Page 2 - ARUBA TODAY

A2 UP FRONT
Tuesday 12 sepTember 2017

Aircraft carrier is rushed to Florida Keys Irma whips Southeast: 2 dead
in Georgia, 1 in South Carolina
Continued from Front ed trees, flooded streets, “HELP IS ON THE WAY,” they
snapped miles of power promised on Facebook. By J. LANDRUM Jr.
As the storm weakened into lines and toppled construc- The Keys are linked by 42 R. BYNUM
a tropical storm and finally tion cranes. bridges that have to be Associated Press
left Florida on Monday af- In a parting shot, it triggered checked for safety before ATLANTA (AP) — Irma weakened to a still-deadly trop-
ter a run up the entire 400- severe flooding around motorists can be allowed ical storm as it swirled beyond Florida Monday, killing
mile length of the state, the Jacksonville in the state’s in, officials said. The gov- at least two people in Georgia, flooding the coast,
full scale of its destruction northeastern corner. It also ernor said the route also sending trees crashing onto homes and forcing the
was still unknown, in part spread misery into Georgia needs to be cleared of de- world’s busiest airport in Atlanta to cancel hundreds
because of cut-off com- and South Carolina as it bris and sand, but should of flights.
munications and blocked moved inland with winds at be usable fairly quickly. The former hurricane remained an immense, 415-mile
roads. 50 mph, causing flooding In the Jacksonville area, (668-kilometer) wide storm as its center moved on
Five deaths in Florida have and power outages. close to the Georgia line, from Florida Monday afternoon, giving its still-formida-
been blamed on Irma, Around the Tampa-St. Pe- storm surge brought some ble gusts and drenching rains a far reach.
along with two in Georgia tersburg area, where Irma of the worst flooding ever Some 540,000 people were ordered to evacuate
and one in South Carolina. rolled through early Mon- seen there, with at least days earlier from Savannah and the rest of Georgia’s
At least 34 people were day, damage appeared 46 people pulled from coast. Irma sent 4 feet of ocean water into down-
killed in the Caribbean as modest. And the gover- swamped homes. town Charleston, South Carolina, as the storm’s cen-
the storm closed in on the nor said damage on the The Jacksonville Sheriff’s ter passed 250 miles (400 kilometers) away. In Atlan-
U.S. mainland. southwest coast, including Office warned residents ta, people nervously watched towering oak trees as
Statewide, more than 6.7 in Naples and Fort Myers, along the St. Johns River to
the city, 250 miles inland, experienced its first tropical
storm warning.
The body of a 62-year-old man who climbed a ladder
behind his home was found under debris on the roof
of his shed in southwest Georgia, where winds topped
40 mph (65 kph), Worth County sheriff’s spokeswom-
an Kannetha Clem said. His wife had called 911 say-
ing he’d had a heart attack.
“He was lodged between two beams and had a little
bit of debris on top of him,” Clem said. “He was on
the roof at the height of the storm.”
Another man, in his 50s, was killed just outside Atlanta
when a tree fell on his house, Sandy Springs police
Sgt. Sam Worsham said.
And still another, Charles Saxon, 57, became South
Carolina’s first recorded death when he was struck by
a tree limb while clearing debris outside his home in
Calhoun Falls amid wind gusts of about 40 mph, ac-
cording to a statement from Abbeville County Coro-
ner Ronnie Ashley.
Communities along Georgia’s coast were swamped
by storm surge and rainfall arriving at high tide Mon-
day afternoon. On Tybee Island east of Savannah,
Holland Zellers was grabbing a kayak to reach his
Boats are partially submerged in the wake of Hurricane Irma, Monday, Sept. 11, 2017, in Key mother in a home near the beach.
Largo, Fla. “In the street right now, the water is knee-to-waist
(AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee) deep,” Zeller said.
Tybee Island City Manager Shawn Gillen said waters
million homes and business- was not as bad as feared. “Get out NOW.” were receding quickly, but many of the 3,000 resi-
es remained without pow- In the Keys, though, he said “If you need to get out, put dents’ homes were flooded.
er, and officials warned it “there is devastation.” a white flag in front of your “I don’t think people who have lived here a long time
could take weeks for elec- “It’s horrible, what we saw,” house. A t-shirt, anything have ever seen flooding this bad,” Gillen said.
tricity to be restored to ev- Scott said. “I know for our white,” the office said on its The tidal surge sent damaged boats rushing more
eryone. More than 180,000 entire state, especially the Facebook page. “Search than three blocks onto downtown streets in St. Marys,
people huddled in shelters. Keys, it’s going to be a long and rescue teams are just north of the Georgia-Florida state line, St. Marys
“How are we going to sur- road.” ready to deploy.” Police Lt. Shannon Brock said.
vive from here?” asked He said the Navy dis- A tornado spun off by Irma Downtown Atlanta hotels remained full of evacu-
Gwen Bush, who waded patched the USS Iwo Jima, was reported on the Geor- ees. Many milled about the CNN Center, escaping
through thigh-deep flood- USS New York and the air- gia coast, and firefighters crowded hotel rooms in search of open restaurants.
waters outside her cen- craft carrier Abraham Lin- inland had to rescue sev- Many were glued to storm coverage on the atrium’s
tral Florida home to reach coln to help with search eral people after trees fell big screen. Parents pointed out familiar sites, now
National Guard rescuers and rescue and other relief on their homes. damaged, to their children.
and get a ride to a shelter. efforts. Over the next two days, “We’ve been here since Friday night, and we’re
“What’s going to happen Emergency managers in Irma is expected to push ready to go home” to Palm Beach County, Marilyn
now? I just don’t know.” the islands declared on to the northwest, into Ala- Torrence said as her 4-year-old colored.
The governor said it was Monday “the Keys are not bama, Mississippi and Ten- The tropical storm warning applied to almost all of
way too early to put a dol- open for business” and nessee. Georgia, parts of South Carolina and most of eastern
lar estimate on the dam- warned that there was no People in the heavily popu- Alabama.
age. fuel, electricity, running wa- lated Tampa-St. Petersburg Meteorologist Keith Stellman said Atlanta’s airport re-
During its march up Flor- ter or cell service and that area had braced for the corded sustained winds of 45 mph (72 kph) with gusts
ida’s west coast, Irma supplies were low and anxi- first direct hit from a major
swamped homes, uproot- ety high. hurricane since 1921. q up to 64 mph (103 kph). q