Vanessa Northup & Charlotte Taylor
Staff Writers
From Aug. 30 to Sept. 15, after Hurricane Harvey hit just days before, the Caribbean Sea and states in the southeast were brutally hit once again. A category 5 hurricane known as Hurricane Irma came from the lower southeast from the Caribbean all the way up through Florida, Georgia, and finally tapered off around Tennessee.
The storm has contributed to the deaths of at least 73 people, though thousands of other people have been affected as well by power outages, property damage, and crop loss. The head of Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA), Brock Long, stated on Weather.com that “25 percent of the homes in the Florida Keys alone have been destroyed. Another 65 percent suffered major damage.” Irma attacked the islands of Barbuda, St. Barth, and St. Martin, where local officials told NBC about 95 percent of the island was completely demolished now.
With the Hurricane now gone, thousands of people are left to pick up the pieces. Schools are slowly starting to go back in session, and power is slowly coming back on, but a lot of work needs to be done. Several charity organizations have been put in place to help families and cities with the damages, as explained on businessinsider.com, such as Volunteer Florida, Habitat for Humanity of Jacksonville, Boca Helping Hands Antigua and Barbuda Red Cross, Fondos Unidos de Puerto Rico, and Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands. Many of these organizations accept donations as well.
