Hurricane Irma

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Report: FEMA Took Weeks to Get Food, Water to Puerto Rico

Provisions delivered to island included candy and cookies

(Newser) - A US government report published Thursday found that the Federal Emergency Management Agency mismanaged the distribution of goods in Puerto Rico after hurricanes Irma and Maria, leading to delays in the delivery of food and water. The Office of the Inspector General said that it took more than two months...

How Hurricane Irma Brought a Canadian Family Some Closure

Artifacts of Canadian navy pilot who vanished 60 years ago turned up on Florida shore

(Newser) - When Dick Troy got the news last September, "I almost buckled my knees," he tells the CBC , noting the "eerie feeling" that overtook him. What he was told over the phone by a US reporter: that wreckage from a plane and a parachute harness with the words...

Cops: FEMA Contractor Killed Hurricane Victim

Gerjuan Jackson assessed William Reiss' damage, learned of his guns

(Newser) - He was a victim of Hurricane Irma, and then allegedly a victim of something much worse. Police say William Reiss, 68, was murdered on Jan. 3 by the FEMA contractor who compiled the damage estimate of his Polk County, Fla., home in September. The New York Daily News describes Reiss...

We Spent More Money Than Ever on Weather Disasters

Credit 3 hurricanes, wildfires, hail, flooding, tornadoes, and drought in 2017

(Newser) - With three strong hurricanes, wildfires, hail, flooding, tornadoes, and drought, the United States tallied a record high bill last year for weather disasters: $306 billion. The US had 16 disasters last year with damage exceeding a billion dollars, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Monday. That ties 2011 for...

Matt Lauer Made at Least One Company's Top 10 List

He's up there with Hurricane Irma on Google's annual ranking of favorite searches

(Newser) - Hurricane Irma and Matt Lauer were hot topics in 2017, Fast Company notes—hot enough to propel both to the top of Google's annual "Year in Search" results. Per the site, the results were culled "based on search terms that had a high spike in traffic in...

Unemployment Claims Fall to Lowest Level Since 1973

Claims for jobless aid drop by 22K to 222K

(Newser) - The number of Americans collecting unemployment benefits fell last week to the lowest level since Richard Nixon was president, the AP reports. The Labor Department said Thursday that claims for jobless aid dropped by 22,000 to 222,000, the fewest since March 1973. The less volatile four-week average slid...

Death Toll Hits 14 in Florida Nursing Home Tragedy

Two more dead from nursing home that lost air conditioning during hurricane

(Newser) - Two women who lived at a Florida nursing home that lost air conditioning during Hurricane Irma have died, becoming the 13th and 14th fatalities linked to the home, the AP reports. Hollywood police spokeswoman Miranda Grossman said Monday that Cecilia Franco, 90, and Francesca Andrade, 95, died from ailments suffered...

Real-Life Jason Bourne Disappears. Again

Teacher with rare form of amnesia goes missing amid hurricane destruction

(Newser) - "It's definitely made me reconsider everything. Who was I before? Who was I then—is that part of me? Who am I now?" The New York Times reports Hannah Upp, a 32-year-old teacher in St. Thomas, disappeared Sept. 14, a week after Hurricane Irma hit the Virgin Islands....

Beyonce Releases First Song Since Giving Birth
Beyonce Song
Will Benefit
Puerto Rico
Sep 29, 2017 11:16 AM CDT

Beyonce Song Will Benefit Puerto Rico

It's her first release since giving birth

(Newser) - Beyonce is out with a new single and music video , her first since giving birth to twins in June, and it's all to benefit hurricane relief efforts in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. The song is a remix of J Balvin and Willy William's "Mi Gente,"...

Before Residents Died, Nursing Home Asked Governor for Help

Those messages were deleted off Gov. Rick Scott's cellphone

(Newser) - At least 11 people have died since Hurricane Irma knocked out the air conditioning at their Florida nursing home . Florida Gov. Rick Scott ended funding for The Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills and suspended its license in the wake of the deaths. Now CBS Miami reports four voicemail messages left...

