There’s not much you can do except hunker down when winds of this scale start hitting the coastline.  Hurricane Ida is about to make landfall along the Louisiana coastal region with winds in excess of 150mph.  A very strong category-4 storm, with massive storm surge potential. The hurricane force winds (the buzzsaw) are approximately 100 miles wide.  Anyone who needs help, feel free to reach out in the comments section, or send us an email and we will do everything we can to assist.

NHC Report – At 1000 AM CDT (1500 UTC), the eye of Hurricane Ida was located by reconnaissance aircraft and NWS Doppler radar near latitude 28.8 North, longitude 90.0 West. Ida is moving toward the northwest near 13 mph (20 km/h). A slightly slower northwestward motion should continue through this evening. A turn toward the north should occur by Monday morning, followed by a slightly faster northeastward motion by Monday night and Tuesday. On the forecast track, the center of Ida will make landfall along the coast of southeastern Louisiana within the hurricane warning area within the next few hours.

Reports from NOAA and Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft indicated that the maximum sustained winds are near 150 mph (240km/h) with higher gusts. Ida is an extremely dangerous category-4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. Some slight additional strengthening is still possible before Ida moves onshore along the Louisiana coast. (read more)

Hurricanes can be frightening; downright scary. There’s nothing quite like going through a few to reset your outlook on just how Mother Nature can deliver a cleansing cycle to an entire geographic region.  If there’s one positive aspect to this storm, it’s the daylight as she makes landfall…. at least it ain’t night.

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Preparations for the arrival of Hurricane Ida should be completed today.  She’s pushing a lot of water.  Wind field – NHS reflects approximately 60 miles across of hurricane winds and 250 miles of tropical storm winds.  Ida is gaining strength rapidly. Any Treeper in the coastal area of Louisiana and Mississippi should be taking preparatory action today. Those in the forecast areas are strongly advised to pay close attention to local officials and heed all evacuation orders.  [National Hurricane Center]

NHS ADVISORY – “Maximum sustained winds are near 85 mph (140 km/h) with higher gusts. Rapid strengthening is forecast during the next 24 to 36 hours and Ida is expected to be an extremely dangerous major hurricane when it approaches the northern Gulf coast on Sunday night. Weakening is expected after Ida makes landfall.

At 1000 AM CDT (1500 UTC), the center of Hurricane Ida was located near latitude 24.8 North, longitude 86.1 West. Ida is moving toward the northwest near 16 mph (26 km/h), and this general motion should continue through late Sunday or early Monday, followed by a slower northward motion on Monday. On the forecast track, the center of Ida will move over the southeastern Gulf of Mexico today and move over the central Gulf of Mexico tonight and early Sunday. Ida is then expected to make landfall along the U.S. northern Gulf coast within the hurricane warning area on Sunday. (Advisory Link)

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Ida is currently a tropical storm headed into the Gulf of Mexico. However, the conditions are perfect for Ida to quickly become a major hurricane as it heads toward the Louisiana coastal region.  Everyone along the gulf coast from East Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and western Alabama should be making preparations right now.  Do not delay.

In the background several Civilian Emergency Response Teams (CERT) have been activated.  Due to the confluence of events, everyone is taking this storm very seriously. Any Treeper in the coastal area of Louisiana and Mississippi should be taking preparatory action today. Those in the forecast areas are strongly advised to pay close attention to local officials and heed all evacuation orders.  [National Hurricane Center]

Check your hurricane supplies of shelf-stable food, water, medicine and don’t forget pets.  Prepare for the worst and hope for the best.  Everything is replaceable, except you and your family.  We have a lot of Treepers in the path of this storm. If you need assistance, use the comments section of any ‘Ida Update thread’ to reach out, or use the email address in the upper right of the site.

Right now you are in control.  Have a solid plan, work that plan – stay busy, and don’t get caught up in the hysteria.  Try to avoid national media hype. Stay updated via your local news stations. Sunday morning looks like the key day impact zones will be identified.  Reach out to your neighbors; touch-base and check to see if they are okay or need anything.  Community restoration begins before the storm arrives. Look out for each-other.

Additionally, I hate to note this, but Joe Biden is in charge of FEMA… So plan accordingly.

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While using their own tactics against them, Alinsky judo per se’, just a short reminder from the White House itself in April.

The critical area of the rubble pile from the collapsed Surfside condominium building can now be reached.  The original collapse happened at 1:30am when most were sleeping and the 12-floors of stacked master bedroom suites was unfortunately located next to the unstable elements of the building that did not collapse.

At 10:30pm last evening the remaining building was brought down with a controlled demolition.  Now the most important area of the original collapse, the areas containing the rubble of those master suites, will be able to be excavated.  As recovery workers began work at 1:00am this morning the focus is on that area.  They anticipate a much faster recovery of missing persons.

