‘I Just Hope Everyone Survived.’ Search-and-Rescue Begins in Florida Keys

(MIAMI) — Authorities sent an aircraft carrier and other Navy ships to the Florida Keys to help with search-and-rescue operations Monday as a flyover of the hurricane-battered islands yielded what the governor said were scenes of devastation. “My heart goes out to the people in the Keys,” Gov. Rick Scott said. He added: “I just hope everyone survived.” He said boats were cast ashore, water, sewer and power were knocked out, and “I don’t think I saw one trailer park where almost everything wasn’t overturned.” The scale of the damage inflicted by Irma began to come into focus as the hurricane weakened to a tropical storm and finally pushed out of Florida, but not before dealing a parting shot by triggering severe flooding around Jacksonville in the state’s northeastern corner. Around midday, Irma spread misery into Georgia and South Carolina as it moved inland with winds at 60 mph. During its rainy, windy run up the full 400-mile length of Florida, Irma swamped homes, uprooted trees, flooded streets, snapped miles of power lines and toppled construction cranes. “How are we going to survive from here?” asked Gwen Bush, who waded through thigh-deep floodwaters outside her central Florida home to reach National Guard rescuers and get a ride to a shelter. “What’s going to happen now? I just don’t know.” More than 6.5 million homes and businesses statewide remained without power, and 180...
Source: TIME.com: Top Science and Health Stories - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Florida onetime Source Type: news