Authorities and residents in Florida had been conserving a cautious eye on Tropical Storm Ian because it rumbled via the Caribbean on Sunday, anticipated to proceed gaining energy and grow to be a serious hurricane within the coming days on a forecast observe towards the state.
Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency for all of Florida yesterday, increasing an preliminary order that had lined two dozen counties. He urged residents to arrange for a storm that might lash giant swaths of the state with heavy rains, excessive winds and rising seas.
“We encourage all Floridians to make their preparations,” DeSantis mentioned in an announcement.
President Biden additionally declared an emergency, authorizing the Division of Homeland Safety and the Federal Emergency Administration Company (FEMA) to coordinate catastrophe reduction and supply help to guard lives and property. The president postponed a scheduled Sept. 27 journey to Florida as a result of storm.
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The Nationwide Hurricane Heart (NHC) mentioned Ian was shifting throughout the central Caribbean Sea, and anticipated to go southwest of Jamaica by Sunday night. By early Sunday, it was positioned 320 miles south-southeast of Grand Cayman, shifting west-northwest at 12 mph. It had most sustained winds of fifty mph.
“Ian is predicted to grow to be a hurricane later at the moment or tonight and attain main hurricane energy by late Monday or Monday evening earlier than it reaches western Cuba,” the NHC mentioned.
Ian was forecast to go west of the Cayman Islands early Monday, after which close to western Cuba Monday evening, the NHC mentioned. It might attain Florida by Tuesday, bringing the potential of flash flooding to the Florida peninsula and the Florida Keys, the company added.
“Further flooding and rises on space streams and rivers throughout northern Florida and elements of the Southeast can’t be dominated out, particularly in central Florida,” the NHC wrote in its Sunday morning advisory.
John Cangialosi, a senior hurricane specialist with Nationwide Hurricane Heart in Miami, mentioned it’s at the moment unclear precisely the place Ian will hit hardest in Florida. He mentioned residents ought to start making ready for the storm, together with gathering provides for potential energy outages.
“Too quickly to say if it is going to be a southeast Florida drawback or a central Florida drawback or simply the complete state,” he mentioned. “So at this level actually the suitable message for these dwelling in Florida is that you need to watch forecasts and prepare and put together your self for potential influence from this tropical system.”
In Pinellas Park, close to Tampa, folks had been ready in line at a Dwelling Depot when it opened at 6 a.m., the Tampa Bay Occasions reported. Supervisor Wendy Macrini mentioned the shop had bought 600 instances of water by the early afternoon and ran out of turbines.
Folks additionally had been shopping for up plywood to place over their home windows: “Higher to have it and never want it than to wish it and never have it,” Matt Beaver, of Pinellas Park, advised the Occasions.
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On Friday, DeSantis signed an government order issuing a state of emergency for twenty-four Florida counties that could possibly be within the storm’s path. On Saturday, the state of emergency was expanded to cowl the complete state. The order additionally locations the Florida Nationwide Guard on standby.
The storm poses threat of “harmful storm surge, heavy rainfall, flash flooding, sturdy winds, hazardous seas, and remoted tornadic exercise for Florida’s Peninsula and parts of the Florida Huge Bend, North Florida, and Northeast Florida,” DeSantis mentioned in his government order Saturday.
He inspired all Floridians “to make their preparations.”
In the meantime, Jamaica and the Cayman Islands might obtain wherever from 3 to six inches of rain, the NHC forecasted. Cuba might see 4 to eight inches, whereas southern Florida and the Florida might obtain 2 to 4 inches.
Excessive terrain areas in Jamaica and Cuba are vulnerable to flash flooding and mudslides, the NHC mentioned. Cuba might see storm surges of 9 to 14 toes above regular when Ian hits Monday evening and early Tuesday morning.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A boat explosion at a South Florida marina has left one person dead and five others injured, officials said.
The explosion occurred Monday night at the Lauderdale Marina, Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue said in a social media post.
Rescue workers transported five people to local hospitals, three with traumatic injuries, officials said. A sixth person was found dead in the water several hours later by the Broward Sheriff’s Office.
Fire rescue officials said they didn’t immediately know what caused the explosion.
