Christian Carey's year in review

2023 was pretty much an awful year for our world —climate disaster moves ever more quickly, violence abounds and US politics are a disaster. I would not write a thank you card to the universe for many of my own experiences during the year either. However, I am grateful for the extraordinary music I participated in, heard and wrote about: it was a great solace. A few highlights are below:

I composed three new pieces: Solemn Tollings, for microtonal trumpet and trombone, Just Like You for singing violist, and Cracking Linear Elamite for solo guitar. The latter premiered in December at Loft 393 in Tribeca, played by Dan Lippel.

In addition to editing Sequenza 21 and contributing to Dusted, I authored several reviews and a research article for the British journal Tempo. The article was on my research in narratology as a feature of Elliott Carter’s music, which I have been exploring and publishing on since writing my Ph.D. dissertation. It was great for this particular research, of character-types and interactions in the Fifth String Quartet, to finally see the light of day.

After a half-century of banged up and often unreliable used pianos, my wife Kay got me a new Baldwin grand piano for my 50th birthday. Since it has arrived, I have practically lived in it.

Post-pandemic and post-cancer, I began to dip my toe into attending live events. I went to the Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music, which was a mixed bag. As compensation, the Boston Symphony performances that weekend were excellent. I attended a great concert at the New York Philharmonic in November and another in December. For many years, Kay and I have made a holiday tradition of seeing the Tallis Scholars at St. Mary the Virgin Church in midtown. It was wonderful to return there. The Tallis Scholars’ performance was splendid, featuring a mass by Clemens non Papa.

After the Tallis concert, Kay was in Nashville, where her parents live, for two weeks, spending time with her brother Tom and sister-in-law Aymara, who were visiting from Qatar (Tom teaches at the Carnegie Mellon University campus there and Aymara is a yoga instructor), and celebrating Christmas with her parents. Here in New Jersey, it was just me and the felines, who were (mostly) well-behaved. To keep the holiday blues at bay, I went all out, decorating a natural tree and the house. I played every carol in the hymnal, and enjoyed old holiday standbys: Oscar Peterson, Dave Brubeck, and Mel Torme’s Christmas albums.

There was much excellent recorded music released this year, and I will not attempt to document it all. Here are twelve records, in no particular order, that I expect will stay with me and be played often in coming years.

2023 Favorite Recordings

Yo La Tengo —  This Stupid World (Matador)

Hilary Hahn —  Eugène Ysaÿe’s Six Sonatas for Violin Solo, op. 27 (DG)

Morton Feldman —  Violin and String Quartet (Another Timbre)

Natural Information Society —  Since Time is Gravity (Eremite)

Leah Bertucci —  Of Shadow and Substance (Self— released)

Juliet Fraser —  What of Words and What of Song (Neos)

Laura Strickling and Daniel Schlosberg —  40@40 (Bright Shiny Things)

Emily Hindricks, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, and Cristian Macelaru perform Liza Lim —  Annunciation Triptych (Kairos)

Bozzini Quartet and Konus Quartett play Jürg Frey​ —  Continuit​é, fragilit​é​, r​é​sonance (elsewhere)

Matana Roberts —  Coin Coin Chapter Five (Constellation)

Chris Forsyth — Solar Motel (self— released)

John Luther Adams —  Darkness and Scattered Light (Cold Blue)

Christian Carey

La lune paresseuse by Cecile Chaminade Laura Strickling, Soprano Joy Schreier, Piano Recorded December 11, 2013

5 Questions to Laura Strickling (soprano) about The 40@40 Project

The prolific singer and composer Laura Strickling sits down with Lauren Ishida of ICareIfYouListen to talk about her new 40@40 project and her devotion to contemporary art song.

5 Questions to Laura Strickling (soprano) about The 40@40 Project

The prolific singer and composer Laura Strickling sits down with Lauren Ishida of I Care If You Listen to talk about her new 40@40 project and her devotion to contemporary art song.

For all my fellow members of the Recording Academy: Please consider The Garden on your ballot of Grammy entries. The disc is entered in two categories in the the Classical Field (Field 28); Best Classical Solo Vocal Album (Category 80, Entry 21), and Best Contemporary Classical Composition (for Insomnia; Category 82, Entry 29). The fantastic performers on the disc are Laura Dixon Strickling, Liza Stepanova, Michael Anthony McGee, Jennifer Beattie, Steven Eddy, Edward Klorman, Stephanie Kwak, Ian McEuen, and Naomi Louisa O'Connell. https://ift.tt/2yBv1CH

More than a half-million people in Miami-Dade County ordered to leave

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CARIBBEAN — French, British and Dutch rescuers rushed aid to a heavily damaged string of Caribbean islands Thursday after Hurricane Irma left at least seven people dead and thousands homeless as it spun toward Florida for what could be a catastrophic blow this weekend.

