Dozens of personnel from the Environmental Protection Agency worked to secure some of the nation’s most contaminated toxic waste sites as Hurricane Irma bore down on Florida. The agency said its employees evacuated personnel, secured equipment and safeguarded hazardous materials in anticipation of storm surges and heavy rains.
As Hurricane Irma threatened to wallop the St. Petersburg area, several folks got out on the beach ahead of the storm. As they milled about Sunday morning, they looked at sailboats bobbing in the wind as the sun rose and took selfies and photos of the beach.
Widespread and prolonged power outages will become part of life for most Floridians over the next few days as Hurricane Irma has started to make an anticipated northern turn that will result in a destructive run through the state starting Sunday.
More than 21,000 people had taken refuge in Hillsborough County shelters by 9 a.m. Sunday morning. Here is the most updated list of the shelters that are open and closed: These shelters are currently OPEN: * Barrington Middle School, 5925 Village Center Drive, Lithia (wheelchair-accessible) * Benito Middle School, 10101 Cross Creek Blvd., Tampa (wheelchair-accessible) * Bevis Elementary School, 5720 Osprey Ridge Drive, Lithia * Bloomingdale High School, 1700 East Bloomingdale…
Anheuser Busch stepped up to bring in more than 310,000 cans of clean drinking water to areas of the state affected by Hurricane Irma.
Florida’s governor is issuing urgent warnings to a third of his state’s residents to evacuate ahead of a massive hurricane on track to be the state’s most catastrophic ever. Gov. Rick Scott says the entire west coast of Florida will likely see dangerous affects from storm surge as Hurricane Irma comes ashore Sunday. About 6.3 million of the state’s approximately 21 million residents have been asked to evacuate.
With mandatory evacuation orders for more than 260,000 Pinellas County residents, Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said Saturday morning that while it’s a crime not to evacuate, people won’t be arrested if they don’t leave their homes. “If you want to make a bad decision – what I think is a stupid decision – then you get to do that,” he said. That mandatory evacuation order includes all residents living in mobile home parks, beach communities and other low-lying areas. Speaking at…
