Don’t play chicken with a hurricane

South Florida took a hit from killer Hurricane Irma, but not a fatal one as so many had feared. We’re discovering how deeply wounded are the Florida Keys, particularly the Middle Keys, just as the winter tourist season nears. As we clean up and try to return to some form of normality, here are some observations.

We don’t want to hear criticism that the National Hurricane Centre and TV meteorologists sent us into hysterics over Irma unnecessarily. That’s baloney. These folks are pros and, in many ways, heroes. Sure, some residents stayed in their 25th-floor condo and survived. They lucked out. Anyone who has lived in south Florida and watched hurricanes come down the “Cape Verde pike” knows Irma, with that unblinking eye and tightly wound like an MMA fighter’s fist, meant business. Whether staying or leaving, any smart veteran south Floridian would have taken Irma seriously.

Case in point: we have never seen so many locals flee the area to higher, safer ground — even leaving the state. Not for Andrew, not for Wilma or David or Betsy. It’s a testament to how seriously smart people took the gravity of Irma’s predicted force.

We’ve come a long way from Hurricane Andrew in 1992, when we were so complacent about a storm actually hitting us. This time, we stocked up, boarded up or pulled up stakes and hit the road — and with good reason.

Thankfully, for south Florida at least, Irma did what hurricanes often do: it wobbled and leaned away at the last minute — and we mean the last minute — sparing us, as has been the case many times before.

Governor Rick Scott did a solid job in keeping Floridians abreast of the news. His message was on point: you can replace stuff, you cannot replace a life. Sceptical Floridians have said he was just campaigning for a job in the Senate. That’s irrelevant. He was tireless and showed leadership. Miami, September 11.