In this NOAA handout image, NOAA’s GOES satellite shows Hurricane Irma as it moves towards the Florida Coast (Photo by NOAA GOES Project via Getty Images)

Warships and military planes were dispatched with food, water and troops after the fearsome Category 5 storm smashed homes, schools and roads, laying waste to some of the world’s most beautiful and exclusive tourist destinations.

Hundreds of miles to the west, Florida braced for the onslaught, with forecasters warning Irma could slam headlong into the Miami metropolitan area of 6 million people, punish the entire length of the state’s Atlantic coast and move into Georgia and South Carolina.

MIAMI BEACH, FL – SEPTEMBER 07: Tourist wait to catch a shuttle to a shelter as the city announced a mandatory evacuation ahead of the approaching Hurricane Irma on September 7, 2017 in Miami Beach,Florida. Current tracks for Hurricane Irma shows that it could hit south Florida this weekend. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

More than a half-million people in Miami-Dade County were ordered to leave as Irma closed in with winds of 175 mph (281 kph).

“Take it seriously,” said Maj. Jeremy DeHart, a U.S. Air Force Reserve weather officer who flew through the eye of Irma at 10,000 feet. “Because this is the real deal.”

By Thursday afternoon, the hurricane was north of the Dominican Republic, where authorities reported some flooding and the evacuation of several thousand locals and tourists but no serious damage or casualties.

Skies over the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, were still clear just after noon local time. About a million people were without power in Puerto Rico after Irma sideswiped the island, but there were no immediate reports of large-scale casualties.

But the first islands hit by the storm were scenes of terrible destruction.

French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said four people were confirmed dead and about 50 injured on the French side of St. Martin, an island split between Dutch and French control. The toll could rise because rescue teams had yet to get a complete look at the damage.

Three more deaths were reported on the British island of Anguilla, independent Barbuda and the Dutch side of St. Martin.

A photo taken on September 7, 2017 shows damage in the Grand Case area on the French Carribean island of Saint-Martin, after the passage of Hurricane Irma. Credit: LIONEL CHAMOISEAU/AFP/Getty Images)

Irma also slammed the French island of St. Barts, tearing off roofs and knocking out electricity.

French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said 100,000 food rations were sent to St. Barts and St. Martin, the equivalent of four days of supplies.

“It’s a tragedy. We’ll need to rebuild both islands,” he said. “Most of the schools have been destroyed.”

Photos and video of St. Martin circulating on social media showed major damage to the Philipsburg airport and heavy flooding in the coastal village of Marigot.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the storm “caused wide-scale destruction of infrastructure, houses and businesses.”

“There is no power, no gasoline, no running water. Houses are under water, cars are floating through the streets, inhabitants are sitting in the dark in ruined houses and are cut off from the outside world,” he said.

Far out in the Atlantic, Hurricane Jose grew into a Category 2 storm, threatening some of the same islands ravaged by Irma.

Meanwhile, Irma, the most potent Atlantic Ocean hurricane ever recorded, appeared increasingly likely to rip into heavily populated South Florida early Sunday.

People rushed to board up their homes, take their boats out of the water and gas up their cars. With gasoline running out and tensions rising, the Florida Highway Patrol escorted tanker trucks sent to replenish gas stations.

“It is wider than our entire state and could cause major and life-threatening impacts from coast to coast. Regardless of which coast you live on, be prepared to evacuate,” Gov. Rick Scott said.

Brian McNoldy, a hurricane researcher at the University of Miami, said Irma could easily prove to be the costliest storm in U.S. history.

French President Emmanuel Macron’s office said he would go to the islands as soon as the weather permits it. Saying he was “grief-stricken,” Macron called for concerted efforts to tackle global warming to prevent similar natural disasters.

Two Dutch navy ships were in St. Martin with vital supplies. And two Dutch military aircraft were being sent the island of Curacao and on to St. Martin to deliver food and water intended to last the population of 40,000 five days. The aircraft were carrying 100 extra troops to deliver aid, repair infrastructure and restore order.

