AFP and AP
The newspaper La Jornada
Thursday, September 26, 2024, p. 30
Tampa. Thousands of residents began evacuating parts of the Florida coast yesterday as the U.S. state prepares for the arrival of Hurricane Irma. Helenewhich is forecast to arrive as a powerful hurricane and threatens to cause flooding catastrophic.
They are expected Life-threatening storm surge, hurricane-force winds, rain and flooding across much of Florida and the southeastern United Statesaccording to the National Hurricane Center (NHC), based in Miami, in its latest report.
Maximum sustained winds reached nearly 130 kilometers per hour. “The forecast is that Helene will be a major hurricane when it reaches the Big Bend coast of Florida late Thursday,” the NHC added. Governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency for nearly all 67 Florida counties, while the White House announced that the Biden-Harris administration stands ready to provide additional assistance to Florida and other states in the wake of the storm, if needed.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that rising sea levels due to climate change threaten to create a tide of misfortunes for the 900 million people living in the world’s coastal areas, while warning that it will also lead to changes in the economy, politics and security” on the planet.
Meanwhile, a strong summer wind spread the smell of burning in Quito, which is in emergency by 27 forest fires that broke out on Tuesday amid the worst drought in Ecuador in 61 years, leaving six people injured and seven homes damaged.
The local Emergency Operations Committee has just declared a state of emergency at the metropolitan levelannounced the mayor of Quito, Pabel Muñoz, who heads the organization.
Yesterday this was madness… hellRolando Marcillo, 60, owner of a carpentry shop in the Bellavista neighborhood in the east of the city, told the AFP agency. There, neighbors were screaming in despair as the flames flared up again.
