One of the most important parts of the recovery phase from Hurricane Irma is restoration of power. However, despite Duke Energy’s best efforts, 14,088 customers still were without power as of 6 a.m. Sunday. Duke had estimated that power would be restored in Pinellas by midnight Friday, but that estimate didn’t prove true with nearly 60,000 still without power at 9 p.m., when the last power restoration update of the day was posted online.
Florida has preliminarily outlined more than $273 million in Hurricane Irma costs for federal reimbursement, with the money primarily used for storm preparation and debris removal. The projection is from 25 state agencies for impacts from the storm that made landfall Sunday in the Florida Keys and Southwest Florida and then traveled up the state. The storm, which continued to leave nearly 1.9 million homes and businesses without power Friday morning, also caused still-unknown billions of dollars in damages —…
Pinellas County residents with roof damage due to Hurricane Irma can sign up for Operation Blue Roof, a priority mission of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) starting Friday, Sept. 15.
Any doubts about whether Clemson can win another national title were put to rest and Southern California and Texas played another classic. Before the defending national champions thumped Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson and No. 14 Louisville and the Trojans survived the Longhorns on Saturday night, the theme of week three of the college football season was discontentment, especially in Nebraska.
The first 911 call from the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills didn’t sound ominous: A nursing home patient had an abnormal heartbeat. An hour later, came a second call: a patient had trouble breathing. Then came the third call. A patient had gone into cardiac arrest – and died.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gwen Graham believes Florida should have been better prepared to handle the impact of Hurricane Irma. “The state of Florida was not ready for this storm,” Graham declared Saturday night. The 54-year-old attorney and former Tallahassee-area congresswoman made the comments while delivering the keynote address before a record crowd at the Hillsborough County Democratic Executive Committee’s annual Kennedy-King Dinner in downtown Tampa.
“What just happened?” That was surely the question coming from Tennessee players, coaches and the legions of fans back in Rocky Top after Feleipe Franks’ 63-yard heave to Tyrie Cleveland gave Florida a shocking win at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on Saturday. Gator fans likely had the same reaction, but with a decidedly different outlook.
