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newstfionline · 4 years

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Born to prevent war, UN at 75 faces deeply polarized world (AP) Born out of World War II’s devastation to save succeeding generations from the scourge of conflict, the United Nations officially marks its 75th anniversary Monday at an inflection point in history, navigating a polarized world as it faces a pandemic, regional conflicts, a shrinking economy and growing inequality. Criticized for spewing out billions of words and achieving scant results on its primary mission of ensuring global peace, the U.N. nonetheless remains the one place that its 193 member nations can meet to talk. And as frustrating as its lack of progress often is, especially when it comes to preventing and ending crises, there is also strong support for its power to bring not only nations but people of all ages from all walks of life, ethnicities and religions together to discuss critical issues. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, looking back on the U.N.’s history in an AP interview in June, said its biggest accomplishment so far is the long period during which the most powerful nations didn’t go to war and nuclear conflict was avoided. Its biggest failing, he said: its inability to prevent medium and small conflicts.

Global trade rebounding (WSJ) Global trade is rebounding much more quickly this year than it did after the 2008 financial crisis, lifting parts of the world economy and defying predictions the pandemic could send globalization into permanent retreat. When the new coronavirus hit earlier this year, international trade in goods suffered the biggest year-over-year drop since the Great Depression. Economists warned of rising protectionism, and some companies said they would reassess overseas supply chains that were vulnerable to unexpected shocks. Trade remains below pre-pandemic levels. Still, it has snapped back robustly—and had recovered about half of this year’s historic loss by June, according to calculations by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a German think tank.

Dwindling ranks, declining public support plague police (Washington Post) Police forces are suffering from diminishing ranks, slumping morale and declining public support as the nation nears the end of a long, fraught summer defined by protests against policing tactics and racial injustice. Agency leaders and experts say the months of demonstrations have left officers strained and departments struggling to both recruit officers and keep the ones they have. The Portland Police Bureau in Oregon lost 49 officers to retirement in August, more than during all of 2019. The Atlanta Police Department, which became the focus of protests after a police shooting this summer, said about 140 officers have resigned so far this year, up from 80 during the same period last year. “Our workforce in general is pretty emotionally and physically fatigued,” said William H. “Skip” Holbrook, the police chief in Columbia, S.C. Weary officers were further shaken by the Sept. 12 ambush shooting of two Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies as they sat in a police car. One is still hospitalized while the other has been released. Combined with the surge in nationwide demonstrations and calls to defund their departments, police in the United States say they feel under siege. Public opinion on policing has shifted. In a survey this summer, the Pew Research Center found that while most Americans still believe police do an excellent or a good job protecting people from crime, the percentage of people who think they use the right amount of force, treat racial groups equally and hold officers accountable for misconduct all fell by double-digit points since 2016.

Trump Expected to Name a Replacement for Ginsburg in the Coming Days (Foreign Policy) U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died on Friday while undergoing treatment for cancer, leading to an outpouring of grief but instantly opening a new battleground in an already intense political fight between President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden less than two months before the country’s presidential election. As Foreign Policy’s Michael Hirsh wrote, Ginsburg’s “replacement could crucially tilt the court” toward either its conservative or liberal wing. With fewer than 50 days until the election, the timing of Ginsburg’s death leaves little time to complete the often long and cumbersome nomination process. There are also questions over how Senate Republicans will handle the situation. Republicans controversially blocked former President Barack Obama’s nominee to replace Justice Antonin Scalia in 2016, Merrick Garland, arguing that a president shouldn’t have the power to appoint a new Supreme Court justice in an election year. Leading Republicans have already backtracked on the logic they used to block Garland, signaling that they will facilitate the nomination process once Trump selects a replacement. But with a small 53-47 majority in the 100-member Senate, Democrats would only need four Republicans to vote against Trump’s pick to push the appointment until after the election.

How California Became Ground Zero for Climate Disasters (NYT) California is one of America’s marvels. By moving vast quantities of water and suppressing wildfires for decades, the state has transformed its arid and mountainous landscape into the richest, most populous and bounteous place in the nation. But now, those same feats have given California a new and unwelcome category of superlatives. This year is the state’s worst wildfire season on record. That follows its hottest August on record; a punishing drought that lasted from 2011 to last year; and one of its worst flood emergencies on record three years ago, when heavy rains caused the state’s highest dam to nearly fail, forcing more than 180,000 people to flee. The same manufactured landscapes that have enabled California’s tremendous growth, building the state into a $3 trillion economy that is home to one in 10 Americans, have also left it more exposed to climate shocks, experts say. And those shocks will only get worse. “There’s sort of this sense that we can bend the world to our will,” said Kristina Dahl, a senior climate scientist in San Francisco for the Union of Concerned Scientists. “Climate change is exposing the vulnerabilities in the systems that we’ve engineered.”

Tropical Storm Beta makes landfall on Texas coast (AP) Tropical Storm Beta made landfall on the upper Texas coast late Monday night. The storm made landfall about 5 miles (8 kilometers) north of Port O’Connor, Texas, with maximum winds of 45 mph (72 kph), the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. Its winds weakened as it made its way to shore over several days. Beta was the ninth named storm that made landfall in the continental U.S. this year. That tied a record set in 1916, according to Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach. The biggest unknown from Beta was how much rainfall it could produce in areas that have already seen their share of damaging weather during a busy hurricane season.

Cuba’s Economy Was Hurting. The Pandemic Brought a Food Crisis. (NYT) It was a lucky day for the unemployed tourism guide in Havana. The line to get into the government-run supermarket, which can mean a wait of eight or 10 hours, was short, just two hours long. And better yet, the guide, Rainer Companioni Sánchez, scored toothpaste—a rare find—and splurged $3 on canned meat. Cuba, a police state with a strong public health care system, was able to quickly control the coronavirus, even as the pandemic threw wealthier nations into crisis. But its economy, already hurting from crippling U.S. sanctions and mismanagement, was particularly vulnerable to the economic devastation that followed. As nations closed airports and locked down borders to combat the spread of the virus, tourist travel to Cuba plummeted and the island lost an important source of hard currency, plunging it into one of the worst food shortages in nearly 25 years. What food is available is often found only in government-run stores that are stocked with imports and charge in dollars. The strategy, also used in the 1990s, during the economic depression known as the “special period,” is used by the government to gather hard currency from Cubans who have savings or get money from friends or relatives abroad. Even in these stores, goods are scarce and prices can be exorbitant: That day, Mr. Companioni couldn’t find chicken or cooking oil, but there was 17-pound ham going for $230 and a seven-pound block of manchego cheese with a $149 price tag.

Madrid asks for Spanish army's help in battling coronavirus surge (Reuters) Madrid’s regional government chief requested the army’s help on Monday in fighting the coronavirus surge in the Spanish capital where local authorities ordered a partial lockdown of some poorer districts, prompting protests. At the height of the first wave of the pandemic in March-April, Spain deployed thousands of troops to help civilian authorities contain the outbreak. A recent spike in infections, peaking at over 10,000 per day, took cumulative cases above 670,000 as of Monday, the highest in Western Europe, while the number of deaths from the COVID-19 respiratory disease in Spain stood at 30,663. Meanwhile, residents in the southern district of Vallecas, one of the areas where a partial lockdown took effect on Monday, were upset but resigned to the curbs as police stopped cars getting in and out of the neighbourhood.