Britain was sending hundreds of troops and the Royal Navy flagship HMS Ocean to Anguilla, Montserrat and the British Virgin Islands.

In Anguilla, officials reported extensive damage to the airport, hospitals, shelters and schools and said 90 percent of roads were impassable.

On Barbuda, nearly every building was damaged when the hurricane’s core crossed almost directly over the island early Wednesday. About 60 percent of its roughly 1,400 residents were left homeless, Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne said.

“It is just really a horrendous situation,” Browne said.

He said roads and telecommunications systems were wrecked and recovery will take months, if not years. A 2-year-old child was killed as a family tried to escape a damaged home during the storm, Browne said.

On St. Thomas in the nearby U.S. Virgin Islands, Laura Strickling spent 12 hours hunkered down with her husband and 1-year-old daughter in a boarded-up basement apartment with no power as the storm raged outside. They emerged to find the lush island in tatters. Many of their neighbors’ homes were damaged and once-dense vegetation was largely gone.

“There are no leaves. It is crazy. One of the things we loved about St. Thomas is that it was so green. And it’s gone,” Strickling said. “It will take years for this community to get back on its feet.”

More than half the island of Puerto Rico was without power, leaving more 900,000 in the dark and nearly 50,000 without water, the U.S. territory’s emergency management agency said in the midst of the storm. Fourteen hospitals were using generators after losing power, and trees and light poles were strewn across roads.

Puerto Rico’s public power company warned before the storm hit that some areas could be left without power from four to six months because its staff has been reduced and its infrastructure weakened by the island’s financial crisis.

President Donald Trump approved an emergency declaration for the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, allowing federal agencies to step in and provide aid.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center predicted Irma would remain at Category 4 or 5 as it passed just to the north of the Dominican Republic and Haiti, neared the Turks & Caicos and parts of the Bahamas by Thursday night and skirted Cuba on Friday night into Saturday.

Haiti ordered the evacuation of coastal areas in the north of the country, while Cuba’s eastern Santiago province opened 125 evacuation centers that can hold 38,000 people.

from FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports http://fox4kc.com/2017/09/07/more-than-a-half-million-people-in-miami-dade-county-ordered-to-leave/

from Kansas City Happenings https://kansascityhappenings.wordpress.com/2017/09/07/more-than-a-half-million-people-in-miami-dade-county-ordered-to-leave/

O furacão Irma atingiu Porto Rico com chuva torrencial e ventos acima de 250 km/h na noite desta quarta-feira, deixando cerca de 900 mil pontos sem energia elétrica. Mais da metade do país está no escuro e ao menos 50 mil pontos também estão sem abastecimento de água, segundo a agência de gerenciamento de emergências local.

As equipes de resgate já estavam empenhadas no auxílio às Ilhas do Caribe pelas quais o fenômeno passou durante o dia, deixando ao menos oito mortos. Em crise econômica e sob cortes de efetivo há ao menos uma década, a estatal responsável pelo fornecimento de energia em Porto Rico alertou que algumas áreas atingidas podem ficar sem luz de quatro a seis meses, devido à deterioração de estruturas muito antigas.

O Irma segue classificado na categoria 5, a máxima da escala de furacões, com ventos que podem atingir quase 300 km/h. O Centro Nacional de Furacões dos Estados Unidos (NHC) disse que Porto Rico não registrava um furacão da potência do Irma desde 1928, quando o San Felipe matou 2.758 pessoas em Guadalupe, Porto Rico e no Estado da Flórida.

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A pequena ilha de Barbuda, com cerca de 1,4 mil habitantes, teve 90% do território devastado. Cerca de 60% da população ficou sem moradia, segundo o primeiro-ministro da nação de Antígua e Barbuda, Gaston Browne. Quase todos os edifícios foram danificados e a recuperação pode demorar anos ou até meses, disse Browne, em entrevista à agência Associated Press. Houve registro da morte de uma criança de dois anos, cuja família tentava escapar de uma casa destruída na ilha.

As autoridades de Saint Martin também disseram que 95% da parte francesa da ilha foi destruída, assim como o aeroporto, o terceiro com maior número de passageiros do Caribe. Enquanto seguia para o oeste durante a quarta-feira, o furacão destruiu várias pequenas ilhas no caminho.

