The next 18 hours are critical. I can’t imagine that anyone reading this update is sitting in Southwest Florida thinking that they still have time to respond to evacuation orders. Those who plan to leave are, for the most part, already on the road. Time is running out. You know it’s bad when even the meteorologists are choking up on air. The Waffle House Index shows over 20 Waffle Houses already closed around Tampa with more closing toward St. Petersburg and Ft. Meyers. Multiple locations in Georgia, including the Atlanta Motor Speedway, are open to evacuees. Similarly, Alabama has opened over twenty state parks to take in those with nowhere else to go. ALL state parks in Tennessee are open as well.
The challenge facing those evacuating is the task of getting the fuck out of Florida. Gas stations are running empty, cars are stalling on the freeways, and traffic trying to leave the state is frequently at a standstill. The situation only gets worse today as last-minute stragglers finally get on the road. Hospitals in Florida are preparing for the worst. In some cases, doctors and nurses have moved all or part of their families into hospital offices so that they’ll be able to continue working until help arrives. The New Yorker Magazine is telling us that storms like Milton “are the new abnormal.” What we previously called once-in-a-lifetime storms are becoming commonplace. We can only imagine what might come next.
Here’s the rub: zoom out to look at the national radar and what do you see across the rest of the country? Nothing. There’s a small system of rain in the Northwest corner of Washington State, with scattered showers along the New York/Pennsylvania border. That’s about it. We’ve been dry since the remnants of Hurricane Helene left trees down and power off. Making matters worse, there’s no relief in the 10-day forecast. Temps will get up in the low 80s this weekend, and mornings will be cool, but there’s no moisture, no low-pressure system, coming from anywhere.
As the Midwest dries out, other dangers arise. Even the smallest spark of a flame can result in a wildfire across states that normally don’t see wildfires and aren’t prepared to battle them. When rain does finally occur, less soaks into the hard ground, creating higher levels of toxic runoff. Are you seeing the problem?
I want there to be better news and there is a little bit. The Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to David Baker, Demis Hassabis, and John Jumper for their work on proteins. This spurs research that could one day save your life.
In a first-of-its-kind national survey, 3% of High Schoolers Identify as Transgender. Yeah, that number is low as there are still too many states where simply asking about being transgender can get you killed. Still, at least someone’s starting to pay attention.
Oklahoma amends its request for Bibles that initially appeared to match only the version backed by Trump. That’s only marginally better, though. The very presence of the request is still a violation of the religious establishment clause of the First Amendment. Someone doesn’t have a fucking clue what they’re doing.
Everything else is more of what you’ve been reading for the past three months. War. Politics. Elections. I find it difficult to be concerned about any of those at the moment. Previous behavior tells us everything we need to know. One candidate cut relief funding to Puerto Rico after a hurricane. The other is making sure victims of Helene and Milton are getting the help they need. Voting for the former makes one an idiot.
I shudder to think what I might be typing by this time tomorrow. Keeping up with the latest information is going to be difficult. Everyone needs to be accurate but as power goes out and methods of communication go down, it’s almost impossible to get everything correct. We’ll do the best we can. The cats are trying to help, four have participated in this morning’s update. They don’t spell all that well, though.
About all we can do now is grab a fresh cup of coffee and wait.
