Emily Nelson September 14, 2017

A storm with violent winds and an eye of 4,000 miles wide takes over the East Coast in the U.S. The storm is Hurricane Irma whose winds were stronger than any other storm here in the U.S. It is the largest storm to hit the US let alone Florida who was half its size and took a significant toll on all the residents involved in it. Hurricanes form over warm, tropical areas and as they progress they get larger over time. In this case Irma became very powerful and wiped out an entire island along with destroying the state of Florida and Georgia.

Hurricane Irma started out in the Atlantic around August 30th near the Cabo Verde Islands. It then moved to Florida. Where Miami didn’t take a direct hit,but it still got the effects and put 750,000 people without power. The storm arrived on Sunday morning in Florida keys which did some damage. When it was finished with keys it moved to Marco Island. The expected path was to take out the western coast and hit Fort Myers before going to Tampa. As the storm keeps moving, the power it has will weaken before it hits Georgia and will only create slight winds and rainfall.

As the terrible storm headed towards Florida, the state began a mandatory evacuation. Everyone had to leave in order to save themselves. I unfortunately had family who lived down there and had to evacuate to Massachusetts to stay with us while their house and everything they owned gets engulfed by the storm. When the storm approached Florida it hit like a bus and many people’s homes got destroyed who were closest to the water. It was a category 4 when it hit Florida Keys. Florida Keys was destroyed and under water and it then moved to Fort Myers where my grandparents lived. They said that their neighbors got it the worst because they lived closer to the water where my grandparents had less damage but still some slight damage to their roof and the siding of their house.

When the storm approached Georgia it had lessened but still was powerful. I interviewed my friend from Georgia and whose name was Issah. He explained how there was strong winds and he felt as though his windows were going to break inwards. He also said after the storm had passed that he had slight damage to his house and only the roof was damaged and needed repairing. But the storm wasn’t as bad as it was in Florida so he was one of the lucky ones.

Overall the storm had a significant impact on all individuals who were involved and will take some time to get over and back on track after the tragedy. Although it was a tough and rough storm people had made it to safety and a lot were okay in the end. This was one for the books as the biggest most strongest storm in the history of hurricanes.