Em Saint Thomas, nas Ilhas Virgens americanas, a moradora Laura Strickling passou 12 horas em um porão sem energia, com o marido e a filha de 1 ano, para se proteger dos ventos. Ao sair, a família encontrou destroços cobrindo a maior parte das ruas, casas de vizinhos derrubadas e a vegetação, antes densa e exuberante, quase totalmente desaparecida.

“Não há folhas. É insano. Uma das coisas que amávamos em Saint Thomas era o verde. E se foi”, disse Laura, natural da capital dos EUA, Washington, que se mudou com o marido para a ilha há três anos. “Levará anos para que esta comunidade consiga se reeguer”, disse.

O presidente do território de San Martin, Daniel Gibbs, declarou “nunca antes ter vivido algo parecido, até mesmo as paredes de alguns edifícios chegaram a tremer”.

Gibbs disse que as comunicações estão completamente interrompidas e as tentativas de entrar em contato com outros territórios próximos são infrutíferas.

Na Ilha de São Bartolomeu, a estação meteorológica local chegou a registrar ventos acima de 200 km/h e rajadas ainda superiores

O presidente americano, Donald Trump, declarou estado de emergência em Porto Rico, na Flórida e nas Ilhas Virgens. A declaração acelera o envio de fundos governamentais para desastres. Trump também ordenou ao Departamento de Segurança Nacional (DHS) e à Agência Federal para Gestão de Emergências (Fema) que fiquem em alerta e coordenem todos os esforços de ajuda. Trump, que tem uma casa em Saint Martin, disse que acompanha atentamente o avanço do furacão, que deve se aproximar da Flórida no domingo.

O Estado norte-americano da Flórida se prepara para a possível passagem do ‘olho’ do furacão pelo território, embora a previsão ainda não confirme o trajeto do fenômeno formado no Oceano Atlântico. Fonte: Associated Press.

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Após devastar Ilhas do Caribe, furacão Irma deixa Porto Rico no escuro O furacão Irma atingiu Porto Rico com chuva torrencial e ventos acima de 250 km/h na noite desta quarta-feira, deixando cerca de 900 mil pontos sem energia elétrica.