Indian couple run street-side classes for poor students (AP) On a quiet road in India’s capital, tucked away on a wide, red-bricked sidewalk, kids set adrift by the country’s COVID-19 lockdown are being tutored. The children, ages 4 to 14, carry book bags more than 2 kilometers (a mile) from their thatched-roof huts on the banks of the Yamuna River to this impromptu, roadside classroom. There, they receive free lessons in math, science, English and physical education, taught by a former Indian diplomat and his wife. It all began when Veena Gupta’s maid, who lives on bank of the river, complained that with schools shut, children in her impoverished community were running amok and wasting time. Veena, a singer and grandmother of three, and her husband, Virendra Gupta, decided to go out to the street and teach the kids so they are not left behind when school reopens. “They don’t have access to internet, their schools are shut and they don’t have any means to learn,” said Veena, who bought books, pencils, notebooks and other teaching materials, and set up the small, open-air classroom under the shade of a leafy banyan tree. India’s stringent lockdown to curb the spread of COVID-19 shut schools across the country in late March. Most remain closed. The street-side classes have grown as dozens of children showed keen interest. Now the Guptas—with help from their driver, Heera—teach three different groups three times a week, morning and evening. After class, the children are treated to homemade lemonade and cookies prepared by Veena.

Salarymen (Bloomberg) Japanese companies like to recruit employees fresh out of school and then keep them for the rest of their lives. In 2018, 70 percent of open jobs went to new grads. About one out of every four workers in Japan has been at their job more than 20 years, a figure that in the States is only around one in 10. This means that companies cutting back on hiring in 2021 will be devastating for the careers of an entire graduating class, and possibly for the rest of their lives: the jobs-per-applicant ratio is lower than ever amid 122,000 fewer openings. When this same thing happened in the late 1990s, the effects were felt decades later: among that era’s college grads, 35 percent of men and 9.6 percent of women are yet to find full-time employment. This is prompting a push for more job mobility in the country.

Alone among nations, US moves to restore UN Iran sanctions (AP) The United States slapped additional sanctions on Iran on Monday after the Trump administration’s disputed unilateral weekend declaration that all United Nations penalties eased under the 2015 nuclear deal had been restored. The announcement came in defiance of nearly all U.N. members, including U.S. allies in Europe, who have rejected U..S. legal standing to impose the international sanctions. It set the stage for an ugly showdown at the annual U.N. General Assembly this week and also came as President Donald Trump seeks to portray himself as a champion for Middle East stability ahead of November’s presidential election. The sanctions include freezes on any assets those targeted may have in U.S. jurisdictions, bar Americans from doing business with them and, perhaps most importantly, open up foreign governments. companies and individuals to U.S. penalties if they engage in transactions with them.

Opposition growing in the Ivory Coast (Foreign Policy) The political crisis in the Ivory Coast is escalating as opposition leaders have called for the public to engage in acts of civil disobedience to block President Alassane Ouattara’s bid for a third term. Critics of Ouattara, who was first elected president in 2010, argue that his candidacy violates the two-term limit set in the country’s constitution. His supporters, however, contend that Ouattara’s term count was reset because the constitution was ratified in 2016, after he took office. Protests against Ouattara have gripped the country since last month, leaving more than 12 people dead and raising concerns that next month’s presidential election could plunge the country into another deadly civil war.

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orbemnews · 3 years

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Flooding leads to rescues in Louisiana and Texas, with more rain on the way Yet more rain is expected through Thursday in the south-central US, setting up moderate risks of further flooding in central Texas, southern Louisiana and parts of southern Oklahoma and Arkansas. More than 31 million people were under flash flood watches Tuesday morning, largely in those four states. In southeastern Baton Rouge, rescuers were using boats to ferry people from apartment buildings and other structures surrounded by high water late Monday and early Tuesday, CNN affiliate WAFB reported. By 6:30 a.m. ET, the city fire department had said it rescued more than 200 people, WAFB reported. More than 50 roadways in East Baton Rouge Parish were impassable early Tuesday, and emergency crews received more than 160 calls for help, parish spokesperson Mark Armstrong told CNN. Numerous stranded cars were reported in the parish, the National Weather Service’s office in New Orleans said. In southeastern Texas’ Jefferson County, high water seeped into homes Monday in the Fannett area southwest of Beaumont after more than 1 foot of rain there, CNN affiliate KBTV reported. Sheriff’s deputies guided boats across floodwater covering streets, fields and yards, reaching homes and helping surrounded residents get to dry ground, video from KBTV showed. Flood warnings also were in effect Tuesday morning for the Port Arthur and Beaumont areas of southeastern Texas, as well as southwestern Louisiana including Lake Charles — one of the areas hardest hit by Monday’s rain. Lake Charles floods as is rebuilds from 2 hurricanes Lake Charles, a city of about 75,000 people, got some of the worst of Monday’s rain — more than 12 inches fell, including about 6 inches in two hours. City residents still are rebuilding from wind and flooding damage caused by two hurricanes — Laura in August and Delta in October — and an ice storm over the past year. “We just can’t catch a break,” Dick Gremillion, Calcasieu Parish’s homeland security director, told CNN. “It remains to be seen, but we still see a lot of blue roofs around where people have not replaced their roofs, so a heavy rain event like this is devastating for those people who haven’t gotten their roofs repaired yet.” For Lake Charles resident Derek Williams, the water rose so quickly Monday that it only took 45 minutes for a car parked on the street to be submerged. It was the car of a neighbor’s friend, who was safe, he told CNN. “The only time it’s flooded like this in the last little while was during Hurricane Delta,” Williams said. “And even then it took all day to get this high.” Another resident of the area, Lamar Pitre, had over a foot and a half of water in his house due to flooding, he told CNN. He took video of the water and posted it on Instagram, saying, “Here we go again.” “It last flooded for Hurricane Delta late last year,” he told CNN. “The rain started around 4 a.m. When the water started getting high, I ran outside to reuse some of the sandbags I had from those hurricanes.” The sheriff’s office in Calcasieu Parish, which includes Lake Charles, urged residents to stay off the roads because of flooding threats. “Roadways and conditions are deteriorating and changing quickly,” the office said in a Facebook post. Gov. John Bel Edwards declared a state of emergency because of the flooding in the state Monday night, authorizing the use of state resources to help with response efforts. More than 100 calls for rescue in Lake Charles More than 100 rescue calls were made in Lake Charles on Monday, Gremillion said. “We have people stranded around the area who are stuck in high water,” he said. “They’re not necessarily in any danger, but they can’t get from where they are to home, or to work, or wherever they’re trying to get to.” Most of the calls are believed to be welfare checks to evacuate residents, but earlier in the day, at the height of the rainfall, rescuers helped people from vehicles that ventured too far into the water, Gremillion said. Nearly half the roads in the parish were under some water, Gremillion said. “We have floodwaters in places that we’ve never seen flooding before,” he said. Monday brought the city’s third-highest rainfall total on record. The highest on record was 15.79 inches, on June 19, 1947. Second highest was 15.67 inches, on May 16, 1980. Extreme rainfall closely linked with the climate crisis Extreme rainfall and increased rainfall rates are closely linked with warming temperatures and the climate crisis. “The frequency and intensity of heavy precipitation events across the United States have increased … and are expected to continue to increase over the coming century,” according to the US National Climate Assessment in 2018. This is leading to more 1-in-5-, 1-in-10-, 1-in-100-year-type extreme rainfall events that lead to catastrophic flash flooding. These trends are consistent, according to scientists, with what is expected in a warming world, as warmer temperatures cause more evaporation which leads to higher levels of water vapor in the atmosphere, which can in turn lead to more frequent and more intense rainfall. Louisiana has experienced extreme, climate-fueled rainfall before with disastrous consequences, such as in 2016 when deadly flash floods were studied by scientists and found to have been made at least 40% more likely and 12% to 35% more intense because of human greenhouse gas emissions. CNN’s Joe Sutton, Brandon Miller, Haley Brink, Kelsie Smith and Dave Alsup contributed to this report. Source link Orbem News #flooding #FloodinginBatonRougeandTexas:Boatshelpwithwaterrescues #Leads #Louisiana #Rain #rescues #Texas #Weather #withmorerainontheway-CNN