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For as long as humans have endeavored to build upwards toward the sky, they have also been forced to contend with inexorable laws of nature — ones that are not always so accommodating to our species’ vertical endeavors. In the modern era, that tension is perhaps best exemplified in Florida, where coastal erosion, sinkholes, and other environmental factors have become a constant challenge in the march toward upward construction.
Nearly three dozen structures along Florida’s southern coast sank an “unexpected” amount between 2016 and 2023, according to a report released this month by researchers at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science. All told, “35 buildings along the Miami Beach to Sunny Isles Beach coastline are experiencing subsidence, a process where the ground sinks or settles,” the school said in a press release announcing the results of its research. Although it’s generally understood that buildings can experience subsidence “up to several tens of centimeters during and immediately after construction,” this latest study shows that the process can “persist for many years.” What do these new findings mean for Miami-area residents, and our understanding of how to build bigger, safer buildings in general?
‘Not so much about the safety of the occupants’
Layers of limestone and sand “shift under the weight of high-rises and as a result of vibrations from foundation construction,” said The Associated Press, with “tidal flows and construction projects as far away as 1,050 feet” contributing to the observed settling. The territory surveyed for the project also “included Surfside, where the Champlain Towers South building collapsed in June 2021, killing 98 people” although that collapse is widely believed to have been the result of design flaws and material failures. Nevertheless, the study’s authors concluded the 2021 disaster “highlighted the need for monitoring of building stability, especially in coastal areas with corrosive environmental conditions.”
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The study is “not so much about the safety of the occupants” of the affected buildings, co-author Esber Andiroglu said to NBC Miami. Instead, the research is meant to highlight the “preservation of resources and containing costly repairs to more manageable maintenance expenses.” Still, the fact that many of the buildings surveyed were completed years before the satellite imagery used for the study was first deployed has raised questions. “All the settlement that was going to occur should have occurred by that time. So they should not have additional settlements,” John Pistorino, a member of the state engineering board, said to the Miami Herald, which highlighted different potential explanations including building weight, climate change, and the location of the structures vis-a-vis underground wells.
‘To be 100% clear, no buildings in Sunny Isles Beach are sinking!’
For now, elected officials and experts are urging patience and caution in the wake of the report’s findings. “Subsidence happens slowly; these buildings are not just going to tip over tomorrow,” said the Miami New Times. However, “left unchecked, uneven sinking can cause cracks, misaligned doors, and other structural problems.”
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“To be 100% clear, no buildings in Sunny Isles Beach are sinking!” Sunny Isles Beach Mayor Larisa Svechin said to Newsweek. “All occupied buildings in our city are inspected and receive certificates of occupancy in compliance with the Florida Building Code; consistently rated the safest in the country.”
Even the study’s authors are working to tamp down any panic their research may have caused. “We didn’t want to alarm anybody,” study co-author Professor Gregor Eberli said to NBC Miami. “We just wanted to put out the fact that yes, there is a bit of subsidence going on and we wanted to quantify that.” Still, this latest report comes shortly after a separate study this year found structures along the East Coast were “sinking more than the rate of seawater rise,” said the AP.
As Farzaneh Aziz Zanjani, lead author for the University of Miami’s research said: “The study underscores the need for ongoing monitoring and a deeper understanding of the long-term implications for these structures.”
SUNRISE, Fla. — Florida Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk had to be helped off the ice and taken to the locker room in the first period after a collision with Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov during Monday night’s game.
Tkachuk returned in the second period and received a standing ovation. He joined the Panthers’ power-play unit in his first shift back.
“We wouldn’t let him back in the game if we didn’t think he was OK,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said in his in-game interview on Scripps Sports. “But he’s tough.”
Kucherov crashed full speed into Tkachuk’s right leg late in the first period, causing Tkachuk to fall and grab his knee. He remained down for a couple of minutes until a team trainer helped him off. He didn’t appear to put any weight on the leg.
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Kucherov was assessed a five-minute major penalty, and after an officials’ review, a game misconduct for the hit.
Tkachuk, in his third season with the club, is second on the team with 13 goals and 22 assists in 30 games this season.
The Lightning led Florida 3-0 at the end of the first period thanks to goals by Kucherov, Jake Guentzel and Mitchell Chaffee. It was the second game of a back-to-back set for the two rivals, as the Panthers defeated the Lightning 4-2 on Sunday night in Tampa, Florida.