Free Republic

San Juan (AFP) - Tens of thousands of water bottles destined for desperate Puerto Ricans after devastating back-to-back hurricanes slammed into the US island territory remain unopened on farmland almost two years later, emergency aid officials confirmed Monday. Aerial images captured by AFP show a sea of water bottles, packaged into massive bundles, heaped on what appears to be a private estate in the Higuillar neighborhood in Dorado, 25 miles (40 kilometers) west of San Juan. In some pictures, the ground isn't visible through the piles. In others, broken pallets can be seen among the stacks.

ORLANDO, Fla.—The state dubbed it the I-4 Ultimate for its grand scope. For some here, it’s more like the ultimate headache. A reconstruction of 21 miles of congested interstate highway through the heart of Orlando will build or rebuild 140 bridges, redesign 15 interchanges, move exits and add new toll lanes, in a $2.3 billion project to smooth traffic through one of the nation’s fastest-growing cities. Dense cities have grown up around the aging freeways, hemming them in so that expensive engineering feats are needed to do work on them. Yet work is often unavoidable. I-4, for instance, was built...

"And we stand with Puerto Rico, and we are helping them to rebuild stronger and better than ever before.” - President Donald J. Trump HISTORIC RECOVERY EFFORT: The Federal Government has helped lead a historic recovery effort in Puerto Rico in the year since Hurricane Maria hit. •FEMA has joined with Federal partners and the Government of Puerto Rico to undertake one of the largest post-disaster reconstruction efforts in United States history. •Never before has FEMA coordinated federal resources to rebuild an entire island of this size. •The Federal response to Hurricane Maria marked the largest and longest Federal response...

OCALA, Fla. In mid-2016, a regional task force that spent almost two years exploring ways to improve safety on a crowded Interstate 75 decided to take a conservative approach: make changes to the highway rather than build or expand other roads. Then Hurricane Imra blew into Florida and thousands of people trying to flee its path got stuck, many of them in Ocala and points north and south. Now, a new road with a potential route through Marion and Alachua counties may be back on the table, if not exactly speeding ahead. "I think they are going to do it...

A few weeks after calling on the Florida Department of Transportation to re-examine hurricane evacuation routes, Gov. Rick Scott is now directing the agency to look for ways to increase fuel capacity during such emergencies.During evacuations for Hurricane Irma, gas stations around the state reported running out of fuel. Scott said the FDOT study, which would be submitted in January, address such shortages and how to overcome them.“Last month, 6.8 million Floridians evacuated in preparation for Hurricane Irma, the largest evacuation in U.S. history, and we are committed to making sure our state remains fully prepared for any potential disaster,”...

More than $45 million in revenue is believed to have been lost when the state suspended highway toll collections to help speed evacuations and relief efforts for Hurricane Irma, Florida's Turnpike system estimates. However, the estimated $3 million-a-day impact is not expected to hinder operations of the system or ongoing work programs, “as impacts such as toll suspensions due to a hurricane are taken into consideration during the annual budgeting process,” turnpike spokesman Chad Huff said in an email Friday. Funding 404 full-time positions, the turnpike system is budgeted at $1.57 billion for the current fiscal year, which began July...

We’ve seen this show before. When there’s a national disaster, neighborhoods have been reduced to rubble, shelters are filled with crying families, and a Republican is in the White House, the Democrats jump into action. Not to help, but to make political capital from a disaster that they helped cause. After Hurricane Katrina, the media shrieked that survivors inside the New Orleans Superdome were murdering each other. But there actually wasn’t a single murder in the Superdome. And no, NBC’s Brian Williams, never saw any corpses floating past the Ritz-Carlton. The media exaggerated and lied.

WASHINGTON — President Trump flew by helicopter Sunday afternoon to Jersey City to watch the Presidents Cup golf tournament, where he presented the trophy to the winner. In Mr. Trump’s mind, that is something he knows about: winning. In fact, he would argue, he was winning all weekend.Never mind that opponents, independent analysts and even some of his own advisers winced at his latest outbursts. Whether it was blasting the mayor of San Juan, P.R., or excoriating kneeling football players or undercutting his own secretary of state, Mr. Trump was convinced that he was putting points on the board, according...

Link only (Reuters)

We were deployed in Orlando to wait out hurricane Irma in a hotel. Our job was to assess the damage after the storm came and went. The power went out in the hotel about 2:00am. Many could not continue to sleep at that time. We watched through the windows and the balconies where we could see the lights going out throughout the area, one by one, as cyclone progressed. If you never been in a hurricane when the wind is blowing in gusts up to 100 miles per hour, well, it is time that will beg you to make it...

