Hurricane Irma.
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I was in St Barts and St Martin last week! Awful for the people there although most of St Bart's shuts for September and October and people leave.
Stay safe everyone.2 -
I was also in Miami but my luck ended when I chose insurance for a living6
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Quite a lot of Barbuda is insured I believe, but not sure to what level. Looked terrible in the pictures.bobmunro said:
Their PM was on Radio 4 this morning and said he estimated the cost of rebuilding buildings and infrastructure to be in the order of $100m - relative peanuts for us but incomprehensible for them.stackitsteve said:Barbuda got hit hard.
President estimates 95% of homes have sustained damage with roofs at least partly missing if not gone completely.
Whole island 'reduced to rubble'
Desperately sad times.
A Commonwealth country - stump up May.0 -
Fingers crossed..Rob said:My sister's house on Tortola in the British Virgin Islands took a direct hit as the eye rolled over the Island. She is in England at the moment but her husband is there and and she was talking to him as it hit and then all communication was lost. She's heard nothing since. Praying that all is well over there.
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Hope this works out well. Please let us know when you can. Fingers crossed.Rob said:My sister's house on Tortola in the British Virgin Islands took a direct hit as the eye rolled over the Island. She is in England at the moment but her husband is there and and she was talking to him as it hit and then all communication was lost. She's heard nothing since. Praying that all is well over there.
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I'm hoping everyone is safe and remain safe. Tough times out there, thinking of everyone I know who have been affected.5
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Barbuda PM blames carnage on climate change
The prime minister of one of the islands devastated by Irma has blamed the carnage on global warming and criticised world leaders who deny climate change.
Gaston Browne, the leader of Barbuda and the larger neighbouring island of Antigua which escaped the worst of the hurricane, told the BBC’s Today programme: “The science is clear. Climate change is real in the Caribbean we are living with the consequences of climate change. It is unfortunate that there are some who see it differently.”
Browne revealed that he may have to order the evacuation of Barbuda if forecasters warn that it will be hit again by Hurricane Jose, after Hurricane Irma left 90% of buildings damage, and half the island’s 2,000 people homeless.
He added: “This storm was easily the strongest to have developed in the Atlantic. The carnage is there for all to see.”
Browne did not name Donald Trump, but he said politicians who denied climate change, as Trump has done, were irresponsible.
He said: “The irony about it is that islands in the Caribbean are very small ... Many of us are not emitters of carbon and we suffering from all of these profligate emissions from large industrial countries. And at the same time you have some leaders in the industrial world who are trying to say that climate change is not real. We do not accept that, we see that as a form of irresponsibility. These heavy polluters ought to take responsibility for climate change. They are the ones who have the large carbon footprint and in essence are contributing to global warming at the expense of other countries that clearly are not polluting the planet.”
Browne spoke of his shock of seeing the damage to Barbuda on helicopter trip on Wednesday after mistakingly tweeting the that the island had escaped the worst.
He said: “I was shocked, we were cut off from Barbuda, the last set of reports that we had early in the morning at about 2am was that they were doing pretty OK. We had absolutely no knowledge that the island was literally devastated.”
“It was easily one of the most emotionally painful experiences I’ve had. From what I’ve seen at least 90% of the properties in Barbuda suffered some level of damage.
“Approximately 50% are homeless at this time, they are bunking together. We are trying to get some immediate relief supplies to them, and see how we can start the recovery effort.”
Browne said it could take years and tens of millions of pounds to rebuild the island.
He said: “It could be in the region of $100m, for a small state that is definitely beyond our means. We will have to approach the international community for some level of assistance.
“As a member of the Commonwealth we would appreciate any assistance that could be extended by the UK and other Commonwealth countries.”
