Florida Keys, airports partially re-open
US - Florida allowed some residents to return to their shuttered homes and reopened several airports yesterday after Hurricane Irma’s pounding winds and storm surges ripped through the state, prompting the evacuation of 6.5 million people. Irma, one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes on record, was downgraded to a tropical depression on Monday. It will likely dissipate from Tuesday evening, the National Hurricane Center said.
Local authorities told around 90,000 residents of Miami Beach and from some parts of Florida Keys they could go home but warned it may prudent not to remain there. “Returning residents should consider that there are limited services. Most areas are still without power and water. Cell service is spotty. And most gas stations are still closed,” the Monroe County of Board of County Commissioners said in a posting on its Facebook page.
After leaving a trail of destruction on several Caribbean islands, killing nearly 40 people, Irma caused record flooding in parts of Florida. Only one fatality has been confirmed so far, but a local official said there had been more deaths.
The U.S. aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln has arrived off Florida’s east coast and two amphibious assault ships arrived to help in the Keys, where Irma first made landfall on Sunday as a Category 4 hurricane.
The U.S. Department of Defense said the military will distribute food and help evacuate 10,000 Keys residents who did not leave before the storm.
Heather Carruthers, the Monroe County Commissioner, said people had been killed in the archipelago, where nearly 80,000 permanent residents live, apart from one already known fatality. She did not have a count on how many. “We are finding some remains,” she said in an interview with CNN. Video footage of the islands showed homes torn apart by sustained winds of up to 130 mph (210 kph).
Several major airports in Florida that halted passenger operations due to Irma began limited service on Tuesday, including Miami International, one of the busiest U.S. airports. Thousands of flights had to be canceled.
(Reuters.com)