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todaynewsstories · 6 years

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Crowbars, cadaver dogs in search for survivors, bodies after Florida hurricane

MEXICO BEACH, Fla. (Reuters) – Search and rescue volunteers have located hundreds of people reported missing in the U.S. Southeast after Hurricane Michael tore through their Florida Panhandle communities, but the death toll of at least 18 was expected to rise.

Crews heard cries for help and crowbarred into a mobile home crumpled by the storm in Panama City, freeing a mother and daughter, both diabetics who had been trapped in a closet without insulin for two days and were on the verge of diabetic shock, rescuers said on Saturday.

“We had another lady who was on her last tank of oxygen. No cell phone, no power, no nothing. There are people out here on dialysis, but there is no power,” said Taylor Fontenot, 29, a roofing contractor from Sugar Land, Texas, and founder of 50 Star SAR, a volunteer search and rescue organisation.

In door-to-door searches, teams consisting mostly of off-duty police officers and firefighters have found more than 520 of the 2,100 people reported missing since Michael crashed ashore near Mexico Beach, Florida, on Wednesday as one of the most powerful storms in U.S. history.

“We expect that number to go up dramatically today,” said Matthew Marchetti, co-founder of the Houston-based CrowdSource Rescue, adding that hopes were raised by an influx of volunteers on the weekend and the restoration of power in some areas.

“Volunteers are working side-by-side with first responders. They are cutting holes in roofs. They try to take a picture so we can call the family and tell them we made contact,” he said.

But as roads were cleared to allow wider searches, the death toll was expected to mount. As of Saturday, authorities were reporting at least 18 deaths in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia.

Rescue teams, hampered by power and telephone outages, used cadaver dogs, drones and heavy equipment to hunt for people in the rubble.

Fontenot, who said he alerts authorities when he finds corpses, has a cadaver dog with his group.

“When we pulled into Mexico Beach, she was trying to jump out the window because she smelled so many bodies,” he said.

In Callaway, Florida, an especially hard-hit town, Catholic Christians barbecued hamburgers on Saturday and Scientologists handed out water.

“I’m homeless,” said nursing assistant Carla Covington, 45, who is caring for her mother and two children after their house was destroyed by falling trees.

She said it felt good to receive comfort, but was also hard.

Trees toppled by Hurricane Michael surround a house in Panama City, Florida, U.S., October 13, 2018. REUTERS/Terray Sylvester

“I’m used to helping people and not asking for help,” she said, her voice breaking with emotion.

Panama City port worker Josh Jackson, 29, had three cars damaged. The rented home he lived in with his girlfriend and son was wrecked, as were their possessions.

“I lost everything so I got to start over,” he said near a tent in a parking lot where a Geico insurance agent was taking claims. Jackson said he plans to move to a community that was not so badly hit, but was concerned that delays processing his insurance claim might hold him up.

Michael ripped most of two walls out from the red-brick St. Andrew United Methodist Church in Panama City, but parishioners spent Saturday handing out food, water and clothes to others.

“Our whole city was hit. There has got be a way it can recover,” said Jo Ann Sutter, 73, a volunteer who was married in the church. “We will.”

The tropical storm, which grew in less than two days into a Category 4 hurricane, tore apart entire neighbourhoods.

More than 1,700 search and rescue workers were deployed, including seven swift-water rescue teams and nearly 300 ambulances, Florida Governor Rick Scott’s office said.

Slideshow (29 Images)

Power and phone service were being slowly restored, with about 236,000 homes and businesses still without power in North Carolina, down from a peak of more than 600,000, said spokesman Keith Acree of the North Carolina Department of Public Safety.

It could be weeks before power is restored to the most damaged parts of Florida.

Reporting by Rod Nickel; Additional reporting by Devika Krishna Kumar in Port St. Joe, Florida, Barbara Goldberg in New York, and Brendan O’Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Clelia Oziel and Daniel Wallis

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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hippsy01 · 7 years

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After the Storms: How 2017 Storms Affected Forecasts for Texas, Florida, and Elsewhere

The surveys and interviews for the Emerging Trends in Real Estate® 2018 report were complete; the data had been compiled, and the reports had been written. Then, for some of the major U.S. Sun Belt cities, everything changed. Historic storms raged across the Gulf Coast and the Caribbean, destroying property and lives and upending all the forecasts and predictions for property markets in the Southeast. Investors and developers were sent scrambling to reassess their analysis and financial models.

“What we’ve seen after hurricanes is that the recovery stretches over years, not months,” says Robert Murray, chief economist for New York City–based Dodge Data & Analytics, which tracks the construction industry.

Before the storms, several of the most-affected markets were ranked among the best markets in the Emerging Trends survey. Fort Lauderdale was sixth on the list of U.S. markets to watch; Tampa/St. Petersburg was ranked 19th as a market to watch and 24th for homebuilding prospects. Houston, which was number one in Emerging Trends 2015, had fallen to number 60 in the 2018 report, due to a slowdown in energy-related business.

However, the surveys were completed long before the storms hit and drought-fueled fires swept through the West, which might explain why “risk from extreme weather” ranked at the bottom of respondents’ concerns. That may have changed, particularly in Houston, Florida, Puerto Rico, and the Caribbean. Even ahead of the storms, Emerging Trends authors noted the ongoing threats that such events pose to business and the economy. With property losses from natural catastrophes soaring, data “clearly show that complacency” is not the answer “in the face of a long-term rise in significant natural disasters since 1980,” the Emerging Trends report noted. The report is published annually by ULI and PwC.

If nothing else, massive storms tend to be complacency killers, says Jim Murley, chief resilience officer for Miami–Dade County. In the wake of the natural disasters, resilience and sustainability move back to the forefront of discussions, wiping out what planners often call “hurricane amnesia”—the tendency to forget the dangers as the memory of the last hurricane fades.

“This thing compensates for the amnesia,” Murley says. “If it does anything, it accelerates what we hope we can get done between now and the next storm.”

Short-Term Effects Developers and builders in the Southeast were already experiencing labor and material shortages; the demands of rebuilding are exacerbating those conditions. Speakers at an event held by ULI Austin in October voiced concerns about statewide effects on construction labor and materials. Jim Rado of Austin, regional manager at David Weekley Homes, said the Houston-based homebuilder already was hearing from roofing contractors and suppliers that post-Harvey price hikes of 5 to 10 percent would take effect January 1.

On the labor front, David Weekley’s manager in the Houston area tried to recruit drywall crews from San Antonio to finish ten houses before the end of 2017, Rado said. But those crews were in short supply because many drywall laborers were flocking to Texas’s hard-hit Gulf Coast cities like Port Aransas and Rockport to rebuild residential properties, he said. Available out-of-town crews were commanding a premium.

