Hurricane Helene devastated the southeast two weeks ago, and the effects are still being felt across the southeast. On Monday, September 23rd, The National Hurricane Center gave everyone a warning that a potential tropical cyclone nine. At this time, Helene was classified as a tropical storm with uncertain repercussions. The next day, Florida governor Ron DeSantis issued an emergency order to 61 Florida counties.
In a revised emergency order, DeSantis said, “… as governor of Florida, by virtue of the authority vested in me by Article IV, Section l(a) of the Florida Constitution and by the Florida Emergency Management Act, as amended, and all other applicable laws, promulgate the following Executive Order…” He went on to list all the counties that were to be notified of this emergency.
Hurricane Helene made landfall Thursday, September 26th at 11:10 p.m. in Keaton Beach, Florida. From that the storm quickly took charge and dumped 18 centimeters of rainfall onto Northwestern Florida. Taylor County Sheriff Wayne Padgett said, “…90% of the Keaton Beach houses are gone.”
A business owner in Perry, Doyle Lundy, says the community plans to rebuild. “We only got so much money to spend and you have to do repairs, sometimes insurance doesn’t cover everything, but we have a bunch of resilient people here in Taylor County.”
Although Florida residents are choosing to persevere, a new monster is on its way. Hurricane Milton is rushing up to Florida now, and it’s looking to be somehow worse than Helene. Milton is set to touch down in Florida Thursday morning ripping through Tampa and Daytona Beach hardest. Winds are to start ramping up to 150 miles per hour, and residents are electing to leave the state. In Tampa, highways are clogged with evaluation efforts. Flights to evacuate Florida have been halted as well, with a total of 2,200 flights being canceled Tuesday and Wednesday. This came along with the closing of the Tampa Bay International Airport ahead of the catastrophe to come.
Milton’s unwelcome arrival has also affected the NFL. Rather than canceling a game to be played on October 13th in Tampa, it was rather moved. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, an NFL team, was set to play the New Orleans Saints at Raymond James Stadium, but in precaution have moved the game to this Sunday at Caesars Superdome. The NHL has also taken notice and postponed their preseason final, which had already been rescheduled from Helene’s aftermath.
Hurricane season has taken full effect, and doesn’t end until November 30th. While all of these events are taking place in Florida, they will be in our prayers for this next chapter of their story.
