This report was originally published by Michael Snyder at The American Dream
Hurricane Irma is more powerful than all of the other major Atlantic storms this year combined, and it has an eye as large as the entire Detroit metro area. It is being reported that “upwards of 90%” of Barbuda has already been destroyed by the storm, and it is being projected that some areas of Puerto Rico could be without power “for between four and six months”. You may want to view these photos and these videos to get a better idea of the immense destructiveness of this very powerful storm. The latest forecasts have Hurricane Irma making landfall in Florida, but so far the two nuclear power plants in Florida that would be directly in the path of the storm have not even started the process of shutting down…
In anticipation of powerful Hurricane Irma, which projections on Wednesday showed headed straight for South Florida, Florida Power & Light’s two nuclear plants were finalizing staffing plans and cleaning up the grounds. But neither Turkey Point nor the St. Lucie plant further up the coast had made the call yet to shutting down the plants.
Peter Robbins, spokesman for FPL, said shutting down a reactor is a gradual process, and the decision will be made “well in advance” of the storm making landfall.
We all remember what happened with Fukushima, and we definitely do not want to see a repeat on U.S. soil. The Fukushima nuclear disaster changed millions of minds about the safety of nuclear power, and as a member of Congress I will do all that I can to encourage the development of our solar power, wind power and geothermal power capabilities.
Let us hope that Hurricane Irma weakens before it gets to Florida, because the destruction that it is causing right now is off the charts. When it made landfall in Barbuda, there were some wind gusts that were “above 215 mph”…
Irma first made landfall in Barbuda — an island with a population of about 1,600 — around 1:47 a.m. ET Wednesday. Local weather stations there captured wind gusts of 155 mph before going silent, indicating the instruments had been blown away. Irma’s sustained winds have been reported at 185 mph, with gusts above 215 mph.
When you have winds that high, there is little that you can do to prepare. According to one top official, “upwards of 90%” of Barbuda has already been destroyed…
At least one death was reported in Barbuda, according to ABS TV Antigua. Charles Fernandez, minister of foreign affairs and international trade for Antigua and Barbuda, told ABS that destruction on Barbuda was “upwards of 90%.”
Irma destroyed government buildings, tore roofs from houses and left northern Caribbean islands without power or communications.
Considering what has already happened in the Caribbean, it astounds me that Miami is not being evacuated yet. If all of these communities in the south Florida area try to wait until the last minute to evacuate, it is going to create a traffic nightmare of epic proportions. According to CNN, we could be looking at “one of the largest mass evacuations in US history”…
Based on Irma’s projected path, which includes Florida’s heavily populated eastern coast, the enormous storm could create one of the largest mass evacuations in US history, CNN senior meteorologist Dave Hennen said. Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties combined have about 6 million people.
Monroe County, home to the Florida Keys, has already ordered mandatory evacuations. Broward County, which includes Fort Lauderdale, issued a mandatory evacuation Wednesday for areas east of Federal Highway.
There is still a chance that the storm may not hit Florida at all, and let us hope that is the case.
Sadly, there are some out there that actually want the storm to hit Florida. In fact, some leftists on Twitter are actually rooting for the storm to destroy President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.
How can people be so cruel? When I first made the decision to jump into the world of politics, I thought that I would be able to avoid much of the nastiness, but I quickly found out that people are going to call me all sorts of names too. I am starting to understand why it is so hard to get good people to run for office, because there is a great price to be paid for putting yourself out there.
In this situation, my hope is that people down in south Florida won’t wait for a formal evacuation order and will start getting out well ahead of this storm. According to CNBC, Hurricane Irma could cause a quarter of a trillion dollars in damage if it is still a category 5 storm once it reaches Miami…
But if it stays a Category 5 and hits Miami, the $125 billion estimate could be doubled, making it by far the costliest storm ever. At $105.8 billion, Hurricane Katrina in 2005 is currently the leader, though Hurricane Harvey, which struck Houston two weeks ago, could well surpass that total.
Can you imagine what a quarter of a trillion dollars of damage would look like?
And let us not forget that another hurricane is following right behind Irma. This could easily become the worst hurricane season in all of U.S. history, and we still have many more weeks to go before the season is over.
