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Florida and Puerto Rico on Hurricane Irma Watch

vchimpanzee said:
NPR is treating this storm like CNN. I've never seen this done. It certainly wasn't for Harvey. The same shows got pre-empted today, although there wouldn't have been anything to repeat. Even "A Prairie Home Companion" got bumped but that's just a rerun of the previous night's broadcast.

I do know that when I got in the car just after 10:30, the people on "Weekend Edition" were talking about The Puzzle. I've heard that at around 8:30 when turning on the radio so I wouldn't forget to later.
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Is this WFSU?

http://wfsu.drupal1.publicbroadcasting.net/post/scott-urges-floridians-remain-sheltered

It's the NPR Affiliate in Florida going Wall to wall with Irma.
 
No, I was on WFAE. Which is in North Carolina. We had some effects from Irma, but they weren't major.

In fact, the worst of it was yesterday and last night. I said Tuesday, but today has been very calm.
 
Also, the Miss America competition on ABC was interrupted twice by bulletins. We were told at the start they would do that if necessary. However, the second time was pointless because they showed the same video and gave the same details. But we didn't miss a thing. They know how to get everything done quickly without wasting time, unlike Donald Trump's Miss Universe competition which takes three hours to do the same thing without a talent competition and has remained the same since he left it.
 
On another site there was a link to 9-11 coverage as it happened. George W. Bush spoke from an elementary school with "Key" in its name. That must surely be in the Keys.
 
vchimpanzee said:
On another site there was a link to 9-11 coverage as it happened. George W. Bush spoke from an elementary school with "Key" in its name. That must surely be in the Keys.
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"Key" is derived from the Spanish "Cayo" which means a low bank of rock or sand. There are "keys" in SW Florida and up the western coast of the state, too.

"Key West" is actually a bastardized version of "Cayo Hueso" or "Bone Cay".
 
I went back to the video and managed to find Bush. Katie Couric said what sounded to me like "Long Boat Key".
 
vchimpanzee said:
I went back to the video and managed to find Bush. Katie Couric said what sounded to me like "Long Boat Key".
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Which would place it off the coast of Sarasota.
 
Here we go again, just a different name...now Hurricane Maria, a Cat 5. Already destroyed large portions of Dominica including the Prime Minister's house! Dominica has about 70-80,000 people, so this could be worse than Irma's hit on Barbuda.
BUT...the main worry is Puerto Rico. It could be the first hurricane to make landfall in PR since Hugo (1989) and potentially the worst in recorded history! Praying for DavidEduardo's family over there. CNN showed hundreds of people lined up for ice...and some still don't have their power back. A direct hit could be catastrophic.
 
crainbebo said:
Here we go again, just a different name...now Hurricane Maria, a Cat 5. Already destroyed large portions of Dominica including the Prime Minister's house! Dominica has about 70-80,000 people, so this could be worse than Irma's hit on Barbuda.
BUT...the main worry is Puerto Rico. It could be the first hurricane to make landfall in PR since Hugo (1989) and potentially the worst in recorded history! Praying for DavidEduardo's family over there. CNN showed hundreds of people lined up for ice...and some still don't have their power back. A direct hit could be catastrophic.
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WKAQ radio (who else?) is reporting shortages of water and batteries nearly everywhere on the island, and the rain has begun to fall in earnest already.

The eye of the storm will pass right over Cerro La Santa, the mountain where the main San Juan TV stations and some of the San Juan FMs are located. The towers are unprotected on the top of a mountain peak, some up to 1000 feet high.

The next most populated sites are La Marquesa, south of San Juan and Maravilla, outside Ponce. Many TVs and FMs are there, and they are within a few miles of the eyewall of the currrent course prediction of the storm.

Cable has a very low penetration in PR when compared to the mainland, so news will depend on keeping the AMs on the air... and many of those, including all the major news talk stations, are located in flood zones.
 
Oh no!! If the eye passes right over the radio and TV transmitters, the death toll could be exponentially worse. No communication, no cell phones, no radio, people would be on their own.
And now a 7.1 earthquake hit near Mexico City! Buildings have collapsed. Unreal what's been going on in the past couple months, with Harvey and Irma and wildfires and earthquakes...
 
crainbebo said:
Oh no!! If the eye passes right over the radio and TV transmitters, the death toll could be exponentially worse. No communication, no cell phones, no radio, people would be on their own.
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The transmitter locations I referred to are not in populated areas; they are capable of running totally unattended.

A group of about 20 AM stations are announcing a network with WKAQ-580, including stations on 680, 1260, 1070, 600, 1420, 1590 and others. They are trying to establish full redundancy, such as two stations each in San Juan and Ponce (no AM covers anywhere close to the entire island, even if it is a single radio market). I do not know of a single station in PR that does not have an emergency generator at both studios and transmitter, but in a hurricane the issue is the fuel capacity as at least a week's worth of fuel is needed in the aftermath before power is repaired.

In Hugo, my home had no electricity for 6 days and our stations went from 5 days at the studios to up to 10 days at one of the transmitter sites. But many stations remained on the air. So if residents have batteries or a crank radio (usual in PR) they will get information. Digital TV is useless, and the cellular nets are gone in the first few hours.

The latest update has the eyewall hitting the site (La Santa) of the major San Juan TV stations on one side, and the site (Maravilla) of the Ponce TV station and several FMs on the other side.

WKAQ-TV is doing all-hurricane coverage and it is live at http://www.telemundopr.com/noticias/local/En-vivo-Telenoticias-Sabado-500-pm-340943072.html and while it is in Spanish, the graphics will likely be excellent.

 
Maria has left total devastation in Puerto Rico. Pictures coming in are absolutely catastrophic. Entire island without power. In fact, it was enough to destroy two weather radars! I know a bunch of roofs were blown off, just like in Dominica. St. Croix also has heavy damage. DavidEduardo, have you heard from your family? We continue to pray for all of the families and people on PR!
 
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