On September 9th 2017, a cyclonic storm named Irma hit central and southern Florida, causing four million people to go without power for almost a week. When Irma was categorized as a level 5 hurricane, the governor of Florida, Rick Scott released this comment on the storm saying, “This storm will be nothing this state has ever seen.”  As the heavy and violent winds wiped out Florida along with affecting the surrounding states and islands, over thirty people died in the first week.

In order to create a catastrophic storm like Irma, it had formed near the equator in the temperate oceans waters. Then, water vapor from the warm ocean condensed to form clouds, and released  heat to the air. Next the warmed air rose, and then pulled into  column of clouds. Evaporation and condensation continued, building the columns higher and larger. Later a pattern developed, then wind circled around to the  center.  As the moving columns of air ran into more clouds, it became a cluster of thunderstorm clouds, called a tropical disturbance. Hurricane Irma  first hit the Caribbean, and then later hitting Cuba, Bahamas, Turks and Caicos leaving many devastated and several dead. 

After the hurricane first hit, nearly five thousand people were evacuated from the Bahamas, the Prime Minister Hubert Minnis said it was “the largest evacuation in the history of the country.”  For example one story by Lloyd Gumbs from the island of Anguilla claimed they had “prepared for the hurricane, but it wasn’t a normal hurricane”, also saying “it was a challenge”, and at one point they were “using candles at night” and charging their phones at gas stations, hoping for better days in the future.

Each and everyday people are praying for their family and friends in the affected areas of hurricane Irma, so to help there are many ways you can make contributions today. Some examples of donations are school sponsored events, if your school hosts a food or school supply drive look to see if they go to the kids in Florida. Another example is to give canned goods to your local salvation army, as they give meals, shelter and support to the affected people. Next suggestion is to visit a gofundme page where it is a whole webpage devoted to hurricane Irma relief including the victims of St. John and St. Maarten. Overall the devastating changes hurricane Irma did to many parts of the world should be brought to attention, as well as get as many donations to help rebuild all of the damaged areas throughout the next couple months.