Meanwhile, a disaster of another sort is unfolding out west. Large portions of Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana are literally on fire. One of the reasons why we are having such a huge problem with wildfires out west is because the federal government is not properly managing public lands. So when these fires hit areas controlled by the feds, they tend to burn more intensely than they should. I intend to fight to have control of those lands transferred to state governments, and I hope that you will support my efforts. Here in Idaho, it has been estimated that we have more than a trillion dollars worth of natural resources under our feet, and if we can get full control of our public lands it would end our state budget problems permanently.
Our world is increasingly becoming a very unstable place, and we are certainly seeing evidence of that this month.
Let us hope that things start settling down, but unfortunately I don’t think that is going to happen any time soon…
Michael T. Snyder is a graduate of the University of Florida law school and he worked as an attorney in the heart of Washington D.C. for a number of years.
Today, Michael is best known for his work as the publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog and The American Dream.
If you want to know what is coming and what you can do to prepare, read his latest book [amazon text=Get Prepared Now!: Why A Great Crisis Is Coming & How You Can Survive It&asin=150522599X].
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Nuclear energy, the poster child for suspended reality.
Q: ” …some leftists on Twitter are actually rooting for the storm to destroy President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort. How can people be so cruel?”
A: Simple. That’s what leftists do. Ask Antifa. Ask any of the 100 MILLION murdered by the left last century, per the Black Book of Communism, Harvard Univ. Press
Next question.
My own question: If Barbuda is 90% destroyed, why was there only one death. Maybe someone can clarify for me.
TEST, agreed on the libturds. They need to STFU. I sympathize with the GOOD people of FL, NOT the libturds.
“lIBTURDS”, “REDNECKS”, leftists, rightwingers… yada, yada, yada… neither group is perfect!!!
Right wingers support the Constitution and especially the second amendment (good!!). However, you tend to not give a f– about the environment!(Healthy environment= healthy people!!) You people are mostly ignorant racists. But democrats don’t realize the establishment is Big Brother–totally untrustworthy!! So both parties suck!
Anonymous, if standing up for white people along with their culture and heritage is racist then so be it. I don’t apologize to anyone for what I believe and especially not to you.
Utterly untrue, Anon. In fact, my leftist neighbors routinely spray their lawn, while I go out and pull dandelions manually. More broadly, Mike Adams of Natural News, who is conservative/libertarian, is also similar.
What you don’t understand is that conservatives know that global warming is an utter scam. In fact, Dr. Richard Lindzen, prof. of atmospheric science at MIT, Dr. William Gray, the #1 hurricane forecaster in the world, and John Coleman, founder of the Weather Channel have all called AGW – in their own words – a “scam.”
As a conservative, I recognize that Adam Smith’s FIRST book was the Theory of Moral Sentiments. As a conservative, I bring moral, Judeo-Christian values to all I do. This means STEWARDING God’s creation. But the left conflates this with big gov’t control (go check out the pollution in communist China or the USSR if you will).
Conservatives generally also call BS on Malthusianism and Agenda21 – all socialist control mechanisms that are not borne out by science.
I’m sure there are some conservatives who don’t care for the environment, but where I live, it is the hypocrite left who don’t. Or go check out Hollyweird – check out THEIR swimming pools.
But the whole BIG GREEN MONEY thing is a scam, particularly when it comes to AGW. At the same time, many of us are fighting Monsatan and the like.
IMHO, you have totally misconstrued the whole thing.
The Creator is taking care of business, dealing with the most vile, most evil , most disgusting, most hedonistic, most violent, and most Luciferian Satan worshipping society ever created by the Fallen Angel psychopaths, and the drunken bum and toxic dump New Babylonian Corporate Whores and COWARDS deserve everything they get.
Ron, good point – mostly. Yet there are a massive number of good, God-fearing (if imperfect) people in this country, fighting for what is right. Does God punish the good with the wicked? (Cf. the story of Lot, Gen. 18:54.) But I hear you – there is a LOT of corruption, and it is getting worse.
“Two Nuclear Power Plants In Florida Are Directly In The Path Of Hurricane Irma”
– So?
– The implication is that it is dangerous.
– But it’s not in any way.
– That doesn’t matter. The title is just a hook to get you to read Snyder’s campaign ad.
– Oh. Thanks.
