For some ten-days Hurricane Irma became a part of South Florida’s history. It was on Friday, September 1 that the National Hurricane Center issued a forecast indicating the storm could be a possible threat to South Florida. On Monday, Labor Day, the threat seemed more likely. Some residents took advantage of the holiday to begin stacking up on water, groceries and other normal hurricane supplies. Then on the next day when the storm flared to a mind boggling 185 mph approaching the Leeward Islands, more residents went into hurricane proactive mode than noticeable when prior storms threatened.
High level of responsibility
The high level of responsibility displayed by the majority of South Florida residents with Irma was due in no small part to the leadership of the region’s elected officials.
Special praise
Special praise must be given to the mayors of Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach Counties. They were relentless in their efforts to coordinate evacuation procedures, organize hurricane shelters, and keeping the public generally informed of steps to enhance their safety as the storm approached.
Only the extremely cynical would criticize the region’s officials of over-planning for the impact of the storm.
Up to Friday afternoon, the consensus of several hurricane forecast models, had Irma approaching South Florida’s eastern-coast urban regions. Although the storm eventually shifted to the west of the tri-county region, the impact felt all-day Sunday, late into Sunday night was still significant.
In the aftermath of Irma, the majority of Florida, Light and Power customers in South Florida were without electricity. Residents dread losing electricity, especially being without air-conditioning in the regions heat and humidity.
Taught positive community lessons
However, the threat, passage, and aftermath of Irma taught some very positive, racist and ethnicity blind, community lessons. Prior to the impact of Irma several neighbors could be seen in various communities giving a helping hand securing homes.
On Monday morning, neighbors of various races were seen helping each other clearing fallen trees and debris, and inspecting property for damages.
In one South Florida community, a street divides a mostly white and Hispanic neighborhood from another that’s mostly African-American populated. On Monday, the white/Hispanic neighborhood lost electricity, but some residents were provided with hot water for morning beverages, and ice, by residents from the African-American community which had electricity
In Coconut Grove, the homeowner in a home with electricity placed a sign of his front porch inviting neighbors needing to charge their cell-phones to do so.
The community spirit displayed over the course of Irma’s saga, is again indicative people are not born with hatred, or as bigots. Bigotry and racism are unfortunately acquired characteristics that people tend to shed when community crises like the threat and/or impact of a natural disaster arises.
Why not consistent?
But then there’s the question. If people of various races and ethnicities can live collaboratively during the impact of a community crises, why can this not be consistent?
Negative factor
Unfortunately, the passage of Irma exposed a negative factor; the flaws in the region’s tele-communication system. Most of the large cell companies were unable to provide their customers with cellular service when electricity was lost, and extended periods after. Despite some of these companies advertising prior to the storm they would operate WIFI Hotspots during the storm several customers were unable to access service. Notably, some smaller companies that charge monthly fees as low as $50 for comprehensive cell-phone service were accessible.
It’s really poor customer service for cellular phone providers that charge exorbitant fees for their services to be unable to serve customers in a crisis. If the region was hit by Category 5 Irma as originally forecasted, one could understand the loss of cellular service as likely cellular towers would be damaged. But, the region experienced a tropical storm, or at worst a Category 1 hurricane, so why were customer of companies like T-Mobile and ATT without service, some from early Sunday morning, when people needed to communicate urgently with each other. These companies owe an explanation to their customers. They should readily credit their customer’s accounts for lost service.
In general, thanks must be given that the history of Irma will not record serious personal or property loss to South Florida.
