BREAKING: President Obama Declares Emergency in Florida Over Hurricane Matthew

[DonViejo]

Source: Mediaite


President Obama just signed an emergency declaration over the impending hurricane about to hit Florida.

Everyone on the coast is being warned to hunker down for Hurricane Matthew (follow live coverage here), and the president announced federal aid will be sent down to Florida.

Here is the announcement in full:

The President today declared an emergency exists in the State of Florida and ordered federal aid to supplement state, tribal, and local response efforts due to the emergency conditions resulting from Hurricane Matthew beginning on October 3, 2016, and continuing.

The President’s action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate all disaster relief efforts which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population, and to provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures, authorized under Title V of the Stafford Act, to save lives and to protect property and public health and safety, and to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in the counties of Baker, Brevard, Broward, Citrus, Clay, Duval, Flagler, Glades, Hendry, Hernando, Highlands, Indian River, Lake, Marion, Martin, Miami-Dade, Monroe, Nassau, Okeechobee, Orange, Osceola, Palm Beach, Polk, Putnam, Seminole, St. Johns, St. Lucie, and Volusia.

Specifically, FEMA is authorized to identify, mobilize, and provide at its discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency. Emergency protective measures, limited to direct federal assistance, will be provided at 75 percent federal funding.

W. Craig Fugate, Administrator, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Department of Homeland Security, named Terry L. Quarles as the Federal Coordinating Officer for federal recovery operations in the affected area.

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Read more: http://www.mediaite.com/online/breaking-president-obama-declares-emergency-in-florida-over-hurricane-matthew/

[alcibiades_mystery]

1. Sane and competent leadership at the federal level

[bullsnarfle]

2. Checking in from Jacksonville...

We are getting a bit worried.

[csziggy]

4. Check the storm surge map for your location

http://noaa.maps.arcgis.com/apps/StorytellingTextLegend/index.html?appid=b1a20ab5eec149058bafc059635a82ee

You can zoom in to nearly street level. If the water will reach where you are, LEAVE. If your house was built before 1995, LEAVE. If you have large trees that could fall on your house, LEAVE. Don't take any chances!

It might be too late to get out easily, though. A few hours ago my husband was looking at the maps online that show traffic problems and both I-10 and US 90 were overloaded with vehicles.

Please be safe!

[bullsnarfle]

6. I live to the west of I-95, & not in a surge area,

so not too worried about myself; been calling family who live at the beaches though to make sure they are getting the hell out of Dodge...

[geomon666]

8. You need to worry about wind damage then

You will get hurricane force winds.

[mnhtnbb]

10. My friend in Jacksonville is in the 6-9 foot area of expected storm surge for Cat 4 and won't leave.

She claims she has just been recalled by NS Mayport to work...although she said yesterday the NS was closed due to the hurricane.

I've given her the link for checking the storm surge and suggested maybe they want to think about going to a shelter.

[Warpy]

3. They are predicting Category 1 conditions in Orlando

which is something like 65-70 miles inland. This storm is huge and it's a true monster.

In other words, even if it goes out to sea before it's supposed to, there will be damage on the coast.

[yeoman6987]

7. I'm in this area too. They even closed Disney at 5 and all day tomorrow. Amazing!

[Warpy]

9. My father spent 35 years on one of the barrier islands

and always boasted that no hurricane had ever made landfall near his area.

Well, this one looks like it's going right up the Indian River and given his stubbornness when it came to evacuating for other storms, I'm delighted he's not there for this one. I miss him but I don't miss the anxiety.

[Roland99]

12. 70 miles from my house on the western edge of Orange County to Port Canaveral

but I'm in DisneyLAND at the moment. Lived in FL for 7 1/2 years and been waiting to ride out a storm. The day one hits and I'm clear across the country!

Kids are safe w/their uncle and some incredible neighbors helping and keeping an eye on them.

Nervous as heck but hoping for the best.

[Warpy]

13. Riding out a Cat.1 is mostly annoying

I always seem to forget just how LOUD the damned things are and the racket continues for hours while lawn furniture and trash cans left out by dickhead neighbors bang into the house. Cat 2 is scary. I don't want to be anywhere near a Cat. 3 or 4.

Trust me, this is not the one you want to ride out. Wait for a Cat 1 that makes landfall a hundred miles or so away.

[OnlinePoker]

5. And now Hurricane Nicole

It was forecast to track north and dissipate but, instead, it's now a Cat 1 and will block offshore movement of Matthew when it eventually makes its move to turn back into the Atlantic.

[tclambert]

11. They are not telling people to hunker down. They are telling them to run for their lives.

The Weather Channel isn't pulling punches on this one. They say everyone should evacuate because this storm will kill people. (It's already killed over 100.)

[LuckyLib]

14. I don't get folks who won't leave. Your valuables can't be that valuable.

I would have been on the road days ago.

[mnhtnbb]

16. In the case of my friend in Jacksonville, I suspect it's Republicanism--y'know--scare tactics

of weather people. Don't trust the science. It can't be that bad. Just trying to exaggerate the risk.

I can't figure out why they weren't gone yesterday, either. She says neighbors have boarded up windows and left.
They're in an evacuation area for storm surge--expected to be 6-9 ft--and she works at the naval station. They have closed.
Now she says she's been recalled. Doesn't make any sense to me.

I hope she has a plan other than getting on her roof for a 9 ft storm surge.

On edit: yup. Just saw this: https://thinkprogress.org/right-wing-media-claims-hurricane-matthew-is-a-government-conspiracy-putting-lives-in-jeopardy-cee3a6b884c#.bkgfa587y

[tclambert]

17. The death toll from Hurricane Matthew across the Caribbean is now over 250.

The Weather Channel says it will still be a Category 3 when it gets to Jacksonville. Hurricane Katrina was a Category 3 when it hit the Gulf Coast in 2005. Here's what Katrina did to Long Beach, Mississippi:






And here's the Biloxi, Mississippi Tivoli Hotel after Katrina:



Note that the Tivoli Hotel was a brick building.

[OnDoutside]

15. My brother and his family are in Stuart, I hope they're ok. Last I heard from him was yesterday when

he was running around the place covering everything up. He was badly hit the last time, but was determined to make sure he repaired everything as hurricane proof as he could ... he's going to find out how well he did that !