So? Well, I think all will be fine. Still, with nuclear power it is an order of magnitude greater implications is there is a miscalculation, a la Fukishima. Now, I don’t think Fukishima is as serious as some make it out to be (NOT to say that it is nothing, or even minor; but it is NOT an ELE either).
If you don’t want to read Snyder, then don’t. I appreciate his, as well as Mac’s, heads-ups. But no, we are not going to have a nuclear war, Cascadia fault, economic meltdown, and the long awaited Niburu (last seen hiding in my closet) and more all next month. People keep whining on this site about “doomer porn”; truth is, that is their OWN add on. Rather, this site is just radar screen rendering of POSSIBLE events. Take it as that. If you think something is totally irrelevant, just click on the big red X on the upper right. Personally, I think the nuke plants will be just fine, too, but I appreciate the heads-up.
These plats are designed to take a hit from a Cat 5.
Even if it does wipe it out there is nothing you or I can do about a storm. Let us PRAY that it misses.
We are like Cavemen playing with fire, when it comes to Nuclear energy.
Sgt.
Yes and no Sgt…. they are ‘IF’ the reserve power generators can keep the pumps running, ‘IF’ the pumps don’t fail and need replacement or service, ‘IF’ there is not an issue with water pooling within the buildings due to massive flooding, ‘IF’ the intake and outflow ports are not plugged; and last, ‘IF’ the personnel on duty when it all goes down can keep functioning for over a week without relief. When it is stated a plant can withstand a Cat 5 – that means merely the structure; not, the internals.
Heartless, good points. I lived in Miami only 30 miles from the Turkey Point nuclear power plant. FL gets all of its electricity from nuke power. If those 2 plants go, so does the juice.
You realize of course that if this were to happen to a Thorium based reactor… ta da nothing happens.
The neutron beam shuts off and the reaction goes “meh” and fizzles out.
Huge difference between trying to contain a near uncontrollable wild fire and having to feed a reaction energy directly in order to even keep it going or else it just quits.
Thank Nixon for this one. He wanted bombs and fired the Thorium guy.
Of course you really can thank Nixon for just about everything frankly.
They said Obama was the worst… not even close pal.
Thanks for the clarification, Heart. But I’m confused. You write “IF’ the pumps don’t fail and need replacement or service,…” Really? I am in project mgmt, and you really think that this is not planned for, or service is just done on an ad hoc basis????? And they are built with the backups to go more than just 10 minutes!!!
Pooling/intake ports are an issue, as you note.
I am concerned, but the new designs are NOT Fukishima, people DO learn from earlier events. Watchful waiting is in order, but I can guarantee you one week from now all will be fine with the nuke plants. This does NOT mean, of course, that we don’t have five levels of redundancy, or more!
Fukushima was not disposing of its spent rods in a correct manner. “Third floor of an unhardened building sitting in a pool of water” is not correct.
That said…
How many more are cutting corners like that? There’s the real question.
They’re probably not made out of straw. Hate to see them have a malfunction.
Today it’s clear, sunny and hot here in Pinellas County but school is cancelled today and tomorrow, counties north of here the same. The storm will have next to no impact on Floridas west coast. I liken this all out fear barrage to fake news. After all fake news created fake news. A big economic boost to business. The storm will weaken as it turns north.
Get back to us next week,,,,,,,,,
The surge is 23 feet high……!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nuke plants will be fine, they’ve also tweaked a lot since Andrew, we won’t see a Fukushima there.
Worry about all the other usual hurricane effects and inevitable disruptions later.
And, panic stampede of all the late to prepare public.
Speaking of energy, EPA is allowing the sale of “gasoline” that is made of 15% ethanol in more states. This makes a total of 38 states and Washington, DC. Funny that we haven’t heard more on the media. This is an “emergency” measure caused by the hurricanes but they had already waived the rules in twelve states in November 2016. No real press coverage. Opponents of allowing increased amounts of ethanol have been concerned about the long term effects of automobile engines.
Brian, the EPA was proposing that move back in 2015 and this is the first I’ve heard of it since then. I’ve had trouble with the regular gas in the past stopping up injectors and fuel filters. I run premium now and twice a month I put in a bottle of gas treatment or injector cleaner to keep the fuel system working properly. That move is a must if you want to save your engine. For small engines I only get premium and run gas treatment on occasion. The risk is bad enough with 10% premium. I’ve heard somewhere that Citgo’s premium has no ethanol in it but unable to verify that. I have a run it a few times and not had any problems. If possible, run nothing less than mid-grade and run the injector cleaner or gas treatment at least twice a month and you should be just fine.
our california earthquakes pale in comparison.
