Hurricane Irma: all the news on one of the strongest hurricanes to hit the Atlantic – The Verge

Hurricane Irma wiped out so many plants that these Caribbean islands have changed colors

2017-09-11T17:54:12-04:00

The Virgin Islands before and after Hurricane Irma hit. | Photo: NASA Earth Observatory

Flying salt spray and hurricane-force winds changed the green islands of the Caribbean to brown in Hurricane Irma's wake, new satellite photos reveal.

The storm hit the Caribbean last week with the full force of its Category 5 winds. Irma devastated islands like Barbuda and St. Martin, and killed at least 33 people.

Now that the clouds are starting to part, it's possible to see the damage from above with satellites. The contrast before and after the storm is stark, NASA's Earth Observatory reveals. Islands with verdant landscapes at the end of August were left brown and barren by the hurricane.

Why did the islands turn brown? It's possibl …

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Hurricane Irma probably dug up some sea turtle nests and you definitely shouldn’t touch them

2017-09-11T15:11:48-04:00

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A baby loggerhead sea turtle makes its way to the sea. | Photo by Orsulak/US Fish and Wildlife Service

People who want to help sea turtle nests battered by Hurricane Irma should leave the eggs and hatchlings alone, wildlife officials say. Instead, call the experts, because good intentions don't necessarily make for good results.

Sea turtle nests on Florida's beaches are facing dangerous coastal flooding in the wake of Hurricane Irma, which has been downgraded to a tropical storm as it whirls toward Georgia. But well-meaning humans are sometimes bigger threats than they realize. Remember the bison calf in Yellowstone that tourists tried to "rescue" from the cold by putting it in their car? The calf's herd rejected it after rangers tried to re …

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Irma leaves 5.8 million in Florida without power as it heads toward Atlanta

2017-09-11T08:36:52-04:00

Irma has passed over Florida causing at least four deaths, and leaving 5.8 million people - or more than half those in the state - without electricity. On Monday, the Category 5 hurricane, which broke several records, was downgraded to Category 1 and is now a tropical storm after spending the weekend blowing over Florida. It hit the Florida Keys early Sunday morning with winds of 130 minds per hour. Two hours later, it made landfall at Cudjoe Key, an island in the Lower Keys.

According to Florida officials, shelters were open in 64 of Florida's 67 counties, holding 155,000 people. About 58 percent of the state's customers didn't have electr …

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Tesla extended the range of some Florida vehicles for drivers to escape Hurricane Irma

2017-09-10T10:34:16-04:00

As Hurricane Irma bears down on Florida, Tesla issued an over-the-air update to drivers in the state that unlocks the full battery capacity of its 60 and 70 kilowatt-hour Model S and X vehicles. The update provides those trying to escape the path of the storm with an additional 30 to 40 miles above the typical range of the vehicle, according to Electrek.

Tesla's 60 and 60D vehicles offer a range of just above 200 miles on a charge. Faced with an order to leave, one Tesla owner contacted the company, saying that they needed an additional 30 miles of range to get out of the mandatory evacuation zone they were in. In response, the company issu …

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MIT is using social media to map flooding from Hurricane Irma in real time

2017-09-09T10:15:02-04:00

As Hurricane Irma bears down on the Florida peninsula this weekend, MIT's Urban Risk Lab has launched RiskMap.us, an open-source platform that will track flooding in southern Florida. The project is being piloted to provide updates in real time to citizens and emergency planners, and allows for people to submit reports via Twitter, Facebook, or Telegram.

The system uses a chatbot that users can message directly through any of the three social media sites, which sends users a link that will allow them to upload their location, the depth of the water, a description, and a picture, which is then displayed on a map. Users can then share their r …

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How NASA is preparing for Irma at its most important Florida spaceport

2017-09-08T11:44:33-04:00

The Vertical Assembly Building at KSC | Image: NASA

As Hurricane Irma barrels toward Florida, NASA's Kennedy Space Center is preparing its facilities to withstand the monster storm. Located at Cape Canaveral on Florida's east coast, KSC is NASA's biggest spaceport, supporting all of the agency's past human spaceflight missions and many commercial satellite launches. It's close to the middle of Irma's projected path and is expected to experience major high-speed winds this weekend.

Fortunately, KSC is built to handle hurricanes. The large Vehicle Assembly Building, once used to assemble the Space Shuttles prior to launch, is able to withstand winds of 125 miles per hour. After Hurricane Andre …

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Irma is the first storm to sustain 185 mph winds for over a day

2017-09-08T08:38:42-04:00

Hurricane Irma has become the first storm in the world to sustain winds of 185 miles per hour for more than 24 hours. It's the longest storm to sustain this speed since the 1970s.

The hurricane, which has already devastated several islands in the Caribbean, is headed toward south Florida, where the National Hurricane Center has issued evacuation orders. As of 8AM ET this morning, the maximum sustained speed was 150 miles per hour and the storm is moving west-northwest at about 16 miles per hour, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

After the devastation of Harvey in Texas last week, Irma is now the storm to wat …

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Google Maps will mark road closures in real time in Florida ahead of Hurricane Irma

2017-09-07T11:21:39-04:00

In anticipation of Hurricane Irma, Florida governor Rick Scott has announced that the state is working with Google's emergency response team to mark closed roads on Google Maps in real time. This will help with evacuation plans.

Irma is currently a Category 5 hurricane barreling through the Caribbean, and it's expected to impact Florida over the weekend and early next week. Yesterday, officials ordered mandatory evacuations in major parts of Florida, including Miami-Dade County and Fort Lauderdale.

Google Maps already uses Waze to indicate real-time traffic alerts in the area, but the partnership with the state of Florida will help Google …

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SpaceX launches Air Force’s spaceplane just before Hurricane Irma reaches Florida

2017-09-07T10:14:16-04:00

Update September 7th, 10:12AM ET: After launching the X-37B to orbit, SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket also stuck another landing at the company's ground-based landing site at Cape Canaveral, Florida. This marks the 16th successful landing of a Falcon 9 post-launch and the seventh successful landing on solid ground. SpaceX's live coverage of the mission ended at landing and did not show the deployment of the X-37B, likely due to the fact that its mission is classified.

Original Story: A hurricane barreling toward the Florida coast isn't stopping SpaceX from launching its Falcon 9 rocket today. The company is slated to launch the US Air Force's myst …

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Trump’s budget cuts would hinder the people who protect us from hurricanes

2017-09-07T09:12:38-04:00

NOAA's GOES satellite shows Hurricane Irma as it makes its way across the Atlantic Ocean in to the Caribbean. | Photo by NASA/NOAA GOES Project via Getty Images

Right before Hurricane Harvey came barreling down on Texas, residents had a few days to prepare. That's thanks to the sophisticated forecasts of the National Hurricane Center, which is now scrambling to figure out where Hurricane Irma will make landfall in the US. But if the budget cuts that President Donald Trump has requested are implemented, the agencies that give people vital time to get ready for a massive storm will have their budgets slashed - making weather forecasting vulnerable.

The president's budget proposal calls for a whopping 17 percent cut to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It also calls for trimm …

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