Southeast Texas Watches With Bated Breath While Irma Sets Sights on Eastern Seaboard

While cleanup and relief efforts are well underway for Southeast Texas following Hurricane Harvey, the U.S. Coast Guard is presently maneuvering helicopters out of the Lone Star State and into Florida, Georgia, and Puerto Rico in expectation of the pending landfall of Hurricane Irma. According to a report by The Washington Post, Admiral Paul Zukunft, Coast Guard Commandant, stated “As soon as one ends, we need to make sure we are ready for the next event,” in reference to the oncoming storm which, as of Thursday, September 7, had been registered as a Category 5 hurricane.

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Although the exact point of landfall is presently indeterminable, model forecasts indicate that Irma will, in fact, affect the U.S. A large percentage of these models show her striking out eastern coast as early as Saturday, possibly Sunday, with her sheer wind power striking Florida in advance of that. And while watching the forecast and praying for better outcomes for our fellow Americans, Southeast Texans are presently waiting for Hurricane Harvey relief responses out of Congress.

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According to House leaders, they’re set to vote on providing aid to our hurricane-ravaged areas in the amount of $7.85 billion – an aid package which was introduced by the House Appropriations Chairman, Rodney Frelinghuysen, on the evening of Sunday, September 3, 2017. In doing so, he explained that the bill contains the amount requested by the White House, including $7.4 billion for FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency).

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The state of Texas is still in the process of officially assessing the damage that Hurricane Harvey left in its wake, including the death toll, which presently sits at 70, but unfortunately, is expected to climb as receding flood waters and recovery efforts progress. Tens of thousands of our fellow Texans remain in shelters, not to mention those in Louisiana that sustained heavy flooding. Larger facilities are presently in the process of taking many in who had previously been located at smaller, temporary shelters such as schools and churches. And while they wait, pray, and rely on the good mercy of their fellow Americans and those who have been touched by their plight from around the world, we watch and wait to see who next may need hope, assistance, and a similar helping hand as Hurricane Irma stays her course.