Hurricane Irma Hits Hard
Last week, as Hurricane Irma was building up its strength out over the Atlantic Ocean, Floridians were preparing for the worst. Even before she made it to the U.S., Irma spent three days as a Category 5 hurricane, the longest Category 5 hurricane since satellite storm-tracking began!
Yesterday she made her presence known with a vengeance. She hit the lower Florida Keys as a Category 4 hurricane on Sunday morning and continued to make her way north. By mid-afternoon Irma had weakened to a Category 3 storm but was still wreaking havoc.
She was downgraded to a Category 1 storm at 5 a.m. this morning. The center of the storm was expected to move near the northwestern coast of the Florida peninsula as a tropical storm later on Monday morning and then into southern Georgia on Monday afternoon.
Reports of damage are starting to trickle in, but we won’t know for weeks what the total impact of Irma means for the state. While the damage was not as bad as originally predicted, it was still bad. Hurricane Irma still managed to do some major damage. So far, five deaths have been attributed to the storm in Florida.
According to news reports, nearly 7 million people in Florida were without power. More than 17,000 utility workers from 30 states were at 20 different staging sites around the state preparing to restore power once Irma has passed.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone hit by the one-two punch of Hurricane Irma in Florida and the southeast as well as Hurricane Harvey in Texas. These two storms are going to leave a long-lasting mark on both states as they begin their recovery.
Irma’s influence will be felt for years to come as Florida is one of the top producing states in the horticulture industry. According to the Florida Nursery, Growers and Landscapers Association, (FNGLA), the state’s environmental horticulture industry generated $21.08 billion in sales in 2015 and directly employed 232,000 people.
FNGLA has set up an informational page for growers affected by the hurricane. Click here to learn more.
Were you impacted by either of these monster hurricanes? Did you ride out the storm? Did your business sustain any damage? How are you dealing with the aftermath of Irma?
When you have a moment, please drop me a line at thodson@greatamericanpublish.com and fill me in on your Irma experience.
P.S. If you’d like to donate to the hurricane relief efforts, click here to go to www.redcross.org.
Video Library 
