Help is on the Way Florida
By Jeff Moffitt
@moffittjc (118442)
Gainesville, Florida
September 8, 2017 4:25pm CST
Nancy (@ramapo17) commented earlier that she saw a convoy of hundreds of utility trucks headed to Florida to help out with hurricane recovery efforts (and the storm hasn't even hit us yet! haha).
It warmed my heart to hear last night that New Jersey activated its National Guard units to send to Florida to help. I also saw hundreds of military trucks headed south on I-75 bringing soldiers, equipment and supplies to help our state get through this impending disaster.
And this afternoon, I saw squadron after squadron of military helicopters flying south to help out, as the Feds are preparing to respond to Hurricane Irma.
I was extremely worried that with relief efforts still ongoing in Houston, Texas, that federal resources would be in short supply to respond to Florida. But so far, it looks like they have, and are capable of providing, the necessary equipment and manpower to respond to what could possibly be one of the worst hurricanes in our state's history.
So proud to see everybody coming together to help each other out in times of natural disasters!
For those that have been asking, I am prepared and ready for this hurricane. From where I live, we are still two days away from the impact of Hurricane Irma, so the bad weather has not even started for us yet. In fact, it is actually beautiful out today!
20 people like this
16 responses
@rebelann (111178)
• El Paso, Texas
9 Sep 17
I'm so glad you and your family will have a safe haven @moffittjc then comes the rescue efforts, I hope you will be safe as you try to help victims of Irma.
3 people like this
@moffittjc (118442)
• Gainesville, Florida
10 Sep 17
@rebelann I think in our area it will be more cleanup effort than rescue effort. We expect thousands of trees to go down. I've got six chainsaws lined up and ready to go, I fully expect to be out there cutting up fallen trees for weeks so that we can get our roadways cleared so we can get power lines restored and traffic back in operation.
2 people like this
@moffittjc (118442)
• Gainesville, Florida
9 Sep 17
Since I'm on our city's emergency response team, I have access to shelter in the EOC (emergency operations center) if I wanted to. And family is welcome there as well. That place is built like a nuclear bomb shelter, it will survive anything!
4 people like this
@LovingMyBabies (85127)
• Valdosta, Georgia
8 Sep 17
Prepared and ready here too! So amazing seeing so many come together in times of need.
3 people like this
@moffittjc (118442)
• Gainesville, Florida
8 Sep 17
Glad to hear you are ready! Thankfully, we've had plenty of notice of this approaching storm, so we had a lot of time to prepare! It just seems so surreal that it has been nice and cool and beautiful here over the past couple of days, and yet in a few more days all hell is going to break loose when this storm gets to us!
3 people like this
@LovingMyBabies (85127)
• Valdosta, Georgia
8 Sep 17
@moffittjc Yeah plenty of time for this one which was good.
It's been in the mid 80's here, can't wait for the 70 degree weather!
I know, it seems weird how calm it is now but in a few days...aahhh!!
3 people like this
@moffittjc (118442)
• Gainesville, Florida
8 Sep 17
@LovingMyBabies Well, I plan on enjoying the great outdoors tomorrow as much as I can, because conditions will start deteriorating on Sunday. Might as well have as much fun as I can while I can!
3 people like this
@bluesa (15023)
• Johannesburg, South Africa
11 Sep 17
@moffittjc , that's understandable. I hope you'll soon be able to enjoy some NFL games again.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118442)
• Gainesville, Florida
9 Sep 17
@bluesa I haven't gone yet! The brewery doesn't open until noon today...still have a bout a half hour to go! haha
Think I'm going to take a nap first. Almost everything is shut down in anticipation of the storm, so there is not much to do right now except sit here in boredom.
Yawn!
2 people like this
@moffittjc (118442)
• Gainesville, Florida
10 Sep 17
@bluesa The only sport that is going on right now that I enjoy watching is American football. But I've got my tv set on the weather channel and the news channels so I can keep getting updates about the hurricane.
