👀 JHC. As Hurricane #Milton approaches Florida #meteorologists are staying awake for days at a time trying to get vital, life-saving information out to the folks who will be affected. That’s their job. But this year, several of them tell Rolling Stone, they’re increasingly having to take time out to quell the nonstop flow of #misinformation during a particularly traumatic #hurricane season. And some of them are doing it while being personally threatened.
I know a lot of us laugh at #musk and we laugh at how he wasted so much of his money just to tank #twitter. But as #milton makes landfall and this becomes the crisis it likely will be, let’s also make certain to remember that he took a site that evolved into a crucial tool for #disaster response and destroyed it. When I say he has blood on his hands it’s not just about blood emeralds. Twitter could have likely helped save lives here if it still was what it had been before he got his hands on it.
"Erin Regan Animal Sanctuary IF YOU ARE EVACUATING FROM FLORIDA AND HAVE NOWHERE TO GO OR CANNOT AFFORD A HOTEL... We have 40 acres in Picayune, MS where you, your horses, farm animals, and pets can ride out the storm. We are about 9 hours from Tampa. Tents and RVs welcome. Please email [email protected] for assistance. FREE SHELTER AVAILABLE in Picayune. Mississippi HURRICANE WARNING BRING YOUR HORSES AND PETS!!!"
Looks like it's time for another hurricane thread. Today we woke up to hurricane models realizing a storm they had been realizing when Helene hit us last week, but then in the beginning of this week the storm gradually disappeared from dynamic models. So, we weren't really paying attention anymore as it seemed to be becoming a rain maker but not a wind and surge event.
Now we are paying attention. The trend reversed and all of the models seem to be realizing a tropical cyclone ranging from Tropical Storm strength to Category 4 hurricane. Tracks are converging on central Florida's west coast. If it realizes full strength and hits slightly north of Tampa Bay, it will be an absolute disaster. It will kill many people and collapse Florida's weak, feeble insurance market (Thanks for that, Rick Scott and Republican kleptocrats!)
Friend sent me this from that other site. I dedicate it to Anna Paulina Luna, the congresswoman who represents the district here in St. Petersburg that just flooded and whose residents are frantically cleaning up after Helene as Milton approaches.
The Tampa Bay Times is running an article now on how to evacuate if you are still here. One of the ways being touted by the DeSantis administration is by Uber - Uber rides are free!
I have major problems with this approach, Who drives Uber? People with no health benefits from Uber drive for Uber, people who are underpaid drive for Uber, people who use their own cars drive for Uber. But doing this, the state need not give them shelter or provide benefits, but the "service" requires Uber drivers to be present. Doesn't that defeat the purpose of an evacuation? Keeping people in town so they can drive others out? And am I the only one who sees this is as stupid?
It was nice to see, at 10 pm, that the mortal were continuing their shift southward. This 0Z 9 Oct 2024 run put Tampa Bay in the clear, with all models putting us on the better side of the eye with little threat if a huge surge isolating Pinellas county for days or weeks. Normally, given this news we would just stay and ride the storm out.
However, prior to the sustained southward shift in model guidance, we told my parents in Naples that they could probably stay put. They live 15 miles from the coast in a neighborhood with no big trees and buried power lines. They would be safe if the storm landed in or just a little south of Tampa Bay. When we saw this 0z run at 10pm, though, we felt they may be better off going to Miami or coming here to St. Petersburg.
The only problem was that we had told them we were coming late tonight and, at this point, they were asleep and our calls weren't waking them. In the morning they would still have time to go to Miami, but the traffic would be bad and they are getting go there in years. So after the 11pm official forecast came out and confirmed the models rune's southward shift, we left anyway.
We are here in Naples now, and that may ultimately be worse than St. Petersburg. But my parents have us, and our kids have their grandparents, and that all counts for something.
Leaving was bittersweet. There is something that happens during the approach and aftermath of a hurricane that we want our children to see. It is cliché, but the community comes together.
Last night, in a super market to get items for nervous snacking, small groups of people gathered in all parts of the storm to chat, to give people advice, to share lived experience. The cashier was curious about everyone's plans and wished everyone safety through the storm. As I left, a man asked me how bad it was in there. When I told time that there was evidence that people were snacking due to Milton, he laughed and sad, "That's what I'm here for!"
At home today, while prepping the house, we had more conversations with neighbors than we have had cumulatively over the last 6 months probably.
Why does it take an imminent disaster to bring us together like that? After the storm, there is always an outpouring of support, checking in on one another. We want our kids to know how to build community like this for their climate-altered reality, the only future they are going to have.