Hurricane Dorian from space: NOAA

By Glynn Wilson –

WASHINGTON, D.C. – While the U.S. island of Puerto Rico dodged the worst damaging winds and flooding on the weak side of Hurricane Dorian, hot Atlantic Ocean waters of up to 85 degrees fueled the system from a tropical storm into a deadly category 4 hurricane on Friday and Saturday as it seemed to take direct aim at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, with winds of up to 140 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center’s most recent track.

Hurricane Dorian’s projected track on Saturday morning: NOAA

Federal and state emergency declarations have already been issued in advance of the strong storm in coastal Florida and inland, and are being expanded to Georgia and the Carolinas as some computer models predict a late turn northward before Dorian makes landfall.

Would a direct hit on his property make Trump pay attention to the science indicating warmer than normal ocean water due to global warming help fuel the storm’s power? Or would he just bilk the taxpayers to rebuild it and continue to side with climate change deniers in the fossil fuel industries?

We may never know the answer to that question, since the reporters following him around for mainstream media outlets didn’t ask. They did ask if he was worried about his property.

“… it would look like Mar-a-Lago is dead center, but look, Mar-a-Lago can handle itself,” Trump said on Friday when asked if he was worried about the resort. “That’s a very powerful place.”

Mar-a-Lago was built by cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post in the 1920s. The main mansion has 126 rooms and is built in a Spanish style. Trump bought the place in 1985 after efforts to make it into a national park didn’t work out.

According to ABC News, after it was damaged by Hurricanes Dennis, Katrina and Wilma in 2005, Trump said he received a $17 million insurance payment for hurricane damage to the resort. But an Associated Press investigation found little evidence of such large-scale damage.

At the time, Trump said he didn’t know how much had been spent on repairs, but acknowledged he pocketed some of the money, transferring funds into his personal account, saying that under the terms of his policy “you didn’t have to reinvest it.”

“I’m rooting for a direct hit on Mar a Lago!” former Canadian Prime Minister Kim Campbell tweeted Wednesday, a sentiment catching on in some social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, saying she hoped Dorian would “shake up Trump’s climate change denial.”

Local governments across Florida, including in Palm Beach County, are gearing up to deal with a storm surge of 10-20 feet, as well as long-term rising sea levels and more intense hurricanes. If sea-level rise predictions even at the lower end come to pass, Mar-a-Lago could have ocean water lapping on its lawns in the not-too-distant future, according to ABC News.

As millions of tourists now have to change their plans from visiting east Florida beaches on the busy Labor Day weekend, the final weekend of the busy vacation summer before students return to school, NASA took steps to protect the launchpads along the Space Coast in South Florida.

“Although fluctuations in intensity are possible early next week, Dorian is expected to remain a powerful hurricane during the next few days,” the National Hurricane Center said in a statement.

Responding to the news and the emergency declaration, Florida residents went shopping, snapping up available bottled water, gasoline, plywood and other supplies faster than they could be restocked. Some gas stations ran out of fuel.

“They’re buying everything and anything that applies to a hurricane, flashlights, batteries, generators,” said Amber Hunter, 30, assistant manager at Cape Canaveral’s ACE Handiman hardware store, according to Reuters.

Evacuations were already underway in the Bahamas, two days before Dorian is expected to bring a life-threatening storm surge forecast at up to 10 to 15 feet (3 to 4.5 meters) to the northwest of the islands.

NHC Director Ken Graham worried aloud about the danger, with the storm predicted to slow down as it approached landfall, potentially lingering and spinning along the coast.

“Slow is not our friend,” he said in a Facebook Live video. “The longer you keep this around the more rain we get.”

“Big-time impacts, catastrophic events, for some areas 140 mph winds, not a good situation,” Graham said.

Cocoa Beach Mayor Ben Malik was putting up storm shutters on his Florida home on Friday afternoon and worrying about the flooding Dorian could unleash on his barrier island town.

“It’s slowed down, we’re looking at a multiple-day event, we were hoping it would just barrel through and leave,” Malik said of forecasts that Dorian could sit over Florida for up to two days, dumping up to 18 inches (46 cm) of water. “I’m really worried about the amount of rain we’ll be getting.”

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis urged residents to have at least a week’s worth of food, water and medicine in reserve.

“We’re thinking about Florida evacuations, but it’s a little bit too soon,” Trump told reporters before leaving for Camp David for the weekend. “We’ll probably make that determination on Sunday.”

But Fort Pierce Mayor Linda Hudson urged its 46,000 residents who planned to evacuate not to delay.

“It’s decision time now. Don’t wait until I-95 north and I-75 north and the turnpike are parking lots,” said Hudson, who experienced two devastating hurricanes in 2004.

UP to 2,000 National Guard troops will have been mobilized for the hurricane by Saturday, with 2,000 more joining them over the weekend. Florida officials also were making sure all nursing homes and assisted living facilities had generators.

Animal rights groups were mobilizing to help people evacuate pets.