-based National Hurricane Center, said Wednesday.
Nicole is the first storm to hit the Bahamas since Hurricane Dorian, a Category 5 storm that devastated the archipelago in 2019, before hitting storm-weary Florida.
In the Bahamas, officials said that more than 520 people were in more than two dozen shelters. Flooding and power outages were reported in Grand Abaco island.
Authorities were especially concerned about a large Haitian community in Great Abacothat was destroyed by Dorian and has since grown from 50 acres (20 hectares) to 200 acres (81 hectares).
“Do not put yourselves in harm’s way,” said Zhivago Dames, assistant commissioner of police information as he urged everyone to stay indoors. “Our first responders are out there. However, they will not put their lives in danger.”
In Florida, the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office said in a tweet that storm surge from Tropical Storm Nicole had already breached the sea wall along Indian River Drive, which runs parallel to the Atlantic Ocean. The Martin County Sheriff’s office also said seawater had breached part of a road on Hutchinson Island.
Residents in several Florida counties — Flagler, Palm Beach, Martin and Volusia — were ordered to evacuate such barrier islands, low-lying areas and mobile homes.
Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s club and home, is in one of those evacuation zones, built about a quarter-mile inland from the ocean. The main buildings sit on a small rise that is about 15 feet (4.6 meters) above sea level and the property has survived numerous stronger hurricanes since it was built nearly a century ago. The resort’s security office hung up Wednesday when an Associated Press reporter asked whether the club was being evacuated.
There is no penalty for ignoring an evacuation order, but rescue crews will not respond if it puts their members at risk.
Disney World and related theme parks announced they were closing early on Wednesday evening and likely would not reopen as scheduled on Thursday.
Palm Beach International Airport closed Wednesday morning, and Daytona Beach International Airport said it would cease operations at 12:30 p.m. Orlando International Airport, the seventh busiest in the U.S., was set to close at 4 p.m. Wednesday. Further south, officials said Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and Miami International Airport were experiencing some flight delays and cancellations but both planned to remain open.
At a news conference in Tallahassee, Gov. Ron DeSantis said winds were the biggest concern and and significant power outages could occur, but that 16,000 linemen were on standby to restore power, as well as 600 guardsmen and seven search and rescue teams.
“It will affect huge parts of the state of Florida all day,” DeSantis said of the storm’s expected landing.
Almost two dozen school districts were closing schools for the storm and 15 shelters had opened along Florida’s east coast, the governor said.
Florida Division of Emergency Management director Kevin Guthrie said Floridians should expect possible tornadoes, rip currents and flash flooding.
Bahamas Prime Minister Philip Brave Davis, who is at the COP27 U.N. Climate Summit, said he has mobilized all government resources.
“There have always been storms, but as the planet warms from carbon emissions, storms are growing in intensity and frequency,” he said. “For those in Grand Bahama and Abaco, I know it is especially difficult for you to face another storm,” Davis said, referring to the islands hardest hit by Dorian.
At 11:55 a.m. the storm was about 185 miles (300 kilometers) east of West Palm Beach, Florida, and moving west at 12 mph (19 kph).
Tropical storm force winds extended as far as 460 miles (740 kilometers) from the center in some directions.
It could intensify into a rare November hurricane before hitting Florida, where only two have made landfall since recordkeeping began in 1853 — the 1935 Yankee Hurricane and Hurricane Kate in 1985.
New warnings and watches were issued for many parts of Florida, including the southwestern Gulf coastline which was devastated by Hurricane Ian, which struck as a Category 4 storm on Sept. 28. The storm destroyed homes and damaged crops, including orange groves, across the state.
Ian lashed much of the central region of Florida with heavy rainfall, causing flooding that many residents are still dealing with as Nicole approaches.
In Florida, the “combination of a dangerous storm surge and the tide will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters moving inland from the shoreline,” the hurricane center’s advisory said.
Hurricane specialist Brown said the storm will affect a large part of the state.
“Because the system is so large, really almost the entire east coast of Florida except the extreme southeastern part and the Keys is going to receive tropical storm force winds,” he said.
The storm is then expected to move across central and northern Florida into southern Georgia on Thursday, forecasters said. It was then forecast to move across the Carolinas on Friday.
“We are going to be concerned with rainfall as we get later into the week across portions of the southeastern United States and southern Appalachians, where there could be some flooding, flash flooding with that rainfall,” Brown said.
Early Wednesday, President Joe Biden declared an emergency in Florida and ordered federal assistance to supplement state, tribal and local response efforts to the approaching storm. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is still responding to those in need from Hurricane Ian.
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Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico. Associated Press reporters Zeke Miller in Washington, D.C., and Terry Spencer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, contributed to this report.