At least 10 dead, French St. Martin '95% destroyed' as Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean Barbuda almost entirely razed, St. Martin in ruins as storm turns to the Dominican Republic Photo I: People pick up debris as Hurricane Irma howled past Puerto Rico after thrashing several smaller Caribbean islands early Thursday. - by Alvin Baez // Photo II: A handout photo made available by the Dutch Department of Defense on 07 September 2017 shows an aerial view over the damage of Hurricane Irma in Philipsburg, Sint Maarten, Sept. 6 2017. - by Gerben van Es // Photo III: Hurricane Irma is expected to turn toward the southeastern U.S. later this week, threatening Florida, as well as coastal Georgia, the Carolinas and possibly Virginia. // The Associated Press - September 07, 2017 Hurricane Irma has killed at least 10 people and injured dozens of others in the Caribbean as the dangerous Category 5 storm roared over the region early Thursday. France's Interior Minister, Gerard Collomb, told Franc Info that eight people died and another 23 were injured in the French Caribbean island territories of St. Martin and St. Barthelemy. That number is expected to rise. Meanwhile, authorities say at least one person has died in the northeast Caribbean island of Anguilla. The Caribbean Disaster Management Agency reported the death early Thursday and said 90 per cent of roads in Anguilla are impassible. And on Wednesday, a two-year-old child was killed as a family tried to escape their home during the chaos. Officials on a number of islands have reported widespread, and in some cases near total, destruction of homes and other infrastructure. Daniel Gibb, a local official on St. Martin, told Radio Caribbean International that "95 per cent of the island is destroyed." "I have sick people to evacuate, I have a population to evacuate because I don't know where I can shelter them," he said. Photos and video circulating on social media from St. Martin showed major damage to the airport in Philipsburg and the coastal village of Marigot heavily flooded. France sent emergency food and water there and to the French island of St. Bart's, where Irma ripped off roofs and knocked out electricity. Irma blacked out much of Puerto Rico, raking the U.S. territory with heavy wind and rain while staying just out to sea, and it headed early Thursday toward the Dominican Republic and Haiti. To the east, authorities struggled to get aid to small Caribbean islands devastated by the storm's record 298 km/h winds earlier Wednesday, while people in Florida rushed to get ready for a possible direct hit on the Miami area. Communications were difficult with areas hit by Irma, and information on damage trickled out. Nearly every building on Barbuda was damaged when the hurricane's core crossed almost directly over the island early Wednesday and about 60 per cent of its roughly 1,400 residents were left homeless. Gaston Browne, prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda, said Thursday that when he flew over Barbuda in a helicopter, he saw only "total carnage." "It was easily one of the most emotionally painful experiences that I have had," Browne said in an interview on BBC Radio Four. On St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Laura Strickling spent 12 hours hunkered down with her husband and 1-year-old daughter in a boarded-up basement apartment with no power as the storm raged outside. They emerged to find the lush island in tatters. Many of their neighbors' homes were damaged and once-dense vegetation was largely gone. "There are no leaves. It is crazy. One of the things we loved about St. Thomas is that it was so green. And it's gone," Strickling said. "It will take years for this community to get back on its feet." By early Thursday, the center of the storm was about 225 kilometres northwest of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and moving west-northwest near 26 km/h. More than half the island of Puerto Rico was without power, leaving 900,000 in the dark and nearly 50,000 without water, the U.S. territory's emergency management agency said in the midst of the storm. Fourteen hospitals were using generators after losing power, and trees and light poles were strewn across roads. Puerto Rico's public power company warned before the storm hit that some areas could be left without power from four to six months. U.S. President Donald Trump approved an emergency declaration for the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, allowing the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other agencies to remove debris and give other services that will largely be paid for by the U.S. government. Pauline Jackson, a 59-year-old registered nurse from Florida visiting Puerto Rico, said she had tried to leave before the storm but all flights were sold out. She has a reservation to fly out Friday and is worried about her home in Tampa. "When you're from Florida, you understand a Category 5 hurricane," she said. The U.S. National Hurricane Center predicted Irma would remain at Category 4 or 5 for the next day or two as passes just to the north of the Dominican Republic and Haiti on Thursday, nears the Turks & Caicos and parts of the Bahamas by Thursday night and skirts Cuba on Friday night into Saturday. It will then likely head north toward Florida. The storm is expected to hit Florida sometime Sunday, and Gov. Rick Scott said he planned to activate 7,000 National Guard soldiers by Friday. He warned that Irma is "bigger, faster and stronger" than Hurricane Andrew, which wiped out entire neighborhoods in south Florida 25 years ago. Experts worried that Irma could rake the entire Florida east coast from Miami to Jacksonville and then head into Savannah, Georgia, and the Carolinas, striking highly populated and developed areas. "This could easily be the most costly storm in U.S. history, which is saying a lot considering what just happened two weeks ago," said Brian McNoldy, a hurricane researcher at the University of Miami. -- Steven H MacDowall www.thursdayfile.com

James Matheson (CD Review)

James Matheson (CD Review)

James Matheson Violin Concerto, String Quartet, Time Alone Baird Dodge, violin; Chicago Symphony, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen; Color Field Quartet Laura Strickling, soprano; Thomas Sauer, piano Yarlung Records On his latest CD for Yarlung, composer James Matheson presents strong essays in both the concerto and string quartet genres. His String Quartet, played in vibrant fashion by Color Field…

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Hurricane Irma toll hits 10, increasing threat for Florida

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SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Fearsome Hurricane Irma cut a path of devastation across the northern Caribbean, leaving at least 10 dead and thousands homeless after destroying buildings and uprooting trees on a track Thursday that could lead to a catastrophic strike on Florida.

The most potent Atlantic Ocean hurricane ever, Irma weakened only slightly Thursday morning and remained a powerful Category 5 storm with winds of 180 mph (285 kph), according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center.

The storm was increasingly likely to rip into heavily populated South Florida early Sunday, prompting the governor to declare an emergency and officials to impose mandatory evacuation orders for parts of the Miami metro area and the Florida Keys. Forecasters said it could punish the entire Atlantic coast of Florida and rage on into Georgia and South Carolina.

“This could easily be the most costly storm in U.S. history, which is saying a lot considering what just happened two weeks ago,” said Brian McNoldy, a hurricane researcher at the University of Miami, alluding to the damage caused by Hurricane Harvey.

French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb told France Info radio that eight had died and 23 injured in the country’s Caribbean island territories, and he said the toll on Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthelemy could be higher because rescue teams have yet to finish their inspection of the islands.

“The reconnaissance will really start at daybreak,” Collomb said.

At a news conference, Collomb also said 100,000 food rations have been sent to the islands, the equivalent of four days of supplies.

