Billy G. Howard
Matthew: A gift from God?
The biggest news of the year traveled through the impoverished country of Haiti last week killing, at last count, approaching 1,000 people. Hurricane Matthew then trounced Cuba and the Bahamas before making landfall in south Florida early in the week. With a still undetermined number of deaths before it ever reached the mainland, Matthew bears responsibility for eighteen fatalities in the U.S. with more than half those in the state of North Carolina. There were four deaths reported in Florida, the same number in Georgia, and another two in South Carolina.
Most of those who perished were as the result of falling trees and one case of an elderly resident at a nursing home in South Carolina who somehow became trapped beneath his motorized wheel chair. One Florida gentleman died after being blown from his roof while trying to complete repairs during the storm. Other fatalities were caused by carbon monoxide fumes from an emergency generator.
Though the reported deaths are regretful, countless lives were saved due to the quick actions of the respective local and state officials, coast guard units and first responders from each area. Thousands were reportedly rescued from fast rising flood waters that left people trapped atop cars, on rooftops and even in trees from where coast guard members had to pluck them to safety. Flooding became even more of a concern than the sixty to as fast as one hundred and ten mile per hour winds with rainfall totals measured in some places up to eighteen inches. Countless reports of toppled trees and downed power lines had tree surgeons, utility crews, and first responders hopping from south Florida all the way up the east cost into North Carolina and as much as 100 miles inland in some areas.
The Hebrew meaning of “Matthew” is interpreted as: a gift from God which would understandably prompt one to question what kind of charity could possibly be derived from a hurricane as destructive as what was just experienced by the southeastern part of the country. Firstly, one must understand that the projected path of the hurricane as originally forecast would have had the “cone” or eye travel directly up the eastern seaboard from Miami, FL as far north as Charleston, SC. I choose to believe it was the result of much prayer that had the hurricane shift about twenty to thirty miles farther east before West Palm Beach, FL. This seemingly insignificant “wobble” meant the difference in the fifty to seventy mile per hour winds Jacksonville and coastal Georgia experienced and sustained winds of a hundred and twenty miles per hour with gusts up to one hundred and forty miles per hour.
Meteorologists listed the damage would have been significantly worse had the hurricane continued on its originally forecasted path. One reporter stated had the coast taken a direct hit the resulting carnage is speculated to have mirrored the devastation of hurricane Andrew that occurred in 1992.
For the complete column pick up your copy of The Baxley News-Banner on newsstands today or CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE.
Though the reported deaths are regretful, countless lives were saved due to the quick actions of the respective local and state officials, coast guard units and first responders from each area. Thousands were reportedly rescued from fast rising flood waters that left people trapped atop cars, on rooftops and even in trees from where coast guard members had to pluck them to safety. Flooding became even more of a concern than the sixty to as fast as one hundred and ten mile per hour winds with rainfall totals measured in some places up to eighteen inches. Countless reports of toppled trees and downed power lines had tree surgeons, utility crews, and first responders hopping from south Florida all the way up the east cost into North Carolina and as much as 100 miles inland in some areas.
The Hebrew meaning of “Matthew” is interpreted as: a gift from God which would understandably prompt one to question what kind of charity could possibly be derived from a hurricane as destructive as what was just experienced by the southeastern part of the country. Firstly, one must understand that the projected path of the hurricane as originally forecast would have had the “cone” or eye travel directly up the eastern seaboard from Miami, FL as far north as Charleston, SC. I choose to believe it was the result of much prayer that had the hurricane shift about twenty to thirty miles farther east before West Palm Beach, FL. This seemingly insignificant “wobble” meant the difference in the fifty to seventy mile per hour winds Jacksonville and coastal Georgia experienced and sustained winds of a hundred and twenty miles per hour with gusts up to one hundred and forty miles per hour.
Meteorologists listed the damage would have been significantly worse had the hurricane continued on its originally forecasted path. One reporter stated had the coast taken a direct hit the resulting carnage is speculated to have mirrored the devastation of hurricane Andrew that occurred in 1992.
For the complete column pick up your copy of The Baxley News-Banner on newsstands today or CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE.
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