[custom_adv] At the Miami-Dade Emergency Operations Center, Fire Chief Dave Downey said that after the storm passes, his teams will deploy to the Florida Keys and to southwest Florida to assist with rescue efforts. [custom_adv] The question, he said, “is how fast can we get into the Keys, how fast can we get into the west coast.” The likelihood that the storm will make a direct hit on the Keys, he said, “terrifies all of us.” [custom_adv] Emergency managers in Monroe County, which encompasses the Keys, were forced by the track of the storm to abandon their Emergency Operations Center in Marathon, in the Middle Keys, and relocate to relatively high ground in Key Largo, at the northern end of the island chain. Downey said he feared that the storm could knock out the so-called Overseas Highway, which would hamper rescue efforts. [custom_adv] That would necessitate mobilizing by air and water. But he said his department’s helicopters had been moved ahead of the storm to Orlando, to keep them from being damaged. [custom_adv] Nearly 29,000 people have already lost power across the state as of Saturday afternoon. Florida Power and Light said 4.1 million people across the state could lose power as a result of the storm, and Scott said utility crews are standing by in Florida and surrounding states to get power back as soon as possible after the storm moves out. [custom_adv] The storm has already heavily damaged some Caribbean islands, killing at least 22 people. In St. Martin, 25 United States citizens were evacuated on a C130 military aircraft Friday from Sonesta Great Bay Beach Resort. [custom_adv] Resort officials said another evacuation is expected. Michael Joseph, president of the Red Cross in Antigua and Barbuda, said Barbuda is “uninhabitable” and in a “total blackout” with almost all of its infrastructure wiped out. A Marine expeditionary unit and a Navy dock landing ship arrived in the U.S. Virgin Islands, and patients in need of medical care were evacuated from St. Thomas. [custom_adv] Since early Wednesday, when Hurricane Irma tore across the Caribbean island of St. Martin, Gretchen and Peter Bogacz have been hunkered down at the Hotel L’Esplanade with no power or running water, trying to find out if assistance was on the way. But with the airport seriously damaged, there was no way out. [custom_adv] Meanwhile, Irma was headed toward their 12-year-old daughter Isabella as well as Peter Bogacz’s parents, who planned to ride out the storm together at home in Sarasota, Fla. [custom_adv] The situation is overwhelming for Gretchen’s sister, Natalie Grinnell, who is urgently monitoring the forecasts from her home in Spartanburg, S.C. [custom_adv] In the United States, local, state and federal officials have offered ominous warnings as the storm zeroed in on Florida, making clear how much danger they felt the Sunshine State could face in coming days. [custom_adv] About 5.6 million people in Florida and 540,000 in Georgia have been ordered to evacuate. Airports throughout Florida and in Savannah, Ga., were closed. Disney World is closed Sunday and Monday, with resort hotels staying open. [custom_adv] In Pompano Beach on the southeast coast of Florida, winds were blowing to about 40 miles per hour Saturday afternoon. At a shelter inside Pompano Beach High School, video of Irma’s devastation in the Caribbean were constantly being aired on two big-screen TVs set up in the cafeteria, where 280 evacuees have sheltered in place. [custom_adv] They ate a lunch of sausage pizza, canned corn, applesauce and milk or juice. Mayor Mark Fisher stopped by to thank people for evacuating to the shelter. [custom_adv] It is one of 20 set up by Broward County. Three of the shelters are pet-friendly, though not the one at the high school. Another is specifically for people with special medical needs. [custom_adv] Infants, parents and grandparents all crammed into an at-capacity emergency shelter at the Miami-Dade County Fair and Exposition. There were pets, cots, a few birds and wheelchairs — lots of wheelchairs. Two elderly people, one with diabetes already feeling fatigued, said they came with little food and no beds, so they’d be sleeping in their wheelchairs until the storm passes. [custom_adv] Locals packed bars in Coconut Grove, drinking and watching the U.S. Open and the Miami Marlins game. There was a 45-minute wait for a table at Happy Wine. The restaurant alerted people that it was business as usual by writing “We’re Open” in big red letters on the plywood that covered its windows.