1 person likes this
@pgntwo (22408)
• Derry, Northern Ireland
9 Sep 17
@moffittjc The damage caused in the Caribbean is pretty horrendous, Sint Maarten/Saint Mårten has been inundated and/or flattened. And Antigua and Barbuda... Not sure how PR or Cuba have fared.
3 people like this
@moffittjc (118442)
• Gainesville, Florida
9 Sep 17
@pgntwo What's worse for those Caribbean islands is that they are now getting battered by Hurricane Jose, which was right on the heels of Hurricane Irma. They were already saying that many of those islands were 90-95% destroyed during Irma, so whatever's left will now be completely taken out by Jose. I feel for those poor people in the islands. There is literally nothing left of them.
But on a brighter note, if you ever dreamed of owning a tropical island paradise, now is a good time to buy real estate! Everything will be dirt cheap after the storms clear out. Mainly because all that will be left to buy in the islands is dirt! haha
3 people like this
@moffittjc (118442)
• Gainesville, Florida
8 Sep 17
Don't worry, I've been through storms like this many times before! I'll be extra cautious if I have to go outside in the wind!
3 people like this
@JamesHxstatic (29242)
• Eugene, Oregon
8 Sep 17
I hope that it stays that way, Jeff and that this thing will just blow over with some luck.
3 people like this
@moffittjc (118442)
• Gainesville, Florida
8 Sep 17
I hope so too James. I hope it avoids Florida altogether.
How's everything out west with the fires? It's important that we don't forget what is going on there just because we have a hurricane hitting Florida!
3 people like this
@JamesHxstatic (29242)
• Eugene, Oregon
8 Sep 17
@moffittjc Well, we had about five days of heavy smoke, then, yesterday, we got some welcome rain locally, not sure how much on the fires, but the air is cleaner. That huge fire in the Columbia River Gorge is now 7% contained and covers 33000 acres. The big one near the south coast is over 177,000 acres. The rain helped some, but was uneven and some new lightning-caused fires were started. Crazy times! Stay safe!
3 people like this
@moffittjc (118442)
• Gainesville, Florida
9 Sep 17
@JamesHxstatic And in the midst of all that, you are facing a miserable heat wave as well! Too bad we can't send Hurricane Irma to you guys...minus the wind of course!
3 people like this
@Courtlynn (66921)
• United States
9 Sep 17
Glad so many are going to help, but they are in the hurricanes path too now
3 people like this
@moffittjc (118442)
• Gainesville, Florida
9 Sep 17
It looks like they are staging everything just outside of the danger zone.
3 people like this
@moffittjc (118442)
• Gainesville, Florida
9 Sep 17
@Courtlynn The problem is, the forecast track keeps changing, so I'm not sure how they know exactly where to stage everything. I saw on the news last night that they are staging military vehicles in a small town about 45 minutes north of where I live. They showed aerial footage on the news last night, and there were tens of thousands of military trucks lined up in fields waiting to deploy. But what if the storm shifts slightly and heads straight at them? How will they get all that equipment moved to safer areas? I'm glad I'm not in charge of dealing with that! lol
3 people like this
@snowy22315 (169966)
• United States
9 Sep 17
That must be comforting..Where are you going? Shouldn't you have evacuated?
2 people like this
@snowy22315 (169966)
• United States
9 Sep 17
@moffittjc Oh OK...I thought you were in Fort Lauderdale..that is Southern Fla..no?
2 people like this
@moffittjc (118442)
• Gainesville, Florida
10 Sep 17
@snowy22315 Yes, Ft. Lauderdale is in south Florida. I am up in north Florida, in Gainesville. South Florida is getting battered right now as I write this, but north Florida still has about 10-12 more hours before we get pummeled.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118442)
• Gainesville, Florida
9 Sep 17
I'm in the middle of the state, so I'm not in an evacuation zone. Plus, I'm on our city's emergency response team, so I have to stay to help assist those in need after the storm.
