Hurricanes

     This weekend, Hurricane Irma knocked more than power out for over 6 million in Florida. It disrupted entire communities and is still impacting the West Coast and North Central Florida with its vicious winds. Hopefully families will survive this monster storm.

     This is the second big storm of the 2017 season. Harvey rampaged through Texas, leaving water damage in the billions of dollars. Now the total estimates of damage will be again in the billions with Irma. FEMA will be nearly tapped out. Lives are already disrupted, and the storm is finally downgraded to a tropical storm, moving slowly up the left side of the Florida peninsula, spawning flooding and tornadoes too.

     I bore witness to the impact Irma had on the Sunshine State. Family spent nearly 23 hours in a car, relocating to John's Creek, GA, north of Atlanta. When we arrived at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, I-75 was stop and go traffic on early Friday afternoon, with many more Florida license plates on the road, probably as exhausted as our relatives.

     Everyone cast a nervous glance at the TV sets and I phones to see where Irma was headed. First, it seemed like a direct hit for Miami was inevitable. Suddenly, the storm drifted west after brushing Cuba, and the West Coast was now imperiled. This was a Category 4 hurricane, which had a size which was, ironically, larger than the state of Texas. No part of Florida would be spared its wrath--just how much fury depended upon the eye wall making landfall.

     Key West and Islamorada, for certain, was dealt a thunderous blow. Pictures of storm surge in Miami's Brickell section came through in alarming repetition. Naples, in the far Southwest of Florida, recorded a 142 m.p.h. wind gust. Marco Island, Fort Myers, Punta Gorda, Sarasota, Tampa--all were subject to some of the worst of the torrential rains, winds and flooding. Destruction and devastation was inevitable. When the sun rises and the winds subside, the true accounting of the powerful hurricane named Irma will be known.

     Refugees from Florida were everywhere. On the road. In our hotel. Even on our plane back to New Jersey last night. Too many friends stayed in Florida either by choice or by need. It is our fervent hope that they are okay. Some who fled north to GA found themselves not so fortunate to have escaped, as they were facing a Tropical Storm Warning in the Atlanta area. Schools and businesses there were closed for today.

     Floridians and Georgians will need our support just as those still homeless or trying to pick up their lives in the Houston area after Harvey. Two storms--way too painful are the images.

     Just like with Harvey, sports became secondary. Early on, after mulling moving the game up to Thursday or Friday, the NFL justifiably postponed the Tampa-Bay-Miami opener until Week 11, when both teams were to have their scheduled bye. Who knows if the damage to the respective home fields will impair the ability of these teams to play this week.

     College football was greatly impacted for this past weekend. Miami did not travel to Arkansas State. Florida and Florida State canceled their home games. Appropriately, fans and the teams should not have been on the roadways. As important as football in the South can be--lives matter much more and people needed to abandon Florida rather than stay.

     The Miami Marlins went on a road trip and the wives and families were allowed to join the players when the team departed. Marlins fans could not hear the team's Sunday game--Irma knocked the radio broadcast from Atlanta off of the air.

     Tampa Bay had a series set in Boston. They were due to return to play the Yankees in St,. Petersburg for three games starting tonight. Instead, just like the Houston Astros had to play a three game series in--of all places--Tropicana Field where the Rays play--those games were shifted to a neutral site. Citi Field, the home of the New York Mets, will host the games. While the Yankees clearly have an advantage that the contest will be played in New York, the decision was made partially due to the Rays having to travel very little to get from Boston to New York. The Yankees had to fly back from Texas.

     Fortuitously, the Atlanta Braves were scheduled to play the next series in Washington. They left Georgia yesterday before conditions worsened. It was likely that the Falcons arrived back in Atlanta from Chicago early enough.

     Two teams whose cities were struck by two hurricanes squared off in Texas yesterday. Jacksonville came into Houston and trounced the Texans. The impact of Harvey may still have lingered within the Texans, although pundits believe that the Texans have quarterback issues. The Astros were similarly distracted when in St. Pete--they lost 2 of 3 to the Rangers. Undoubtedly the Rays will have their minds elsewhere too, and their performance may be similarly affected.

     The Rays will come back to Florida and the Marlins will head back to Miami. Personally, the players will assess the damage to their homes. They, like the Buccaneers, Dolphins and Jaguars, will have to put aside the bad which Irma set upon their homes and lives. College football will be back--if not in Gainesville, Tallahassee and Coral Gables, then some other locale. High school football will be a mess for the entire 2017 season.

     Lives have been inexorably changed in two states. Texans and Floridians have been linked forever in a kind of two step dance of major proportions. We will hear stories of dramatic rescues and heroism as well as the heartbreak of loss--some permanent.

     This is what hurricanes and natural disasters do. Mankind is not immune from these forces. We do the best we can to survive and rebuild. Which is what is happening in Texas and soon will start in Florida and Georgia.

     The 2017 hurricane season is in full throttle right now. Jose sits out in the Atlantic Ocean, meandering while a high pressure dome keeps it adrift and forces the remnants of Irma to curve to the north and west into Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee. Katia mercifully did not strike Texas, all though Mexico did not deserve it either.

     Who can foresee if any more hurricanes will hit the U.S. mainland? Hopefully none. Maybe, as an answer to these storms, the University of Miami should change the sports teams nickname from the Hurricanes as a way of superstitiously warding off the evil spirits. I say that facetiously, but I am game to stop this onset of nature's fury.

     If anyone has any better ideas, please contact me. In the meantime, our heartfelt thoughts and prayers go out to those so unfortunately affected.