MIAMI — Tropical Storm Nicole churned toward the northwestern Bahamas and Florida’s Atlantic coastline on Tuesday, gradually gaining strength as it neared hurricane strength, forecasters said.
Nicole reached 70 mph (110 kph) late Tuesday, just shy of the 74 mph (119 kph) to become a Category 1 hurricane.
A range of warnings and watches remain in place. Many areas are still reeling from damage caused by Hurricane Ian, which hit Florida’s southwestern Gulf Coast as a Category 4 storm in late September before dumping heavy amounts of rain across much of the central part of the state. Forecasters said heavy rain could fall on areas still recovering from Ian’s flooding.
Hurricane warnings were in effect for the Abacos, Berry Islands, Bimini and Grand Bahama Island, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said in an advisory. Other areas of the Bahamas, including Andros Island, New Province and Eleuthera remained under a tropical storm warning.
Residents in at least three Florida counties — Flagler, Palm Beach and Volusia — were ordered to evacuate from barrier islands, low-lying areas and mobile homes. The evacuation orders are set to take effect Wednesday. Officials at Orlando International Airport, the seventh busiest in the U.S., said commercial operations would stop Wednesday afternoon until it was safe to resume flights.
“This incoming storm is a direct threat to both property and life,” said Volusia County Manager George Recktenwald. “Our infrastructure, particularly along the coastline, is very vulnerable because of Hurricane Ian.”
In the Bahamas, long lines formed at gas stations and grocery stores earlier Tuesday, said Eliane Hall, who works at a hotel in Great Abaco island.
“We just boarded it up,” she said of the hotel, adding that the impact of Hurricane Dorian, a Category 5 storm that struck in 2019, was still fresh in many people’s minds. “We’re still affected,” she said.
Authorities said they were especially concerned about those now living in about 100 motorhomes in Grand Bahama after Dorian destroyed their homes, and about the migrant community in Great Abaco’s March Harbor that Capt. Stephen Russell, emergency management authority director, said has grown from 50 acres (20 hectares) to 200 acres (81 hectares) since Dorian. The previous community of Haitian migrants was among the hardest hit by the 2019 storm given the large number of flimsy structures in which many lived.
The hurricane center said the storm’s track shifted slightly north overnight, but the exact path remains uncertain as it approaches Florida, where it is expected to make landfall as a Category 1 hurricane late Wednesday or early Thursday.
By Tuesday night, hurricane warnings were issued for a large portion of Florida’s Atlantic Coast, from Boca Raton to north of Daytona Beach. Tropical storm warnings are in place for other parts of the Florida coast, all the way to Altamaha Sound, Georgia.
The warning area also stretches inland, covering Florida’s Lake Okeechobee, with tropical storm watches in effect on the state’s Gulf Coast from Bonita Beach in southwestern Florida to Indian Pass in the Panhandle. The tropical storm watch extends north to the South Santee River in South Carolina.
Jack Beven, a National Hurricane Center forecaster, said the storm has a “very large cyclonic envelope,” meaning that even if it makes landfall along the central Florida coastline, the effects will be felt as far north as Georgia.
NASA announced that because of the storm, next week’s planned launch of its much-anticipated moon rocket will be pushed back two days to Nov. 16. The 322-foot (98-meter) rocket will send an empty crew capsule around the moon and back in a dramatic flight test before astronauts climb aboard in a couple of years.
However, the storm did not have any impact on voting in Florida on Tuesday.
Officials in the Bahamas opened more than two dozen shelters across the archipelago on Tuesday as they closed schools and government offices in Abaco, Bimini, the Berry Islands and Grand Bahama.
Authorities warned that some airports and seaports will close as the storm nears and not reopen until Thursday, and they urged people in shantytowns to seek secure shelter.
Communities in Abaco are expected to receive a direct hit from Nicole as they still struggle to recover from Dorian.
“We don’t have time to beg and plead for persons to move,” Russell said.
Some counties in Florida were offering sandbags to residents. In Indian River County, which is north of West Palm Beach, shelters were set to open at 7 a.m. Wednesday, though no mandatory evacuation orders had been issued by late morning Tuesday, said spokesman Mason Kozac.
Any evacuations would be strictly voluntary, with residents “having a conversation with themselves about whether they need to leave or not,” Kozac said.
The mandatory evacuation order in Palm Beach County affects 52,000 residents of mobile homes and 67,000 residents of barrier islands, officials said in an afternoon news conference. Shelters up and down the coast were opening at 7 a.m. Wednesday, officials said.
Schools will be closed in multiple counties across Florida as the storm approaches. Some announced closures through Friday, already an off day because of the Veteran’s Day holiday. Other districts have said they would cancel classes on Thursday. The University of Central Florida, one of the largest U.S. universities with 70,000 students and 12,000 employees, was closing on Wednesday and Thursday.