“It’s a tragedy, we’ll need to rebuild both islands,” he said. “Most of the schools have been destroyed.”

French President Emmanuel Macron’s office said he will go to the islands has soon as weather conditions permit.

In the United Kingdom, the government said Irma inflicted “severe and in places critical” damage to the British overseas territory of Anguilla. Foreign Office Minister Alan Duncan said the Caribbean island took the full force of the hurricane. He told lawmakers on Thursday that the British Virgin islands have also suffered “severe damage.”

Irma blacked out much of Puerto Rico, raking the U.S. territory with heavy wind and rain while staying just out to sea, and it headed early Thursday toward the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

To the east, authorities struggled to get aid to small Caribbean islands devastated by the storm’s record 185 mph (298 kph) winds. Communications were difficult with areas hit by Irma, and information on damage trickled out.

Nearly every building on Barbuda was damaged when the hurricane’s core crossed almost directly over the island early Wednesday and about 60 percent of its roughly 1,400 residents were left homeless, Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne told The Associated Press.

“It is just really a horrendous situation,” Browne said after returning to Antigua from a plane trip to the neighboring island.

He said roads and telecommunications systems were wrecked and recovery would take months, if not years. A 2-year-old child was killed as a family tried to escape a damaged home during the storm, Browne told the AP.

One death also was reported in the nearby island of Anguilla, where officials reported extensive damage to the airport, hospitals, shelters and school and said 90 percent of roads are impassible, according to the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency.

The agency also reported “major damage” to houses and commercial buildings in the British Virgin Islands.

On St. Thomas in the nearby U.S. Virgin Islands, Laura Strickling spent 12 hours hunkered down with her husband and 1-year-old daughter in a boarded-up basement apartment with no power as the storm raged outside. They emerged to find the lush island in tatters. Many of their neighbors’ homes were damaged and once-dense vegetation was largely gone.

“There are no leaves. It is crazy. One of the things we loved about St. Thomas is that it was so green. And it’s gone,” Strickling said. “It will take years for this community to get back on its feet.”

Significant damage was also reported on St. Martin, an island split between French and Dutch control. Photos and video circulating on social media showed major damage to the airport in Philipsburg and the coastal village of Marigot heavily flooded. France sent emergency food and water there and to the French island of St. Bart’s, where Irma ripped off roofs and knocked out electricity.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Thursday the storm “caused widescale destruction of infrastructure, houses and businesses.”

“There is no power, no gasoline, no running water. Houses are under water, cars are floating through the streets, inhabitants are sitting in the dark, in ruined houses and are cut off from the outside world,” he said.

By Thursday morning, the center of the storm was about 110 miles (180 kilometers) north of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, and was moving west-northwest near 17 mph (28 kph).

More than half the island of Puerto Rico was without power, leaving 900,000 in the dark and nearly 50,000 without water, the U.S. territory’s emergency management agency said in the midst of the storm. Fourteen hospitals were using generators after losing power, and trees and light poles were strewn across roads.

Puerto Rico’s public power company warned before the storm hit that some areas could be left without power from four to six months because its staff has been reduced and its infrastructure weakened by the island’s decade-long economic slump.

President Donald Trump approved an emergency declaration for the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, allowing the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other agencies to remove debris and give other services that will largely be paid for by the U.S. government.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center predicted Irma would remain at Category 4 or 5 for the next day or two as passes just to the north of the Dominican Republic and Haiti on Thursday, nears the Turks & Caicos and parts of the Bahamas by Thursday night and skirts Cuba on Friday night into Saturday.

It will then likely head north toward Florida, where people were rushing to board up homes, fill cars with gasoline and find a route to safety.

Gov. Rick Scott, who has mobilized parts of the state’s National Guard, declared a state of emergency and asked the governors of Alabama and Georgia to waive trucking regulations so gasoline tankers can get fuel into Florida quickly to ease shortages.

An estimated 25,000 people or more left the Florida Keys after all visitors were ordered to clear out, causing bumper-to-bumper traffic on the single highway that links the chain of low-lying islands to the mainland.

from FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports http://fox4kc.com/2017/09/07/hurricane-irma-toll-hits-10-increasing-threat-for-florida/

from Kansas City Happenings https://kansascityhappenings.wordpress.com/2017/09/07/hurricane-irma-toll-hits-10-increasing-threat-for-florida/