Over time, such effects will be “pretty drastic,” Rado said. But the picture will not become clear until insurers pay homeowners’ Harvey-related claims and residents decide whether to rebuild, he said.

Nick Moulinet, an Austin executive at commercial builder DPR Construction and chairman of the Real Estate Council of Austin, said he was not sure how pricing in commercial construction would fare in the aftermath of Harvey. So far, he said, DPR had noticed no impact on the costs of labor or materials in Texas. Still, Moulinet said he worried that workers hopping over to the residential side would create a labor shortage in commercial construction.

“The thing that I think scares us the most is the perception that prices are going to increase, the discussion that prices are going to increase, that fear of, ‘Hey, it’s going to come, we just don’t know when,’” Moulinet said.

The Houston Market Hurricane Harvey caused $73.5 billion in economic losses—second worst in history, behind only Hurricane Katrina—according to Moody’s Analytics. More than 61,000 people were displaced and 136,000 structures in Harris County were flooded, local agencies report.

In its initial analysis, research firm CoStar estimated as much as 600 million square feet (56 million sq m) of commercial real estate space in the Houston metropolitan area—38 percent of Houston’s total gross leasable area—had been affected by the flooding. At least 25 percent of the property damaged was not in a flood zone designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), CoStar found.

But the damage was not universal; some areas were much harder hit than others. The Katy Freeway West submarket, the second largest in the area, had more than 2 million square feet (186,000 sq m) of office space affected by the floods, but downtown Houston was largely unscathed, CoStar reports.

The storms provided an immediate and dramatic correction to Houston’s multifamily market, which was largely seen as oversupplied before the storms, local experts say. More than 72,000 apartments were in the flood zone, including about 35,000 units in southwest Houston alone, or 45 percent of the submarket, CoStar found.

“We had a lot of [multifamily] supply taken off the market,” says Todd LaRue, managing director of Austin for RCLCO Real Estate Advisors.

The residential market in Houston is already starting to surge, as demand for homes soars, LaRue says. Investors are buying damaged homes at steep discounts; many owners did not have flood insurance, local experts say. And buyers remain interested in the commercial and industrial markets, where Houston is seen as a growing market, thanks to its port and energy interests.

“We still see transactions in the market,” LaRue says.

Before the storms, Houston’s office market was starting to emerge from the energy slowdown, as the city worked to diversify its economy, Murray says. In the first nine months of 2017, the dollar volume of office construction starts was 37 percent higher than in the same period a year earlier, according to Dodge Data & Analytics. But there’s a new question facing the market: Will tenants turn away from flood-prone areas?

“What remains to be seen is interest in new construction from the commercial side,” LaRue says. “Are companies going to think twice about going to Houston? I don’t know if that story has played out.”

Speaking at the same ULI event in October, CW Sheehan, an Austin vice president at commercial real estate services company JLL, said some people might reconsider whether to live or start a business in the Houston area in the wake of Harvey—and major floods that hit the region in 2015 and 2016.

But Sheehan and Moulinet said that people and businesses will remain in and relocate to Houston because of its status as the fourth-largest U.S. city and a global energy hub. One incentive for companies to locate there is the office vacancy rate of nearly 23 percent for the third quarter of 2017, which provides leverage for tenants seeking deals on leases, according to a JLL report.

As the area recovers, the issue of housing affordability looms, said Rado.

“In my 40 years in the business, I’ve never seen a bigger disconnect between what it costs to buy land, build something, and have somebody be able to afford it, and then leave any of us a profit,” Rado said. “If we grow, we can’t grow in the places that people want to be, because they can’t afford it. We’re having to build further out, like we did in the ’80s and ’90s.”

In building away from the core of the Houston area, developers end up drawing blame for sprawl-induced flooding, Moulinet said. “Whether it’s true or not, that’s the narrative,” he added.

Florida and Puerto Rico Communities often emerge as different places in the wake of natural disasters. When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, thousands fled and never returned. (Many went to Houston.) A similar phenomenon may be playing out in Puerto Rico; more than 186,000 people left the island in the three months after the storms hit, according to a New York Times report. Many of those people are expected to settle in Florida, where the Puerto Rican community has been booming in recent years. There are already more than a million Puerto Ricans living in Florida, more than double since 2000, according to the Pew Research Center.

“The migration is expected to transform Orlando, a city that has already become a stronghold of Puerto Ricans, many of them fleeing the island’s economic crisis in recent years,” the Times reported. “The impact of this latest wave is likely to stretch from schools and housing to the workforce and even politics.”

In Puerto Rico and other places that were devastated by the storms, traditional market forces will no longer be the primary driver of many local trends, executives say. The pace of recovery will be “entirely driven by federal funding,” AECOM’s Christopher Ward said during a panel at the 2017 ULI Fall Meeting in Los Angeles. “It’s not going to be a reflection of the market.”

If federal aid does not materialize, cities and states will need to find funds from already stretched budgets to aid the recovery. Traditionally, devastating weather events lead to a surge in storm and water infrastructure construction, but it can take years to develop, Murray says. New York and New Orleans are still working on projects created from the debris of hurricanes Sandy and Katrina, he notes.

Traditionally, rebuilding efforts are seen as a chance for communities to reshape their infrastructure. Storms wipe out the old and provide opportunities for something new. For example, in Puerto Rico, Tesla is installing solar panels and battery packs to help bring power back to some neighborhoods. Drones and balloons are being used to extend telecom networks.

“We have this historic opportunity: instead of going with incremental changes, we can go and push the envelope to really transform the infrastructure,” Manuel Laboy, head of Puerto Rico’s economic development department, told CNNMoney. “That is the silver lining opportunity that we have.”

Resilience Dividends In many ways, the storms that hit Florida demonstrated the success of changes made in the wake of the last big hurricane to ravage the area, Hurricane Andrew in 1992, property experts agree. After Andrew, strict new building regulations and disaster preparedness programs were implemented around the state.

“Ever since Hurricane Andrew, we have put significant resources into our classic emergency management,” says Murley, the chief resilience officer for Miami–Dade County. “We drill. We practice every year.”

Overall, most parts of Florida were not as badly damaged as originally feared, as the storm veered up the coast. “We’ve learned lessons,” says Lee Arnold, executive chairman of Colliers International Florida. “It is really a function of better planning, better communication, better technology, and better hardening [of construction],” he says, adding, “and recognizing we are a wind storm state.”

The impact on most Florida property markets was primarily felt in the days before and after the storms, Arnold says. Closing deals was impossible, he recalls. “The insurance market shut down.”

Early hurricane warnings helped give owners time to prepare their properties, he notes. Beyond simple window and roof protection, the state was better prepared with generators, fuel, and facilities to help evacuees. “People just seem to know what to do better,” Arnold says.

Around the state, there was evidence of the impact of new practices implemented in response to past disasters. “Better overprepared than not prepared,” says Bill Zhou, managing director of the Elite International Investment Fund, a real estate–focused fund with investments in Texas and Florida. “We took down cranes in Miami in anticipation of Irma, which proved to be a prudent decision.”

The impact of the storms may prod investors and developers to rethink sustainable and green designs, which will also help the long-term resilience of projects, some experts say. In Florida, mangrove trees and shrubs are seen as one of the best protections for the coastline; in Houston, additional green belts would help absorb flood water runoff.

