Climate & Environment

The U.S. is focused this week on Puerto Rico, where Hurricane Maria has left a humanitarian crisis in its wake, with millions of American citizens still without water, food, and power. But Maria caused devastation across the Caribbean, including the tiny island of Dominica, a 290-square-mile nation 400 miles east of Puerto Rico. Within hours of the Category 5 storm striking, 90 percent of the island’s buildings were destroyed and, in less than a week, 27 people were killed.

Two weeks ago, Irma, a catastrophic Atlantic hurricane killed 38 people and destroyed thousands of homes in the Caribbean Islands before turning its sights on South Florida. Among its most victimized was Saint Thomas, a 32-square-mile island located 110 miles east of Puerto Rico. As one of 51,000 St. Thomians, Ramseyer, a 26-year-old marine biology graduate student, endured the brunt of Irma, weathering not only her destruction but also the impending threat of another Category 5 storm, Hurricane Maria.

The tens of thousands of Boricuas who live in Miami are anxiously staring at CNN and Twitter this morning, hoping against hope that everyone back in Puerto Rico stays safe as the apocalyptic Hurricane Maria rakes the island. Even as Miami can rest easier as the latest tracks show Maria…

Since 1933, Flamingo Gardens in Davie has been home to South Florida’s tallest tree — the Terminalia superba, otherwise known as the korina tree. Throughout the tree’s lifetime, it has survived bolts of lightning, gunshot wounds, and even the wrath of Hurricane Wilma. Alas, the hearty behemoth was no match for Irma, a Category 4 storm that tore up South Florida September 10.

Seven days after Irma, tens of thousands of homes in South Florida still have no electricity, even though FPL promised all power would be restored by this past weekend. Residents in many low-income communities, such as Allapattah, Little Haiti, Overtown, and Opa-locka, say they’ve had it the worst since FPL shut off power two days before Irma even arrived.

A group of young sailors stands helplessly on a deck as two skippers in yellow tow a shredded 200-foot-long dock away from the shore. Crushed behind it is a mangled wreck of nine sailboats, a couple of powerboats, and a 40-foot pontoon. As the dock drifts away, their worst fear is confirmed: Nothing is salvageable.

If Florida Gov. Rick Scott is wearing his blue U.S. Navy hat, it’s probably time to seek shelter. He pulls it on pretty much only when disaster is nigh. Once the National Hurricane Center begins warning that a storm is heading toward Florida, the blue brimmed beauty magically materializes on the top of his head. He never mentions it. It’s just there, covering his waxy turtle head, and we’re supposed to act like we don’t notice.

Hurricane Irma did more than decimate the Florida Keys — as Politico reporter Marc Caputo pointed out earlier this week, to “decimate” actually means to destroy every tenth person or thing, and Irma seems to have flattened much more than that in Monroe County. The same goes for Southwest Florida, and…

What does it take to publish a brilliant feature story, pictures, and cover when there’s no electricity or internet, and writers are pinned down by 100 mile per hour winds? The answer is ingenuity, luck, and communication over more than 6,000 miles. Miami New Times doesn’t have fancy generators or…

The South Dade Center is a subsidized housing project for the huge farmworker community in Homestead, the rural town south of Miami that has been repeatedly blasted by hurricanes since Andrew hit in 1992. Most of the area’s residents are of Mexican or Central American descent and make little money working in the sun-baked fields and plant nurseries that feed the rest of Florida.

The National Hurricane Center is reporting that two new storm systems are forming in the far eastern Atlantic. While they are far from Miami, both show a 70 percent probability of becoming tropical depressions within five days. The NHC is predicting a more southerly track for the pair than Hurricane…

Standing defiantly in the distance off Islamorada is a century-old lighthouse that has survived much more than the wimpy winds of Hurricane Irma. The Alligator Lighthouse was built in 1873, before Miami even existed. The name honors a pirate-fighting schooner that sank there in 1822 and was blown up so…

Every year, more than a half million people flock to the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens and the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden. Hurricane Irma, though, severely damaged both Vizcaya — an early 20th century Italian-style estate built by James Deering — and Fairchild, one of the world’s greatest repositories of tropical…

The line snapped in the screaming gusts, and Randy knew he was in deep trouble. White-capped waves battered the chipped hull of Hardball, his 36-foot fishing boat, while 100 mph winds tore through the faded blue canvas over the captain’s chair. In the middle of Hurricane Irma’s Sunday afternoon assault…

This past weekend, thousands of South Floridians sought shelter as devastating Category 5 hurricane, Irma, ravaged the western coast. However, not everyone was as lucky. At Miami Seaquarium, beloved orca Lolita was left outside as 165 mph winds and flying debris battered the state.

There’s hope. The thousands of people on Florida’s east coast stuck without power should have it restored by this Sunday at the latest, Florida Power & LIght tweeted Tuesday morning. Those on Florida’s west coast, which took a stronger hit from Hurricane Irma, can expect electricity by September 22.

Miami and its residents may not look so great today. The streets still look like collateral damage in a tree massacre. And most locals have been living without air conditioning or a hot shower for going on three days now. Unless they braved hours in line for a Publix chicken…

Hours after deadly Category 5 Hurricane Irma left South Florida, Category 2 storm Jose continues to brew in the Atlantic Ocean. Thus far, the time and place of its landfall is still uncertain.

Hurricane Irma may be over, but the cleanup has just begun. If you are in desperate need of supplies, some supermarkets are reopening their doors quickly. However, it’s important to remember that if you don’t have to be on the streets, you should stay home and keep roads clear for…

The sun is shining in South Florida and the wind is starting to die down. For the tens of thousands of Miami Beach residents who evacuated the barrier island before Hurricane Irma, it may seem like the perfect time to return home to assess damage and check out the neighborhood…

Across South Florida this morning, locals are waking up from whatever fitful few hours of sleep they managed in unbearably hot bedrooms closed in by hurricane shutters and heading outside to see just how badly Irma messed up their neighborhood. The good news is that few buildings seem to have…