Disney World outside Orlando planned to close its Typhoon Lagoon water park and two miniature golf courses on Thursday.
In Seminole County, north of Orlando, Hurricane Ian caused unprecedented flooding, and officials are concerned the impending storm could bring a new round of flooding and wind damage.
“The water on the ground has saturated the root structures of many trees. The winds could bring down trees and those could bring down power lines,” Alan Harris, Seminole County’s emergency manager, said at a Tuesday news conference.
In South Carolina, forecasters warned several days of onshore winds from Nicole could pile seawater into places like downtown Charleston. Thursday morning’s high tide was predicted to be higher than the water level from Hurricane Ian.
At 10 p.m. Tuesday, the storm was about 150 miles (240 kilometers) east-northeast of the northwestern Bahamas and 325 miles (525 kilometers) east of West Palm Beach, Florida. It was moving west-southwest at 10 mph (17 kph).
Tropical storm-force winds extend outward up to 380 miles (610 kilometers) from the center of the storm, the National Hurricane Center’s advisory said.
The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 through Nov. 30. The last storm to hit Florida in November was Tropical Storm Eta, which made landfall in Cedar Key, on the state’s Gulf Coast, on Nov. 12, 2020.
Since record keeping began in 1853, Florida has had only two hurricanes make landfall in November, said Maria Torres, a spokesperson for the Hurricane Center. The first was the Yankee Hurricane in 1935, and the second was Hurricane Kate, which struck Florida’s Panhandle as a Category 2 storm in 1985.
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Walker reported from New York City. Associated Press writers Danica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Mike Schneider in Orlando, Florida, Terry Spencer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina contributed to this report.
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For more AP coverage of hurricanes: https://apnews.com/hub/hurricanes
MIAMI — Subtropical Storm Nicole began strengthening and transitioning into a tropical storm early Tuesday as it churned toward the northwestern Bahamas and Florida’s Atlantic coastline, forecasters said.
“There are indications in the satellite imagery and recognizance aircraft that the system may be trying to evolve into a more classic tropical cyclone and could become a full-blown tropical storm later today,” Jack Bevin, a senior hurricane specialist at the Miami-based National Hurricane Center, told The Associated Press on Tuesday morning.
A range of warnings and watches remain in place. Many areas are still reeling from damage caused by Hurricane Ian, which hit Florida’s southwestern Gulf Coast as a Category 4 storm in late September, before dumping heavy amounts of rain across much of central part of the state.
Hurricane warnings were in effect for the Abacos, Berry Islands, Bimini and Grand Bahama Island, the advisory said. Other areas of the Bahamas, including Andros Island, New Province and Eleuthera remained under a tropical storm warning.
The hurricane center said the storm’s track shifted slightly north overnight, but the exact path remains uncertain. It was expected to make landfall along Florida’s coast as a Category 1 hurricane late Wednesday or early Thursday.
In the U.S., tropical storm warnings and hurricane watches were issued for much of Florida’s Atlantic coastline north of Miami, to Altamaha Sound, Georgia. The warning area stretches inland, covering Florida’s Lake Okeechobee, with tropical storm watches in effect on the state’s Gulf Coast — from Bonita Beach in southwest Florida to the Ochlockonee River in the Panhandle.
Bevin said the storm has a “very large cyclonic envelope,” meaning that even if it makes landfall along the central Florida coastline, the effects will be felt into Georgia.
However, the storm was not expected to have any impact on voting in Florida on Tuesday, Bevin said.
Officials in the Bahamas opened more than two dozen shelters across the archipelago on Tuesday as they closed schools and government offices in Abaco, Bimini, the Berry Islands and Grand Bahama.
Authorities warned that airports and seaports will close as the storm nears and not reopen until Thursday as they urged people in shantytowns to seek secure shelter.
Communities in Abaco are expected to receive a direct hit from Nicole as they still struggle to recover from Hurricane Dorian, a Category 5 storm that hit in 2019.
“We don’t have time to beg and plead for persons to move,” said Capt. Stephen Russell, emergency management authority director.
The difference between a subtropical and tropical storm is largely academic. A subtropical storm is a non-frontal low-pressure system that has characteristics of both tropical and extratropical cyclones and tend to have a larger wind field, extending much farther from their centers.
At 7 a.m., the storm was about 385 miles (615 kilometers) east northeast of the northwestern Bahamas and moving at 8 mph (13 kph), with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph (80 kph).
The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 through Nov. 30. The last storm to hit Florida in November was Tropical Storm Eta, which made landfall in Cedar Key, on the state’s Gulf Coast, on Nov. 12, 2020.
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Walker reported from New York City. Associated Press reporter Danica Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico.
