Good Morning,
Florida Hurricane Ian
It’s humbling to watch scenes of a category 4 hurricane hit Florida effecting millions of Americans in the storms path.
As I write this, 11 hours after it came ashore the hurricane, downgraded to a category 1, it is still sweeping across Florida and will eventually move into the Atlantic and then north towards the Carolinas.
This is the most powerful storm to hit American ever they are saying, with residential areas in Fort Myers Beach and several other coastal cities almost completely submerged, buildings damaged, and trees and power lines brought down. Across the state, more than 2m homes and businesses were without electricity and the utility company Florida Power and Light warned those in Ian’s path to brace for days without power.
In the last year I was discussing building a home in Florida, and heard views on flood elevations with planners. It’s clear global warming doesn’t enter into most people’s planning even as Florida is a magnet for young families with its warm weather and lower taxes.
Planners have been terribly slow to rise minimum heights for homes, and most streets are built too low to flood plains. They haven’t changed regulations in many districts in a generation despite clear warnings storms are becoming more frequent, more powerful, and flooding a larger risk.
That being said on the west coast for instance, a cautious decision to build would place a home at 8 ft above flood levels instead of the minimum of 7ft. Streets are at 4 feet. Ian drove a flood surge of 14 feet submerging most of Fort Myers.
In the coming years, insurance companies will demand builders raise elevations of homes and businesses. Or they simply won’t insure properties anymore. In fact insurance pricing is already daunting because of the collapse of an apartment building in Miami, which has effected all policies.
Florida has a crisis with low lying cities including Miami and Ian is yet another weather wake up call. The costs of this hurricane will be billions of dollars.
Putin’s Annexation Plan
The votes are in and guess how it all goes in Ukraines occupied areas? Ok you win a prize. (Not really) But you are right the Russians manufactured referendums in areas they invaded and are claiming residents of eastern Ukraine voted to join Russia. Of course they didn’t as many were forced to vote in favour of joining Russia, and many others had fled the fighting.
You can’t hold referendums under a gun in a war zone!
But Russian Pres. Vladimir Putin will say it was all legit and soon will announce he will recognize these new areas, annexing 15% of Ukraine. The Ukrainians and world community will denounce all of it as illegal.
Already the European Union has moved to impose new sanctions aimed at punishing Russia over its latest actions. The draft measures include an oil price cap, trade restrictions and blacklisting several individuals responsible for the referendums.
The U.S. is stepping up arms to Ukraine, and experts tell me that could eventually include A-10 aircraft, and long range missiles that will attack Crimea and the bridge to Russia. (Crimea was already annexed in 2014)
The conflict is escalating with more nuclear threats from Russia and warnings against use of tactical weapons from western leaders. The vote on this sham referendum inside Russia has not clearly been set but it will quickly move to the courts, both houses of Parliament, and then Putin himself will address law makers with the obvious announcement he has recognized the vote no one else will.
Other News…
-French schools, trains and businesses are set to be hit Thursday by the first major strike called since the re-election of President Emmanuel Macron in April. Unions are pushing for wage hikes and the end of planned pension reform.
-Protests are continuing in Iran, across 162 cities with an estimated 240 deaths and 12,000 detentions sparked by the death of a 22 yr old woman arrested by morality police for wearing her head scarf to far back on her head. People now demand regime change in Iran.
-Economic turmoil in Britain after the new Prime Minister announced tax cuts for the wealthy and an adventure in rising Government debt the markets have rejected. Britain’s Bank of England has been forced into emergency action to halt a run on pension funds after the ill-received mini budget prompted fears of a 2008-style financial crisis. The Bank said it was setting aside £65bn to buy bonds over the next 13 working days to ease pressure on pension funds and insurance companies.
Have a good day everyone and prayers for people in Florida trapped in flooded homes.
Dana Lewis
The Destin area is higher than most of Florida. To get to the beach, you walk down steps. The house we owned was 12' above sea level and a mile from the beach and two blocks from the bay. The beaches are beautiful with many areas set aside as state parks and national sea shore with no buildings allowed. There are miles of undeveloped natural beaches and sand dunes. On the negative side: It is strongly Republican with strong supporters of Trump and a Confederate flag at the Walton County courthouse. We called it Southern Alabama or the Redneck Riviera.