Spot. On.10 -
And this is one of the big stories about climate change, small countries who often have negligible emissions are the ones who are on the front lines of its impacts.4
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Climate change? It's just a hoax created by the Chinese don't you know.1
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I have no problem with our foreign aid budget. I'm hoping though that a large percentage of whatever we spend next year is directed towards our commonwealth and dependencies that have been devastated by Irma. If Pakistan for example have to do without for a year or two I'm sure they can cope.8
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Not sure the people of Barbuda feel Gaston Browne was spot on. As PM of the country, he really should have waited till he knew what had happened there before Tweeting all was OK.0
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After Harvey and Irma the next one following behind, Jose, has just been upgraded to category 3.
Relentless0 -
Unlikely to make landfall, might catch Bermuda but will have slowed by then.stackitsteve said:After Harvey and Irma the next one following behind, Jose, has just been upgraded to category 3.
Relentless
Every screen at work has this website up on their second screen;
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov2 -
I am not religious by any shake however I'm hoping for some divine intervention for these people. I cannot imagine how lonely they must feel at the moment4
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Hear Hear.Carter said:I am not religious by any shake however I'm hoping for some divine intervention for these people. I cannot imagine how lonely they must feel at the moment
Hurricane Center is saying it looks like Irma will make landfall in southern Florida as a "Dangerous major hurricane."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2017/09/07/category-5-irma-stays-on-perilous-path-toward-florida-hurricane-watch-issued/?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_cwg-irma-550pm:homepage/story&utm_term=.a936e385dc3a0 -
Just an update. Spoke to sis today and she said no news. This means all communication is still out. I'm sure he's fine but no way to communicate that. It just shows how powerful the weather can be and, ultimately, it's in control. I'll keep you posted.limeygent said:
Fingers crossed..Rob said:My sister's house on Tortola in the British Virgin Islands took a direct hit as the eye rolled over the Island. She is in England at the moment but her husband is there and and she was talking to him as it hit and then all communication was lost. She's heard nothing since. Praying that all is well over there.
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Thinking about you mate.Rob said:
Just an update. Spoke to sis today and she said no news. This means all communication is still out. I'm sure he's fine but no way to communicate that. It just shows how powerful the weather can be and, ultimately, it's in control. I'll keep you posted.limeygent said:
Fingers crossed..Rob said:My sister's house on Tortola in the British Virgin Islands took a direct hit as the eye rolled over the Island. She is in England at the moment but her husband is there and and she was talking to him as it hit and then all communication was lost. She's heard nothing since. Praying that all is well over there.
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Fingers crossed for you mateRob said:
Just an update. Spoke to sis today and she said no news. This means all communication is still out. I'm sure he's fine but no way to communicate that. It just shows how powerful the weather can be and, ultimately, it's in control. I'll keep you posted.limeygent said:
Fingers crossed..Rob said:My sister's house on Tortola in the British Virgin Islands took a direct hit as the eye rolled over the Island. She is in England at the moment but her husband is there and and she was talking to him as it hit and then all communication was lost. She's heard nothing since. Praying that all is well over there.
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Seeing the news reports I cannot imagine how it must feel not only for this to have happened and devastated these places, but there are other hurricanes on the way.
My thoughts are with those caught up in this.
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There will be communications with the islands in the form of amateur radio. There are already emergency frequencies set up for events such as these.Rob said:
Just an update. Spoke to sis today and she said no news. This means all communication is still out. I'm sure he's fine but no way to communicate that. It just shows how powerful the weather can be and, ultimately, it's in control. I'll keep you posted.limeygent said:
Fingers crossed..Rob said:My sister's house on Tortola in the British Virgin Islands took a direct hit as the eye rolled over the Island. She is in England at the moment but her husband is there and and she was talking to him as it hit and then all communication was lost. She's heard nothing since. Praying that all is well over there.
Modern communication as we know it will suffer and probably take sometime to get back up and running. Let's hope it's not too long.
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Just a quick update. My sister received a satellite call from a neighbour. All is well. Husband is fine and house is still in one piece.
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Nice one mate. Great news.4
