Trouble in paradise
Hurricane Harvey and how he affected Florida’s preparations for Hurricane Irma.
Eunize Papalie ([email protected])
After the recent onslaught of hurricanes, many people have lost their lives and others their sense of normality. While Puerto Rico has recently been hit by Maria, it may be better to begin with the first hurricane to devastate either a country or state this year, Hurricane Harvey. Hurricane Harvey hit Texas August 25th, 2017 leaving the state with historic flooding, destroyed buildings, and widespread power outages. The hurricane also killed 82 people, according to a graph “Deaths From Major U.S Hurricanes” which was included in an article by The Washington Times called “Hurricanes teach prudence, adaptation.”, and had multiple effects on the economy which caused problems in Florida’s preparations for Hurricane Irma.
Gas became a much sought after supply with Hurricane Irma bearing down on Floridians.
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Preparation for Hurricane Irma had began by Monday Sept. 4th, 2017 as the lines for gas increased and the supply of bottled water decreased. Ten days before this, Hurricane Harvey hit Texas causing a shutdown in oil industry which allowed for the cost of gas to skyrocket while the most states went into a shortage. This was a short lived crisis for certain states.
According to an article by Forbes titled “Caught Between Hurricane Harvey and Irma: Florida’s Gasoline Shortages.” one of the main reasons for the lack of gasoline in the state after Hurricane Harvey left is due to a pipeline called “The Colonial Pipeline.” Because most of Florida does not run on this pipeline, it’s gasoline supply is mostly shipped in via tanker, ports, or delivered by trucks. The mass panic also helped to cause the shortages in gas as people prepared for Irma by filling their cars and an estimated 7 million filled their cars and fled the state, a number estimation reported by The Guardians in “Millions flee from Hurricane Irma's path as Florida prepares for deadly hit.” |