This year has been a busy hurricane season, leaving lasting effects behind in Puerto Rico, Houston, Texas and portions of Florida. Since Wilma in 2005, no Category-3 or stronger hurricane had made landfall on the U.S. proper, despite plenty of warm water in the Gulf of Mexico to form hurricanes every season. But did Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria really notch any new records? Harvey came ashore east of Corpus Christi as a Category-4. Weakened, it moved northeast toward Houston where it … [Read more...]
Were Hurricanes Harvey & Irma “Worst Ever”?
Larry Bell dispels the myth that Hurricanes Harvey and Irma were "the worst ever" and made so by anthropogenic global warming. Neither was either. See his "No, Hurricanes Aren't More Frequent or Severe" for a tidy historical review that includes this: A review of North Atlantic tropical storm and hurricane patterns fails to reveal any worsening trend over more than a century. The recent Hurricane/Tropical Storm Harvey and Hurricane Irma actually ended an almost 12-year-long drought of U.S. … [Read more...]
What Unintended Consequences Accompany Mandatory Evacuations for Hurricanes?
While Hurricane Irma was making its way through the Caribbean as a Category 5 storm, the National Hurricane Center predicted that it would veer north before reaching Florida; then that it would veer north a little later, skirting Florida's Atlantic coast and bringing devastation; then that it would veer north still later, plowing right into Miami and then working its devastating way north; then that it would veer north later yet, skirting the Gulf coast and spreading devastation all along … [Read more...]
How Much Do We Really Need Big Brother for Disaster Relief?
USA Today reports that 80% of disaster relief aid following Hurricanes Harvey and Irma comes from faith-based organizations---denominations, individual churches, non-denominational charitable organizations. For anyone familiar with Marvin Olasky's The Tragedy of American Compassion, that's no surprise. In what Bill Bennett called "the most important book on welfare and social policy in a decade. Period," Olasky first gives the amazing history of how well charitable organizations---the vast … [Read more...]
Post-Irma, Reasons for Thanksgiving in Florida
This morning my wife, Debby, and I walked around our neighborhood—99 homes out of a total subdivision of about 2,400 homes—in southwest Broward County, FL, surveying the surprisingly light damage Hurricane Irma left. A few trees were down, one directly across the street, another, around the corner, on a car. Many tree branches and palm fronds were down, a handful of shutter panels twisted off from the windows, but that was about it. Amazing! What a relief! Suddenly we heard a woman … [Read more...]
Hurricane Irma—She’s Already Something Personal
You’ll forgive me if I’ve been a little distracted lately, and if this blog post seems a little scattered. It’s somewhat difficult to focus when you’re expecting, in a little less than 24 hours, the onset of a hurricane that could destroy tens of thousands of houses near you—with no guarantees that yours won’t be among them. But Megan reminded me that many of you would probably be interested in some personal observations as Hurricane Irma comes and goes. So, what are my wife, Debby, and I … [Read more...]
URGENT: A Call to Prayer for Millions in the Path of Hurricane Irma
As I write, Hurricane Irma has reached Category 5, with maximum sustained winds of 175 mph. The National Hurricane Center calls it “the strongest hurricane in the Atlantic basin outside of the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico in the NHC records” (emphasis added). The NHC says Irma “will bring life-threatening wind, storm surge, and rainfall hazards to portions of the northeastern Leeward Islands beginning later today"; the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico beginning tomorrow, reaching the … [Read more...]