“We do believe that green building initiatives will get more traction and may increasingly demand a price premium in the marketplace,” Zhou said, “Building green is always a good thing to do, and now it is justified economically more.”

In the future, the risks of natural disasters will need to be evaluated in a holistic sense, Zhou says. “It has not materially changed our view yet, but it will depend on the future of flood insurance programs and the costs to build in these markets,” he says. “It does affect the way we look at certain specific locations prone to flooding.”

Ultimately, in Florida, Irma was likely not destructive enough to force a real change in policies in a state where hurricanes are relatively common, Murley says. “We didn’t have physical damage that would change the trend lines we’re already on.” But the storms will influence discussions. Stormwater, drainage, and coastal protection issues will not be easily pushed to the back burner, he says. And the disproportionate impact on low- and moderate-income households will raise larger societal issues. “It scrapes away all the fog over the really tough issues of housing and income equality,” he says. “It exposes that right away.”

Houston has already started the process of rethinking its approach to developing in a city that largely sits in a floodplain. The city has launched a new planning effort to rework the plan for the downtown business district, which will include a new resilience component. Initial proposals call for green belts, permeable surfaces, and natural vegetation to help absorb stormwater.

Moulinet said that more foresight is needed regarding design, development, and construction in Houston and elsewhere in Texas to accommodate growth, but also to anticipate disasters like Harvey.

Government officials who establish development codes must be held accountable for “where and how we grow,” Moulinet said. But he added that builders, engineers, architects, and other industry professionals also bear a responsibility to help people understand the risks of where they want to build homes and offices.

The struggle over responsible development boils down to a tug-of-war between supply and demand, Moulinet said. “Is it the real estate community that’s responsible for putting people in harm’s way, or the people who are buying themselves into harm’s way?” he asked. “That’s going to be the big question that we’re going to have to answer. [Developers are] always going to be responsive to the demand.”

Coming out of the storms, many issues need to be addressed, industry experts say. For Arnold of Colliers, the question is the availability of catastrophic insurance. “We’ve got to solve it,” Arnold says. “And it can’t be solved just by Floridians.”

Murray believes the key issue that must be confronted is the level of funding for flood and storm control projects. “What the storms did is emphasize the need to direct more attention to environmental public works,” he says.

Those discussions will not be limited to the areas devastated by storms and fires this year, the Emerging Trends report emphasizes. Damage from natural disasters is expected to have hit an all-time high in 2017. Beyond the hurricanes, the phenomena of rising temperatures, drought, and wildfires wreaked havoc across the West. In the East, rising sea levels will force Boston, Miami, New York, and the Carolinas to reconsider plans to prevent future flooding.

“Harvey and Irma may be seen as a harbinger of future flooding affecting billions of dollars’ worth of real estate,” the Emerging Trends authors concluded. “While natural events catch our attention, climate trends are longer-range changes, but ones that developers and investors will be increasingly wise to pay close attention to.”

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touristguidebuzz · 7 years

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Hurricane Maria Leaves Puerto Rico Facing Billions of Dollars in Damage

Hurricane Maria ripped through Puerto Rico, causing potentially billions of dollars in damage and threatening to continue the population exodus that helped push the island into bankruptcy. Bloomberg

Skift Take: With hits to Texas and Florida, Puerto Rico will have to make a case that it is worthy of the same — or more — support following the devastation. It should mobilize its strong base of tourists as advocates for its cause.

— Jason Clampet

Hurricane Maria ripped through Puerto Rico, causing potentially billions of dollars in damage and threatening to continue the population exodus that helped push the island into bankruptcy.

Maria made landfall in the southeastern part of the U.S. territory Wednesday with winds reaching 155 miles (249 kilometers) per hour, knocking out electricity across the island. The storm flooded parts of downtown San Juan, downed trees and ripped the roofs from homes. Puerto Rico has little financial wherewithal to navigate a major catastrophe, given its decision in May to seek protection from creditors after a decade of economic decline, excessive borrowing and the loss of residents to the U.S. mainland.

The storm “just pressured that already declining population to decline a little quicker,” said Matt Dalton, chief executive officer of Rye Brook, New York-based Belle Haven Investments, which manages $6 billion of municipal bonds, including insured Puerto Rico debt.

The entire island was left without power after the storm passed over, according to Abner Gomez, director of the commonwealth’s emergency and disaster management division. Governor Ricardo Rossello declared a 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. curfew through Saturday to help maintain public order.

Maria may cause $45 billion of damage across the Caribbean, with at least $30 billion of that in Puerto Rico, said Chuck Watson, a disaster modeler at Enki Research in Savannah, Georgia. The cost to Puerto Rico could reach at least 10 percent of its gross domestic product, said Joel Myers, founder and president of AccuWeather Inc. in State College, Pennsylvania.

“It is very serious — 10 percent is extraordinary,” Myers said. “It is going to take years for some areas to recover.”

Nearly half of the island’s residents live in poverty. About 400,000 people have left Puerto Rico since 2008, a 10 percent drop, as they seek work on the U.S. mainland. It’s 10.1 percent unemployment rate is more than double the national average.

Maria threatens to further weaken the island’s aging electrical infrastructure, which was already heavily damaged by Hurricane Irma two weeks ago. Bonds issued by the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, which like the central government is operating under bankruptcy, traded Wednesday at an average of 51.4 cents on the dollar, down from 57 cents at the end of last month, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Puerto Rico’s Hato Rey financial district in San Juan, home to Popular Inc.’s headquarters and the island’s main indoor sports venue, was deluged by flooding, according to images circulating on social media.

Cars were half-submerged and tree trunks snapped in half as the streets turned into a muddy river. An aerial shot showed the flood conditions extended for blocks, if not more. Divisions of Banco Santander SA and UBS Group AG also have offices in the vicinity. Popular Inc. is by far the island’s biggest bank.

Cruise line operators rerouted ships to avoid the storm. Carnival Corp. and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. sent vessels that would have stopped in San Juan to western Caribbean ports instead.

Governor Ricardo Rossello asked President Donald Trump to declare Puerto Rico a disaster zone. Rossello urged residents in a local radio interview to remain calm.

“Keep fighting, Puerto Rico. God is with us,” Rossello tweeted Wednesday after the storm hit. “We are stronger than any hurricane. Together we’re going to stand tall.”

The storm may also delay bankruptcy proceedings. The court Tuesday asked a federal oversight board that’s managing the island’s bankruptcy to confer with creditors to decide whether to postpone a planned Oct. 4 hearing or relocate it to a court in New York City, according to court documents.

–With assistance from Christopher Palmeri

This article was written by Michelle Kaske, Brian K. Sullivan and Jonathan Levin from Bloomberg and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to [email protected].

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rollinbrigittenv8 · 7 years

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Hurricane Maria Leaves Puerto Rico Facing Billions of Dollars in Damage

Hurricane Maria ripped through Puerto Rico, causing potentially billions of dollars in damage and threatening to continue the population exodus that helped push the island into bankruptcy. Bloomberg

— Jason Clampet

Hurricane Maria ripped through Puerto Rico, causing potentially billions of dollars in damage and threatening to continue the population exodus that helped push the island into bankruptcy.

“It is very serious — 10 percent is extraordinary,” Myers said. “It is going to take years for some areas to recover.”