"Up to Florida" said a tree removal expert from VT, as he told me to look-up a video showing how the ocean had disappeared and the seabed was exposed in Bermuda when Super Storm Irma hit that island chain. When I said I didn't understand what he meant, the repairman said, "Look on the internet for the video of the boy in Bermuda walking out on his dock and looking down (to see) no ocean, no water…the ocean was gone!" Another video has an accompanying text that says "Ocean Floor Off Bahamas Exposed as Hurricane Irma" slams the island location....

Pope Francis has warned history will judge world leaders who do not act as he blasted climate change sceptics in the wake of Hurricanes Irma and Harvey. The pontiff said the recent storms meant the effects of climate change could be seen "with your own eyes". There have been four major Atlantic hurricanes in less than three weeks. But US Environmental Protection Agency head Scott Pruitt said it was an inappropriate time to discuss what role climate change may have played. Mr Pruitt - who has previously said he "would not agree" carbon dioxide is a primary contributor to global...

CORAL BAY, U.S. Virgin Islands — Sharon Coldren, standing on the balcony of the Coral Bay Community Council building, raised a megaphone to give a warning to about 100 of her fellow islanders. "There are tropical storms on the way that could become hurricanes," she said to a crowd gathered Saturday outside the town hall. Evacuate, she said. Their last chance to leave their island of St. John would probably be a free ferry the next day to San Juan, Puerto Rico... Coldren couldn't give them any information about the latest marine weather forecasts — emergency managers were not providing...

Of Israel, Hurricane Irma And Broken Trees By Joel Leyden Israel News AgencyKey West, Florida — September 17, 2017 … It was Hillel who said: “If I am only for myself, who am I? If not now, when?” It was with these words that Israel’s national search and rescue team United Hatzalah (or IsraelRescue.org) dispatched an emergency mission to the United States to provide search, rescue and medical services. As Hurricane Irma’s winds started to break trees, homes and hearts in Florida, 12 Israelis arrived in Atlanta from Israel and were joined by Israeli Americans who work in the US....

The 70 foster kids spent five days bracing the impact of Hurricane Irma in emergency shelters. But after the storm was over, their foster care community had lost power and they had nowhere to go. "At noon yesterday, we got a phone call from the SOS Children's Village Florida saying we need help," millionaire Marc Bell told CBS 12. “‘We've been evicted from our shelters and we don't know where to bring the kids, and we're not getting any help from the county, what do I do?’ And I said ‘bring them here.’” Bell, a former executive of adult magazine...

Some of my reports from Washington might be different from what you generally hear in the national media, so here it goes! President Donald Trump has been doing very well. I didn’t vote for him, but I have to give him a lot of credit for his accomplishments over the last few weeks. Here are just a few: 1. Public administration experts are acknowledging that Trump has done a superb job of managing the hurricanes and other natural disasters we are experiencing. He sent his entire Cabinet out into the field. The president himself visited flood areas but kept out...

Faith-based groups — Christian nonprofits, specifically — have been busy bees of late, providing more aid to hurricane victims than even FEMA,.. Look at this, from the Daily Caller: “Faith-based relief groups are responsible for providing nearly 80 percent of the aid delivered thus far to communities with homes devastated by the recent hurricanes.” ...USA Today, which ran a headline: “Faith groups provide the bulk of disaster recovery, in coordination with FEMA.”... Samaritan’s Purse, the Rev. Franklin Graham’s organization, brought everything from food to chainsaws. Post-storm, the same group will help victims rebuild their homes.

RUSH: Trump’s down in Florida, gets off the airplane and goes… (scoffs) Folks, you know what I just saw? They’re passing out bananas in the food tent. Trump and Melania and the team, they’re passing out bananas. You know what this gonna lead to? You know damn well what this is gonna lead to. I got a bad feeling. BREAK TRANSCRIPT RUSH: No, bananas are actually the perfect food for the weather conditions in Florida, for heat and humidity. For replenishing electrolytes and the things that are necessary to keep your body functioning, bananas are the perfect food. You may...

PROGRESS WATCH   For FEMA and state and local responders and planners the point is to learn from Harvey and Irma – as they learned from hurricane Katrina and superstorm Sandy – about better methods of prevention and revival. The southeastern United States is struggling back onto its feet following this month’s battering from two huge storms. Thankfully, the human toll from hurricanes Harvey and Irma was not as great as feared. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and other government first responders have so far won plaudits for the speed and organization of initial aid deliveries. But as can...

All road-toll collections in Florida remain suspended following Hurricane Irma, as evacuees make their way home.Gov. Rick Scott directed the Florida Department of Transportation to suspend the tolls ahead of the storm so residents could access hurricane supplies and evacuate faster. Now, the same measure is being implemented to allow for safe return. The governor reported that all interstates and turnpikes were opened as of Monday afternoon.However, the governor is also cautioning residents to check with local authorities before returning, to make sure their communities and homes are safe to re-enter.The FDOT reports heavy traffic on eastbound Interstate 10 and...