The Florida deserted is preparing for the worst-case scenario

Photo AFP

The Journal

Friday, September 8, 2017 16:31

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Friday, September 8, 2017 23:49

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Deserted streets, closed shops, empty beaches : even if the sun shone always in Miami on Friday, the atmosphere at the approach of the hurricane Irma was worthy of a science fiction movie, post-apocalyptic.

Hundreds of thousands of people are thrown on the roads to flee to north Florida and try to escape Irma, transforming Miami into a veritable ghost town.

Photo AFP

At Hollywood Beach, the shops have been fully posted by their owners in anticipation of hurricane Irma.

“We are running out of time. The storm is almost here. If you are in an evacuation zone, you must leave now “, warned the governor of Florida, Rick Scott, in a press conference.

“Do not ignore evacuation orders, he added. Remember, we can rebuild your home. We can’t rebuild your life, your family. “

Hurricane Irma, a gigantic depression that is bigger than the Florida, has already devastated several Caribbean islands, including Saint-Martin, Saint-Barthélemy and Barbuda. At least 19 deaths have been reported up to now.

Sudden floods have also been caused in Puerto Rico, the dominican Republic and Haiti.

Wall of water

As she was nearing Cuba and the Bahamas on Friday evening, the storm is expected to hit Florida late that night. Downgraded Friday, a category 4 hurricane should be back in class 5 where it will land in the Keys, plans to CNN.

The meteorologist Gilles’brien has reported, on the waves of LCN, as a wall of water about six metres high is expected to hit the coast in florida.

“The hurricane Irma was of epic proportions. This is perhaps the biggest we’ve ever seen. To be safe and clear of the road, if possible, ” tweeted the us president Donald Trump.

Two nuclear power plants of importance are directly on the path of Irma.

The operator of the power plant, Turkey Point and st. Lucie, Florida Power & Light, plans to close the facilities. The company warrants that they have been designed to resist the harshest weather extremes.

More than one million people are affected by evacuation orders mandatory in Florida and Georgia.

Photo AFP

On highway 75, the hundreds of thousands of Floridiens who tried to flee from the north of the State have created a traffic monster. Many service stations ran out of gasoline.

The two motorways that run parallel to the coasts of the Sunshine State, the 75 and the 95, offered Friday, the same show : cars and vans loaded sometimes a mattress or a kayak, sometimes with jerry cans of gasoline, bumper against bumper.

More gas

Everywhere, the essence was missing, even though the Florida governor has promised to do everything to restock service stations and to allow more people to flee.

The products of first necessity had often already disappeared from the supermarket shelves.

At Key West as to Fort Lauderdale, the shops and restaurants were almost entirely deserts, reports the Washington Post.

Several residents, however, are determined to remain in their homes at all costs.

Further north, in Boynton Beach, Quebec Marie-Claude Soles was told that the residents of his neighborhood were in fashion hurricane.

“The time is suspended here. All the world is not evil ready “, she said.

Self-sufficient

“The only thing that is stressful is that everything closes on Friday [yesterday], the department stores and grocery stores, she explained. We are left with nothing to cater for we do not know how long. We are therefore self-sufficient. “

In Orlando, all theme parks, including Walt Disney World and SeaWorld, will close today in anticipation of the storm, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

Two other hurricanes circulate from one part to another of Irma. Katia, a category 2, heads toward Mexico, while Jose, category 4, is expected to increase to the islands of Saint-Barthélemy and Saint-Martin today.

– With AFP and Catherine Bouchard, Le Journal de Québec

The west Indies are already waiting for the next hurricane

Hurricane Irma that has devastated the Caribbean and expected to reach Florida late this night has already made at least 20 people dead and damage estimated at several hundreds of billions of dollars. Always thunderstruck by this disaster, some islands are already planning to receive the visit of Jose, another hurricane, force 4, approaching from the west.

Photo AFP

A squadron of logistics of the british army was used Thursday, a raft-type Mexflote for land vehicles and a generator on the island of Anguilla, which has been severely affected by the hurricane Irma.

Antigua-and-Barbuda

• A person is dead on the island of Barbuda.
• More than half of the residents are now homeless.
• The residents are preparing for the arrival of another cyclone, Jose, which is expected to hit the island today.

Saint-Martin – Saint-Barthélemy

• At least 11 people have lost their lives in these islands, franco-Dutch.
• Saint-Martin, the drinking water is shut off, gasoline is unavailable, and a part of the roads are impassable.
• The emergency power has been restored in both islands, but the ferry connections with The island of Guadeloupe were still suspended Friday due to inclement weather.
• The efforts to combat the looting are complicated by the arrival of hurricane Jose which is expected to increase to 100 km north of Saint-Martin.
• 95 % of the island of St. Martin is destroyed, according to the French government.

British Virgin islands

Photo AFP

• The british authorities have reported four deaths, according to the newspaper The Independent.

• A hundred soldiers have been deployed in more than one vessel of the Royal Navy.
• On the island of Anguilla (photos above), also a british territory, 90 % of the roads are unusable, according to The Independent, which cites the authorities of the country.

Puerto Rico

• At least two dead.
• More than half of the three million inhabitants of the island are without electricity.
• Shelters were opened to accommodate up to 62 000 people.
• Nearly 14,000 american soldiers have been deployed as well as in Florida and in the u.s. Virgin Islands to help the disaster victims.
• At least four people died in the u.s. Virgin Islands

Dominican republic

• 20 000 people were evacuated.
• At least 2135 housing have been affected by the floods, falling trees and wind gusts.
• The authorities were in the process of power interruptions as a preventive measure.

Haiti

• Hurricane Irma has caused a sharp rise of water in the north-east of the island.
• The winds have blown away roofs, but the country has been relatively spared.
• A man was reported missing Friday after being swept away by a swollen river.
• 10 000 people were still refugees in temporary shelters on Friday.
• The red alert declared on the entire territory of haiti Thursday, has been lifted on Friday.

Cuba

• A million people have been evacuated in a preventive way.
• 10, 000 tourists were ordered to leave their hotel or their home.
• In the capital Havana, the authorities have cleaned the drainage system in anticipation of a possible penetration of the waters of the sea.
• Friday evening, winds began to sweep the north of the island.

Bahamas

• Nearly a thousand inhabitants of the islands of Inagua, Mayaguana, Crooked Island, Acklins, Long Cay and Ragged Island were evacuated on Wednesday to the capital, Nassau, on the order of prime minister Hubert Minnis.
• They have been gathered in several visitor centres that are installed on the main island of New Providence where more than half of the population of the country.
• Located 150 km north-east of Cuba, the small island was in the direct path of Irma.