Cruise line operators rerouted ships to avoid the storm. Carnival Corp. and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. sent vessels that would have stopped in San Juan to western Caribbean ports instead.

Governor Ricardo Rossello asked President Donald Trump to declare Puerto Rico a disaster zone. Rossello urged residents in a local radio interview to remain calm.

“Keep fighting, Puerto Rico. God is with us,” Rossello tweeted Wednesday after the storm hit. “We are stronger than any hurricane. Together we’re going to stand tall.”

–With assistance from Christopher Palmeri

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wionews · 7 years

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US: At least 3 dead as Houston battles floods generated by Hurricane Harvey

Monster storm Harvey unleashed catastrophic flooding in Houston Sunday, turning streets in the largest city in Texas into raging rivers as trapped residents climbed to higher floors and the death toll crept up to at least three.

Overwhelmed emergency services warned residents to head for high ground or climb onto rooftops -- not into attics -- so they could be seen by rescue helicopters.

"It is bad and growing worse," said Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who added that the storm -- a huge hurricane that first crashed ashore on the Gulf Coast late Friday -- had inflicted billions of dollars in damage.

US President Donald Trump, who was spending the weekend at the Camp David presidential retreat, said he would visit the Lone Star State as soon as he could do so "without causing disruption."

"The focus must be on life and safety," he said in a series of tweets about the disaster, his first major domestic challenge since taking office in January.

At least three people have died since Harvey made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane, spawning tornadoes and lashing east and central Texas with torrential rains.

In Houston, a woman drowned when she left a car which had stalled in high water, city mayor Sylvester Turner said. Another man was found dead in a flooded Wal-Mart parking lot in Galveston, officials confirmed.

Local officials said Saturday that one person was killed when a house caught fire in the Rockport area, where Harvey made landfall with sustained winds of 130 miles (215 kilometers) per hour.

"This event is unprecedented & all impacts are unknown & beyond anything experienced. Follow orders from officials to ensure safety," the National Weather Service said on Twitter.

Houston began opening community centers to shelter people forced out of their homes, but the mayor appealed to residents to stay put and not call the 911 emergency line unless they faced a life-threatening situation.

"Do not get on the road. Even if there's a lull today, don't assume the storm is over," Turner said at a news conference. "The best way to keep from being stranded is to stay off the streets."

Rain measured in feet The National Weather Service said about two feet (60 centimeters) of rain fell in Houston and nearby Galveston in a 24-hour period.

"If the highest floor of your home becomes dangerous ... get on the roof!" Houston's emergency management agency warned in a bulletin.

Flooding was expected to worsen as the most powerful storm to hit the United States mainland since 2005 lingers over the area.

"This appears to be either the worst or one of the worst floods Houston has ever had. We are measuring it not in inches but in feet," Abbott told CBS's "Face the Nation" show.

Harvey slowly weakened as it advanced, but it had the power to rip off roofs, flip mobile homes and leave hundreds of thousands of people in the dark on the Gulf Coast, home to some of the country's most important oil refineries.

Tornado warnings were in effect in several parts of the area.

Hobby International, one of Houston's two airports, announced that all flights were canceled "due to standing water on runways," while George Bush International was operating at limited capacity.

The city's Ben Taub hospital was being evacuated after basement flooding caused power problems, local officials said.

Abbott said National Guard troops were deployed overnight in Houston, using high-clearance vehicles to help with rescues in inundated areas of the city of 2.3 million. Boats and helicopters also were being deployed.

The Coast Guard has so far rescued at least 100 people from the air.

Search and rescue operations were also underway in devastated coastal communities including Rockport, Aransas Pass, Port Aransas and Corpus Christi, a city of some 325,000 people, Abbott said.

In Victoria, a town just north of Rockport, residents were shocked by the storm's intensity.

"If I knew it was going to be what it came to be, I might have left sooner," local resident Robby Villa told AFP.

'Landmark' disaster Abbott visited a shelter for coastal evacuees late Saturday in the state capital Austin and handed out food, describing the damage to homes and property as "sheer tragedy."

"Some of them had their homes mowed down. Some of them will not have a place to return to... It is our job to make sure they will be taken care of," he said.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said there should be no illusions about the long-term impact.

"This disaster will be a landmark event," FEMA director Brock Long said on CNN's "State of the Union," adding that the agency is gearing up for a two-year recovery effort.

Oil industry prepared Coastal Texas is a fast-growing area, with some 1.5 million people moving into the region since 1999. It is also home to a large number of oil refineries and a number of major ports.

US authorities said about 22 percent of crude production in the Gulf of Mexico, accounting for more than 375,000 barrels a day, was shut down as of Friday.

But Abbott said the oil industry was well prepared.

"They hunkered down and were able to contain the facilities, and they have the ability to ratchet up back up there quickly," he said on Fox News Sunday, predicting a "one- or two-week downturn."

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garynsmith · 7 years

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Texas agents, homeowners brace for Hurricane Harvey

http://ift.tt/2vcLYDK

Spare a thought for brokerages in Houston and other coastal Texas towns in the path of Hurricane Harvey today and into next week.

With a storm warning in effect for hundreds of miles of the Texas coastline and a predicted category three hurricane expected to hit landfall by Friday night, Harvey will be bringing with it a “deadly storm surge,” and flooding all along the Gulf of Mexico, said news reports.

The Houston Association of Realtors was on the ball, communicating with its 36,000 members via social media about the developing weather situation, as well as directing them to local emergency management authorities. Members were urged to look at the HAR Facebook page for the latest messaging.

“Most of our members have been through severe weather before and know the drill, but we like to remind them to stay alert and consult trusted informational resources,” said a HAR spokesperson.

A number of local brokerages were also getting in touch with clients to help them through the event. Priyanka Johri, the independent brokerage owner of Woodlands Eco Realty, had found time since getting notice of Hurricane Harvey on Monday this week, to assemble a fully branded 36 page hurricane preparedness e-book, for her clients and the public to use.

The guide offers information on storm tracking, important services and phone numbers to know, how to prepare gutters, windows, roofs and doors, the importance of having family and pets ready for possible evacuation and a preparedness timeline.

6 ways empowered agents embrace disruption to drive success

Using technology to generate leads and win listings READ MORE

Helping newly arrived clients in time of disaster

“I have lots of relocation clients who have moved here from other states and countries, and they do not know how to prepare for the hurricane and tropical storms, so I wanted to help them out,” said Johri.

The broker, who has postponed an open house and a client house warming party this weekend, was advising buyers to stay indoors over the weekend as people have lost their lives attempting to drive through flooded areas before.

The former geologist is also preparing some of her rental properties as emergency shelter for people who may be flooded and need a temporary alternative home.

In the last big storm, several insurance companies contacted Johri because people needed a place to stay with their pets and hotels and government shelters were overflowing.

On the subject of insurance, NewHomesProgram.com founder Cory Kammerdiener said over a week ago he and his team started telling their Houston agents to get their buyers’ hazard insurance policies in place.

“Whenever a storm of this predicted magnitude is on the horizon, insurance companies will stop issuing policies. This happens to us in Houston and Tampa, Florida a lot,” he said.

“Also, you want to roll your last two days of closings in when a storm is at the end of the month. The reason being, if the closing is delayed and rolls over to the beginning of the next month, the proration — for instance, the mortgage interest — is higher. This means a buyer’s closing costs will increase and they may not have the additional funds to close.”