During a press conference today an additional two bodies were pulled from the area.  The death toll now stands at 27 with 115 people still unaccounted. The recovery workers face a grueling task in the next 36 hours; however, fortunately Tropical Storm Elsa has taken a more westerly track and the recovery work looks like it will continue unimpeded on the East coast of Florida.  Update from Florida Governor Ron Desantis:

Video of the successful demolition below:

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Florida officials held an extensive briefing today to update on the planned demolition of the unstable elements of the Surfside condominium building so that rescue and recovery work on the collapsed building can begin again.  Compounding the issues is the looming arrival of Tropical Storm Elsa; however, fortunately the storm appears to have taken a slightly more westward track and should be minimal for the Surfside, Florida, region.

According to local officials the demolition of the remaining structure will likely take place later today.  In the interim the search and recovery work has been paused as explosive experts prepare to bring down the unstable remnant of the 12-story building.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis spoke at the beginning of the press conference emphasizing the arrival of Tropical Storm Elsa should be watched carefully.  Elsa now appears to be a west coast of Florida issue and will likely skirt up the western coastal area along the Gulf of Mexico.  The entire South-West coast of Florida will likely see varying effects from a very strong tropical storm Tuesday and Wednesday.

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A decision has been reached to demolish the remaining unstable part of the collapsed condominium building in Surfside, Florida, as Tropical Storm Elsa flirts in/out of hurricane status [NHC Update] while moving through the Caribbean.

Elsa is anticipated to impact south Florida on Tuesday.  During a press conference today Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced the controlled demolition will take place prior to Elsa’s arrival in order to protect rescue and recovery workers.

“Demolition of the unsafe portion of the building is the fastest way to continue rescue operations”, DeSantis announced.  Officials on the ground are fearful that high winds connected to the arriving storm will make the remaining structure too unstable for any rescue operations to continue if they do not take the unstable portion down. Details of the operation to execute a controlled demolition will be released soon.

In the interim all residents in South Florida have been instructed to keep an eye on Elsa as she wobbles across Haiti and Cuba in the next 48 hours.  Most counties in South Florida have been put under a proactive state of emergency status. Slight shifts in the storm, to the east or west, will determine how much of the south Florida area are impacted. The current track puts Elsa on the west side of the state in the Gulf of Mexico late Monday and early Tuesday.

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There are numerous laser guided measuring devices located in and around the remaining structure of the collapsed condominiums in Surfside, Florida.  Overnight those devices detected significant movement in the remaining building as well as large cracks developing in the underground garage area.

As a result rescue and recovery workers were pulled from the building as engineers contemplate how to move forward.

(Herald) […] Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Chief Alan Cominsky confirmed the development during a press briefing on Thursday morning. The agonizing decision, he said, was made just after 2 a.m. Cominsky described the threat of a large concrete column hanging over a subterranean parking area, which has moved six to 12 inches. He added that crews were also alerted to widening cracks and “slight movement” in a concrete slab on the southern side of the building.

High-tech monitors aimed at the tenuous pile of debris were responsible for making rescue workers aware of the dangerous shifts. Moments later, they were forced to lower cranes and pull back crews under the darkness of the early morning. (link)

Before the efforts were suspended the recovery workers had pulled more bodies from the rubble. 18 bodies have now been recovered and 145 people remain missing. These unfortunate developments occur as the installed occupant of the White House arrived to thank first-responders and rescue workers for their efforts.

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The tragic mission is still called “search and rescue” as more heavy equipment is brought in on the fourth day of rescue efforts.  In the past day four more bodies “and additional human remains” have been recovered from the ruble of the collapsed 12 story condo building in Surfside Florida.

Hopes are diminishing for the 156 people still missing.  Specific prayers this Sunday for the families of those lost and for the safety of the rescue workers who are in very perilous surroundings.

Miami Dade – Rescuers have recovered another four bodies in the wreckage of the Champlain Towers South condominium collapse, bringing the total to nine dead and 156 still missing since the Surfside building collapsed early Thursday.

The latest victims were discovered along with “additional human remains” in a 135-foot long trench dug into the rubble to add rescue and recover teams — the newest tactic in the round-the-clock excavation of an unstable, sometimes shifting mountain of debris.

“We are making every effort to identify those others that have been recovered,” Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said in a Sunday morning press conference.  (read more)

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Heartbreak north of Miami-Dade as the number of missing persons in the Surfside condo collapse rises to 159 people. Search and rescue efforts continued throughout the night and morning as rescue workers enter their 36th hour of operations. The work is dangerous as the remaining elements of the building are very unstable.

MIAMI-DADE The arduous and heartbreaking task of recovering the bodies of victims at the site of the collapse of the Champlain Towers South condo in Surfside began overnight and continued into a somber Friday morning in an unfolding tragedy that is feared to be the worst building failure in Florida history.

Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said Friday morning that the number of people who are unaccounted for in Thursday’s building collapse increased to 159 — dramatically higher than the 99 reported earlier. The official death toll rose to four, as three more people were found in the rubble.

She said 120 people are now accounted for but stressed that all the numbers are “fluid” because some residents may not have been in the building when it collapsed.

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