Fire And Water: People on West Coast, Gulf Coast Scramble For Safety
Slow-moving Hurricane Sally flooded cities in Alabama and Florida on Wednesday while residents of California, Oregon and Washington continued to choke on hazardous air.
CNN:
Sally Threatens The Southeast With Flooding And Misery After Battering Florida And Alabama
Escambia County, which includes Pensacola, asked residents to stay home so crews can evaluate roads and bridges. Local law enforcement will enforce the dusk to dawn curfew for three nights starting Wednesday. "We are still in an evaluation and lifesaving recovery mission, and we need to be able to do that job," County Commissioner Robert Bender said. "We are still evaluating our roads and bridges to make sure that it is safe." (Karimi, 9/17)
The New York Times:
Hundreds Rescued As Floods From Hurricane Sally Hit Florida And Alabama
Floodwaters rushed through parts of Alabama and Florida on Wednesday, turning roads into rivers, submerging cars and sending several out-of-control construction barges into waters along the Florida Panhandle as Hurricane Sally dumped a torrent of rain. The surging water reached higher than five feet in Pensacola, Fla., and slammed a barge into a section of the Pensacola Bay Bridge that was under construction, destroying part of it, Sheriff David Morgan of Escambia County said. (9/16)
In wildfire news —
Los Angeles Times:
Disaster Relief At The Intersection Of Multiple Horrors: Fires And COVID-19
This is how emergency services are provided in the fall of 2020 at the intersection of twin horrors — natural disasters of record proportions and a global pandemic. There are no longer massive shelters in California where the coronavirus could spread among traumatized people running for their lives; the state prohibits large gatherings. That means no dining halls. No in-person counseling, no hugs, no tissues to dry tears. As wildfires rage in the West and hurricanes pummel the Gulf Coast, disaster aid has been forced to evolve, for better or for worse. When large-scale disasters strike in states with looser restrictions than California’s, the Red Cross has instituted coronavirus precautions in group shelters: health screenings, mandatory face coverings, staggered meal times, extra space between cots and tables. (La Ganga, 9/17)
The Wall Street Journal:
Smoke From West Coast Fires Spurs Health Advisories
Wildfires continued raging across a vast swath of the Western U.S. Wednesday, straining states’ resources and sending plumes of smoke out for thousands of miles. Millions of residents across Oregon and California are under advisories to avoid going outside because of particulate matter in the air. Across the country, smoke drifting eastward on the jet stream has created a haze over Washington, D.C., and parts of the Eastern Seaboard. (Lovett, 9/16)
Los Angeles Times:
L.A. Smoke Advisories Continue; Long-Term Exposure A Concern
EPA officials said they are working hard to keep people informed about the risks of the poor air. “We do need to learn to live with smoke,” EPA air resource advisor Katie Stewart said. “And it’s unfortunate, but we need to be smoke-ready every year.” (Smith, 9/16)
The Washington Post:
Washington, Oregon And California Deal With Wildfire Smoke And Its Health Effects
Every morning for the past few weeks, JoEllen Depakakibo has had a new kind of morning routine. She sets her alarm for 6 and opens the Environmental Protection Agency’s AirNow site on her phone. Newly fluent in the numbers of the air quality indexes, or the AQI, she checks the pollution levels compulsively throughout the day, waiting to make a difficult decision. If the number passes 150, called “unhealthy” by the EPA, Depakakibo has her employees shut the main door and turn on a medical-grade air purifier inside Pinhole Coffee Shop, the cafe she opened here six years ago. If it passes 200, they close the cafe. She’s had to shut five times in recent weeks because of the smoke that has stubbornly settled over the city. (Kelly and Schmidt, 9/16)