Move the for-sale signs

The Frisco-based JP & Associates Realtors (JPAR), which has an office in Houston, also offered some advice: Homeowners in the process of selling should 1) check with their insurance provider about the type of coverage they have on their home, 2) remove all yard signs from their front yards and 3) let their agent know if they would be home or planned to vacate the property.

“Your agent — conditions permitting after the storm — should gladly stop by the property and communicate conditions with you,” the company told clients.

Homebuyers under contract should definitely perform a thorough property inspection after the storm, JPAR founder JP Piccinini added.

“Should the property have suffered any damage, remember to check with your agent as the purchase contract typically ensures you are protected from those damages and the seller may be required to address them.

“Also check with your new insurance carrier and lender about reinspection or reappraisal requirements that may delay your closing time,” he said.

Meanwhile, it’s safe to say there will be fewer agents on the ground this weekend in coastal Texas as they heed evacuation orders.

Corpus Christi-based Century 21 top producer Sheila Anderson and her family were departing their island home for Austin as she spoke to Inman. Austin isn’t ideal as it will likely to bear some of the brunt of Hurricane Harvey, but at least there wouldn’t be an eight-foot wall of water coming at them there, she said.

Making preparations

Coastal cities aren’t the only ones preparing for devastation. As Hurricane Harvey continues to intensify with help from the Gulf’s warm waters, major inland city residents are starting to bite their nails as well. Houston, in particular, is facing the serious threat of record flooding, tornadoes, power outages, clean water issues and more.

The hurricane could damage the area’s many oil refineries and stop operations at Port Houston — one of the world’s busiest ports. Local news offers several scenarios, all of which involve major damage.

Homeowners and renters have been stocking up on water and nonperishables for the last two days.

“Houston has prepped for a hurricane before, but it’s been a while since we’ve seen one like this,” said Houston native Inman editor Fabiana Gordon. “Water and bread are flying off the grocery shelves, gas station lines are going out of the parking lots and into the streets. It’s crazy, but it’s definitely not new.”

Gordon remembers 2008’s Hurricane Ike eliciting the same reaction from people. “But it’s different this time because Houston is on the ‘dirty’ side now, which means stronger winds and heavier rain.

“Homeowners should be sure to move everything inside. If you have patio furniture, potted plants, yard maintenance equipment or anything else outside, bring it in. You don’t want things being tossed around outside should winds get nasty. Renters with balcony or porches should also move things inside.

“Another thing I’m doing here in Houston is filling the bathtubs with water. Possible power outages mean it’s going to get hot. We’ll use the clean water to cool off or wash up. For Ike, we shut the water off completely and just used clean tub water until things calmed down.

In addition to water and food, homeowners and renters should be sure to have other essentials ready: flashlights, batteries, battery-operated fans, a radio, etc. Charge all phones, computers and iPads; if power goes out, the extra battery life will come in handy for entertaining antsy children (or yourself).

Don’t take this lightly

“This is not our first rodeo,” said Better Homes & Gardens (BHG) Gary Greene partner Mark Woodruff. The incoming hurricane will likely affect the firm, which has offices spread throughout southern Texas.

Having said that, people can’t afford to be unprepared, he warned. And those who are new to the area will need a certain amount of hand holding, Woodruff said.

The biggest worry is the high degree of uncertainty. This storm could wobble just a fraction and change implications for the entire region. How much rain will fall? Exactly how high will the storm surge get?

While [experts are] really good at predicting a lot of these things, it is not an exact science. Weather systems from the North will impact how quickly Harvey moves out.

It’s scariest when these things stall on top of us, Woodruff said. The biggest problems come from hurricanes or tropical storms that come in and take their time to move out.

“We are really hoping the worst of it is a whole lot of water over three days as opposed to a whole lot in an hour,” he said.

BHG Gary Greene’s agents all live in the community, and they will be out helping their neighbors over the weekend, he said. The real estate business will be more about making sure everyone is kept safe and sound.

Woodruff said his team will likely revert into community support roles, helping people get back on their feet should the hurricane do what is predicted.

He understood the reaction by some people to go to another state for safety, but he said if you end up with a roof problem, you can mitigate a whole lot of damage if you are there; if you leave, you’re problems might be worse.

Either way, safety is more important than anything. Homes can be repaired, so if you’re in the danger zone and want to travel away, do so.

Fabiana Gordon contributed reporting to this article.

Email Gill South.

from Inman http://ift.tt/2wu2Zt2 via IFTTT

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campbellroofingsolar · 3 years

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Roofing- The very first protection of your home

Developing your roof, choosing top quality components, making up structure and blending features like protection, vents, coverings, water drainage and also windows, should be all organized properly. The infrastructure and routine maintenance of the roof of a home are aspects that are often neglected as the roof is something that is beyond our sight.

Whether you look for the services of a professional Insurance Specialist Roofing Beaumont, Texas or maintain the roofing on your own, the very first measure is to evaluate the roof and also the review of the components. Always remember that the basic function of an incredible roof is to cope up with the climate where you live and the relevant roof information it needs. Inspect the warranties of the manufacturer regarding the items and also the products that you want to use on the roof.

Clearlake roofing may be rather lengthy, dirty and also expensive. This is why most of the home owners may go for utilization of professional maintenance of the roof coverings. This is the most efficient and hence you should always leave the roof in the hands of certified roofing specialists. Secondly, keep on applying for utmost care while working on your roof.

Once damage is considered beyond considerable gain from initiating extra repairs, it is inspired to leave behind roof repair, and consider choices like replacement and Hurricane Roof Damage Port Author, Texas by the specialists. Specialized roofers are efficiently taught also to identify the safety points to consider roof repair works and also roof substitutes. When faced the possibility or substitution, make sure to select a professional that is insured and licensed. Eventually, you should feel convenient with your decision and confident in your contractor to carry out the work in the scope of their estimate efficiently.

#professional Insurance Specialist Roofing Beaumont Texas #Clearlake roofing #Hurricane Roof Damage Port Author Texas

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touristguidebuzz · 7 years

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Hurricane Irma: Travel Industry Live Updates

Waves crash against the Southernmost Point in Key West, Florida, as the storm swirls towards the Florida coast. Associated Press

Skift Take: Hurricanes Irma, Jose and Harvey are taking a great human toll throughout the Caribbean and the United States, as has the earthquake in Mexico. Here's how the travel industry is responding.

— Dennis Schaal

Skift is providing live updates on how Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Jose, and related developments are impacting the travel industry and travelers throughout the Caribbean and the United States. All times are Eastern Standard Time.

September 10, 10:45 a.m.

Hurricane Irma Bears Down on Florida Keys But Pool Still Open at Disney Contemporary Resort in Orlano

Travel journalist Valarie D’Elia was on Facebook Live reporting from the Disney Contemporary Resort in Orlando, and said the pool was still open and there was a lifeguard in attendance. Orlando, she said, was expected to feel the brunt of the storm early Monday morning, but was expected to feel a diminished impact as compared with the coastal areas in Florida.

There were many guests, D’Elia said, who took refugee at the property, as their homes were in harm’s way in other areas of Florida and other areas.

September 10, 7 a.m.

As Hurricane Irma’s eye wall hit the Florida keys Sunday morning, it had already left devastation on islands the length of the Caribbean in a trail of destruction that has left 22 people dead so far.

