Hurricane Irma: You Can Run, But You Can't Hide

Hurricane Irma: You can run but you can't hide
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Tensions are rising with the recent uptick in catastrophic weather anomalies that continue to unfold across the globe. From the monsoon rains in Nepal, India and Bangladesh to the tragic landslide in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

Just last week the world watched Hurricane Harvey barrage Houston, Texas with a year’s worth of rain, causing billions of dollars in damage. For the first time in years the Atlantic is now facing three hurricanes: Katia, Irma and Jose.

Longtime Miami residents are no strangers to hurricanes. While people were queuing up at gas stations and grocery stores, the Miami Herald mobilized and provided a timely list of gas stations with generators as well as food supplies. Smart, as no one really thinks to go grocery shopping at a gas station, so they should be fairly stocked up.

Governor Scott continues to issue grave warnings to his Florida constituents, and even urged the use of social media apps like Gas Buddy, Google Maps, Expedia and Comcast’s Xfinity Wi-Fi hotspot finder to help find fuel, navigate safely and stay connected.

One app in particular that is garnering a lot of attention is Zello, which currently has a million downloads. The beauty of the Zello walkie talkie app is it requires low bandwidth and in some cases little or no connectivity as it doesn’t require to dial a phone number to send text messages like Whatsapp, WeChat and Viber. Instead, Zello is a true push-to-talk (PTT) walkie-talkie app that allows you to press the “echo” button to speak live to up to groups of 2,000 people. Not bad for a free app.

Smart phone apps are quickly changing today’s disaster recovery paradigm. However many apps, including the Zello app, can drain a cell phone’s battery rather quickly. Something to keep in mind during extended power outages. While you may want to have a solar charger in your bug out bag (preferably a water proof Pelican case), you may also want to carry a power brick, a car lighter USB charger and some 9V batteries. The car lighter USB charger will come in handy after your power brick dies. If your car happens to be under water, you can charge your cell by rigging the 9V battery using the car lighter USB charger. It is actually pretty easy and there are plenty of instructional videos on how to do it. Eventually when the sun comes out, you can charge your cell phone with your solar charger. Hopefully electrical power will be restored by then.

As we hunker down to wait out Hurricane Irma in Miami and pray for Naples, one can only hope that finally coastal municipalities across the United States will fast track their climate adaptation strategies.

As the saying goes, you can run but you can’t hide.

The time to act on Climate Change is now.

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