2 people like this
@moffittjc (118442)
• Gainesville, Florida
8 Sep 17
The best way you can help is to donate to the American Red Cross. Right now they are collecting for Harvey victims in Texas. I'm sure that starting next week they'll be accepting donations for Florida.
It's important that despite what is imminent for Florida, that we don't forget our poor brothers and sisters in Texas
1 person likes this
@marguicha (215441)
• Chile
8 Sep 17
I hope that the help goes where it is needed.
2 people like this
@marguicha (215441)
• Chile
9 Sep 17
@moffittjc I also hope people know what to do in those cases. I remember we had something called Operation Daisy or something when I was at school. They taught us how to behave should we have an earthquake while aat school.
2 people like this
@moffittjc (118442)
• Gainesville, Florida
8 Sep 17
Once we know for sure where the path of the storm is going, they can then direct the resources to where its needed most.
2 people like this
@LadyDuck (458179)
• Switzerland
9 Sep 17
@moffittjc They must be ready, but stay away from the areas where the storms will hit, or they are also in danger.
2 people like this
@moffittjc (118442)
• Gainesville, Florida
9 Sep 17
Yes, today is definitely the calm before the storm!
I just saw on the news that 13,000 utility workers are headed to Florida from all over the Untied States to help restore power after the storm, and that 1000 nurses are being brought in to help in the shelters. The response is just amazing so far!
2 people like this
@Srbageldog (7716)
• United States
9 Sep 17
I hope you stay safe! Glad to know help is on the way.
2 people like this
@Srbageldog (7716)
• United States
9 Sep 17
@moffittjc I will be keeping you all in my thoughts. I hope you and your family all stay safe!
2 people like this
@moffittjc (118442)
• Gainesville, Florida
9 Sep 17
@Srbageldog Thank you. Being from south Florida, I'm battled-tested when it comes to hurricanes (I lived through Hurricane Andrew in 1992, and I don't think anything can get worse than that), but many of the people here in northern Florida where I live now are not experienced in dealing with major hurricanes. It will be interesting to see how everybody this far north fares when the storm comes this way.
2 people like this
@moffittjc (118442)
• Gainesville, Florida
9 Sep 17
I hope we're all safe too after this storm hits! But we are #FloridaStrong, we'll get through this. I still have two days before where I live gets slammed by the storm. But all my family is in south Florida, and will start feeling the effects today.
2 people like this
@kobesbuddy (74571)
• East Tawas, Michigan
8 Sep 17
So you're prepared to weather this storm? I was hoping your family would be headed north for a while:(
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118442)
• Gainesville, Florida
8 Sep 17
I am on the emergency response team and disaster recovery team for our city, so I have to stay behind no matter what.
1 person likes this
@kobesbuddy (74571)
• East Tawas, Michigan
8 Sep 17
@moffittjc Oh, now I understand. My son-in-law is a policeman, so he has similar obligations, in case of a disaster around the Detroit area. Anyway, stay safe! I will continue to pray for you and your family:)
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118442)
• Gainesville, Florida
8 Sep 17
@kobesbuddy Thank you! Prayers are always appreciated!
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118442)
• Gainesville, Florida
8 Sep 17
Yeah, it's already looking much better than it did just a day ago! The winds are down slightly, so it's now a Cat-4 hurricane instead of a Cat-5 storm.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118442)
• Gainesville, Florida
11 Sep 17
It's finally starting to get windy up here in Gainesville. Bring it Irma! Bring it. I'm ready!
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118442)
• Gainesville, Florida
11 Sep 17
I also just read that 14 states are ready to send over 10,000 national guard soldiers to help.
You know, just when we thought America was in the toilet and beyond all hope of ever being great again, we Americans rise to the challenge and prove why we are still the greatest country on earth!