September 10, 1 a.m. Tourist Evacuations in Cuba and St. Maarten

The Associated Press reports that more than 5,000 tourists were evacuated off northeastern Cuba, and 1,600 more were rescued in St. Maarten, as both countries dealt with the aftermath of Hurricane Irma. Plans were under way in St. Maarten to evacuate an additional 1,200 travelers.

According to the Associated Press: “More than 5,000 tourists were evacuated from the keys off Cuba’s north-central coast, where the government has built dozens of resorts in recent years, after Hurricane Irma ripped roofs off houses, collapsed buildings and flooded hundreds of miles of coastline as it raked Cuba’s northern coast.

“Prime Minister William Marlin of St. Maarten said about 1,600 tourists had been evacuated and efforts were being made to move 1,200 more.

Information from the Kingdom of the Netherlands about the situation on #StMaarten, #StEustatius and #Saba → http://bit.ly/2vXc9yy http://pic.twitter.com/elTUZBMAy7

— Netherlands Embassy (@NLintheUSA) September 9, 2017

The U.S. State Department helped more than 500 Americans fly out of St. Martin, starting with those in need of urgent medical care, spokeswoman Heather Nauert said.

Carol Basch, a 53-year-old tourist from Savannah, Georgia, took refuge during the storm in the bathroom of her St. Martin hotel room after windows shattered. She stayed there praying for about four hours, surrounding herself with pillows.

“I kept saying, ‘Lord, please stop this, and soon, soon,’” said Basch, who was evacuated to Puerto Rico. “I’m glad I’m alive. I didn’t think I was going to make it.”

September 9, 3 p.m. Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Send Ships

Bloomberg reports that Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line are dispatching empty ships to St. Thomas and St. Maarten to provide supplies and evacuate stranded tourists. Additionally, Royal Caribbean said it is poised to enter Key West and Tampa, Florida when conditions permit.

“Norwegian expects to pick up 2,000 travelers unable to leave the island of St. Thomas prior to the storm. Its ship, Norwegian Sky, which normally cruises between Miami and the Bahamas, is sailing from its present location off the coast of Cancun, Mexico, and is expected to arrive in St. Thomas Monday.

“The effort is being organized by the government of St. Thomas, one of the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the government will control the passenger list, the company said in a statement.

“Royal Caribbean said two of its vessels would go to St. Thomas and St. Maarten, starting Sunday, and two more were waiting to assist in Key West and Tampa, Florida, should they be needed.

“Cruise lines ended some voyages early and canceled others as Hurricane Irma loomed last week. The humanitarian effort is similar to moves made by airlines.”

September 8, 7:35 p.m. Travel Agents Concerned About Caribbean Impact

Hurricane Irma left a wake of destruction behind in the Caribbean while those in the path — Cuba, cruise ships, the entire state of Florida, and swaths of the Southeast United States — prepared for a hit.

Cruise lines canceled sailings, altered itineraries to visit Cozumel instead of Key West, and sent ships packed with evacuees and employees out to safety at sea. Several popular port destinations including St. Martin and St. Thomas suffered extensive damage that will likely keep cruise traffic away as they recover.

On Friday, some of Florida’s biggest tourist draws — Walt Disney World Resort, Universal Orlando Resort, and SeaWorld Orlando — announced their theme parks would close for the anticipated impact on Sunday and Monday. SeaWorld Orlando and Busch Gardens, in Tampa, also announced closures on those days.

More than 3,000 flights into and out of Florida had been cancelled for the time when the storm is expected, USA Today reported, and airports in South Florida were suspending operations Friday night.

The toll on islands already hit by the storm was still being calculated. But it is already clear that the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season is quickly becoming one of the most active, costliest, and deadliest seasons in more than a decade and travel brands in the Caribbean and United States Southeast and Gulf Coast are bracing for fallout from the storms.

Tourism is the most important industry in many of the impacted islands and areas, and depending on how quickly travelers come back and infrastructure recovers – and especially how cruise lines cancel or adjust itineraries – the fourth quarter of 2017 could be difficult for many travel brands and destinations.

September and the fall season is typically a quieter time of year for Caribbean tourism, which means less immediate fallout from tourism from hurricanes and other storms, said Albert Herrera, Virtuoso‘s senior vice president of global product partnerships. “However, we fully recognize that many islands and our partners on those islands have been severely impacted, and we are waiting to see what it means for our partners in Florida,” said Herrera.

He said that while Hurricane Harvey, which struck Texas last month, was enormously damaging, it had less of an impact on tourism just because of the geography.

“No one yet knows how long tourism in the Caribbean and Florida will be waylaid due to Irma,” he said.

John Lovell, president of Travel Leaders Network leisure group and hotels, said that if the reports of destruction on some islands that he’s been hearing are true, recovery will take awhile.

“But I think it’s really early to talk about some of these islands since we’re still waiting to re-establish communications with partners in a few cases,” said Lovell, speaking by phone from Orlando, another potential target of Irma. “We expect on Monday and Tuesday for more assessments to start coming out of Caribbean destinations. We’re all concerned because the Caribbean is a huge percentage of our North American business.”

So far this week, Hurricane Irma – one of the strongest storms ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean – has pummeled Caribbean islands such as Anguilla, Barbuda, St. Martin, the British Virgin Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and St. Barthelemy, and severely damaged tourism infrastructure including cruise ports, hotels, and airports, the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), the region’s tourism board with 28 member countries, said in a statement.

Puerto Rico Tourism Company, the island’s tourism board, said in a statement that major tourism infrastructure and attractions such as the cruise port and airport are operational after Irma passed over the destination.

Marriott International said it’s had hurricane plans in place and that hotels in the impacted area are waiving cancellation and change fees but details will vary depending on the hotel. “Plans are in place to evacuate and close our hotels and offices if local authorities or conditions require such action,” the company said in a statement.

“At this time we have not received any reports of guest or associate injuries. A select number of our hotels in [the Caribbean] have sustained minor to significant damage. We are assessing the extent of impact on each hotel and efforts are underway to fully restore operations in those properties more significantly affected by the storm,” Marriott said.

IHG Hotels tweeted on Friday that pet fees and restrictions for hotels in impacted areas will be waived for the storm, citing that many of the company’s hotels were already pet-friendly before the storm formed.

Hilton said in a statement that its Puerto Rico properties didn’t suffer any significant damage and the company has no reports of guests or staff being affected by the storm. Hilton is waiving cancellation fees for hotels in affected areas of the Caribbean and Florida (including Advance Purchase) with arrivals from September 5 through September 12.

Wyndham called Irma a storm of epic proportions and had begun evacuations at its properties in South Florida on Friday. The company is waiving cancellation fees in areas with expected impact at its branded hotels, vacation ownership resorts, and vacation rentals.

“At properties we directly manage, our teams are coordinating with local authorities, following evacuation and other emergency directives, and taking precautions to best prepare and respond to the storm,” Wyndham said in a statement. “Our teams are also in communication with our many franchised and affiliated resort properties across the region.”

Our @Expedia hotel team working to ensure #HurricaneIrma evacuees get hotels at fair prices. More: @c_kirkham @WSJ http://bit.ly/2xXxCF5

— Sarah Gavin (@sarahwaffle) September 8, 2017

Meanwhile, on the online travel agency front, Expedia Inc. spokeswoman Sarah Gavin tweeted that the Expedia hotel team is trying to ensure that Hurricane Irma don’t get gouged by spiking hotel prices.

All Bloomberg and Associated Press excerpts were legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.

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