Yup,,,
i have a feeling this could end up being the straw that breaks the camels back,
Florida, Texas, California. Avoid them.
Damn. Texas was really looking good too. Sigh.
High paying jobs, tons of them, and houses that cost as much as a new car? What’s not to like?
… and then this happens.
Yeah, Anonymous (other one)! Because the areas you mentioned will either be on fire half the time or under water…(CATASTROPHIC CLIMATE CHANGE).
Yes. and all the states with tornadoes, 9 month snow storms, yada yada
They HAVE started the process of shutting down.
“Florida is shutting down nuclear power plants
There are two nuclear power plants in Irma’s path – Turkey Point, just south of Miami and St. Lucie, on Hutchinson Island on Florida’s east coast. Both plants will be shut down ahead of the hurricane, according to US Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Roger Hannah.
Rob Gould, vice president of Florida Power and Light who oversees daily operation of the plants, says the construction of the nuclear sites are among strongest in America. They are designed to withstand winds and storm surge.
They eye of Hurricane Andrew, a Category 5 storm that devastated Florida 25 years ago, went directly over the Turkey Point plant and it suffered no significant damage.
The plants have diesel generators will provide backup power. Although fuel levels vary from site to site, they can typically go for about a month without refueling if necessary. “
People in FL’s expected worst hit areas planning on riding this out, even if successful, might not feel like macho winners for long afterwards.
Most will soon wish they’d gotten their families out of there beforehand, cause they could be in for weeks of oppressive hot/humid misery w/ no electricity, which means no AC. Also, no sanitation, limited food/water choices, little to no ready medical or security. And, could have fetid (sewage & fuel contaminated) flood waters coating all, nauseously stinking up everything, while they can’t clean up filthy clothes or themselves. Stink permeates everything and is inescapable and will have many regretting, with every breath, not having left when they could have.
Many will then end up becoming refugees leaving with little then, herded up and shipped off, who knows where, by govt.
People in states outside but adjoining Florida also need to be prepped, even if correct that no serious Irma storm effects expected there.
If within 200 miles or so of the hurricane damaged areas, you are still at risk of a lot of local disruptions, from influx of evacuees.
Towns get stripped, like locusts coming through, of food, fuel and ready availability of local services, like police, fire and EMS as they get overwhelmed, as roads are clogged up with traffic and stranded displaced people.
Take any town of 10,000, for instance, that’s normally sufficient for serving their needs, and double or quadruple that population overnight, and you’ve got very big problems for the natives there, and that’s all without any direct storm effects.
They, too, all needed to have prepped beforehand, less for the storm, and more for the invasion of evacuees.
Shane
You are absolutely right. After Harvey the evacuees flooded my town 2 hours north of Houston. Then our electricity went off for 28 hours making a bad situation a lot worse. With no electricity no gas so cars lined the roads for miles. Residents of my town were surprised I’m sure at how fast things went downhill. I live in a town of 8000. With all the people coming through here there was no gas, no food, no electricity, horrible traffic, no safety from law enforcement who were overwhelmed by the shear number of people evacuating that got stuck here. Out local pet store burned to the ground because response time slows down when thousands of people and cars are blocking traffic. It was a nightmare. Thank God we were prepared and stayed away from town as much as possible. Once the electricity came back on the gas pumps working again so people went on their way. A week later stores are still under stocked. You’re right anyone living within a 200 miles radius needs to be ready for the Hell that comes with a large number of evacuees
You forgot something.
What happens if this pulls the cork out of that oil volcano thing in the Gulf of Mexico? Remember that thing?
They barely plugged it last time.
The reason for all the horrific fires out West is climate change. Hotter weather= more fire. This isn’t opinion, hopes/wishes. Its a scientific fact.
No, it isn’t scientific fact. That is, if you’re talking about anthropogenic caused.
Braveheart – thanks for the advice!
Scientific fact? If you want another grant.
Not to worry. The Federal Reserve says natural disasters are good the the economy.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/feds-dudley-says-hurricanes-harvey-irma-to-give-unfortunate-boost-to-us-economy-2017-09-08