FEMA Makes Unfortunate Mistake With Phone Number

Tweets out to be phone sex line instead of roof relief

(Newser) - The Army Corps of Engineers has a helpful program in place called Operation Blue Roof in which Florida residents hit by Hurricane Irma can get sturdy tarps to protect their belongings until their roofs get fixed. Those interested can go to the website or call 1-888-ROOF-BLU. They should not, however,...

Dead Woman Had Temp of 109.9 in Nursing Home Tragedy

Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills has had license suspended

(Newser) - As far as euphemisms go, "resting in bed" is an extreme one. That's how a staffer at the Florida nursing home where eight people died after Hurricane Irma knocked out its air-conditioning described an 84-year-old in a entry made in the patient's log—after the patient had...

Woman, 94, Sues 'Reckless' Nursing Home Where 8 Died

Lawsuit accuses Fla. facility of 'indifference'

(Newser) - A 94-year-old woman who survived the post-Hurricane Irma air-conditioning failure that left eight people dead at a Florida nursing home is suing the facility, accusing it of "reckless and negligent indifference." A lawsuit filed on behalf of Rose Cabrera states that she's a double amputee "without...

Cops: 2 Men Tried to Swipe Utility Pole Post-Irma
Strangest
Post-Irma
Crime Goes to
... These Guys
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Sep 17, 2017 6:30 AM CDT

Strangest Post-Irma Crime Goes to ... These Guys

2 suspects arrested for stealing utility pole in Jacksonville

(Newser) - One way not to get your power back on quickly in the wake of hurricane: steal a utility pole. Restoring service likely wasn't the intent, however, of two men in Jacksonville, Fla., who were involved in one of the weirder post-Irma crimes yet. Per the Miami Herald , the two...

Interpreter Mostly Signed Nonsense During Irma Briefing

Instead of evacuation information, deaf Florida residents got 'pizza' and 'monsters'

(Newser) - As Hurricane Irma was advancing on Florida, this was the message deaf residents of Manatee County received regarding a mandatory evacuation: "Help you at that time to use bear big." Jason Hurdich, a Clemson University professor and expert in American Sign Language, tells the Bradenton Herald he couldn'...

Irma's 'Chainsaw Sister' Had to Google Instructions

Sister Margaret Ann of Miami has become an internet sensation

(Newser) - The Florida nun who became an internet sensation when video emerged of her—dressed in full habit—wielding a chainsaw to clear downed trees after Hurricane Irma says she had to look up instructions on how to start the tool. "I actually had to Google it to find out...

Irma Has Devastated Florida's Citrus Crop

Flooded groves are full of dropped fruit

(Newser) - Hurricane Irma has made things a lot tougher for Florida citrus growers already reeling from the impact of a disease that has cut harvests by 70% since 2005. The state's eastern seaboard is perhaps the best grapefruit-growing zone in the world, and growers estimate that this year's harvest...

70 Foster Kids Staying in Ex- Penthouse Exec's Fla. Mansion

'They hadn't showered for a week and you saw how excited they were' after Irma

(Newser) - In the wake of Hurricane Irma, 70 foster children found themselves staying in some pretty fancy digs. After Marc Bell got a call from the SOS Children's Villages Florida—on whose board he sits—telling him there was no power at the facility and the children who live there...

Death Toll Hits 8 in Florida Nursing Home Tragedy

12 other patients are in emergency care

(Newser) - The death toll has risen, and may continue to rise, at a Florida nursing home that lost air conditioning as a result of Hurricane Irma. Two more patients died in hospitals following the evacuation of the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills on Wednesday, bringing the total number of dead to...

6 Dead After Irma Knocks Out AC at Nursing Home
Tragedy at Nursing
Home That Lost
AC During Irma
the rundown
Sep 13, 2017 1:22 PM CDT

Tragedy at Nursing Home That Lost AC During Irma

6 are reported dead, possibly from extreme temperatures in Florida facility

(Newser) - Six people died after losing air conditioning at a Florida nursing home whose power was knocked out by Hurricane Irma, Broward County Mayor Barbara Sharief confirmed in a press conference Wednesday. Sharief said three people died at the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills and two more were declared dead at...

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