The US National Hurricane Centre said on Friday that Hurricane Ian still poses a threat to lives along the coast of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina, and urged residents to follow local advice.
Ian, which slammed into Florida's coastline on Wednesday, could cause a 500-year flooding event, the state's governor said on Thursday.
As Ian swept northwards, some of the thousands of live webcams that usually show the daily goings-on in towns and cities brought the unfolding chaos to an online audience.
Some cameras cut out when the severity of the hurricane, which was downgraded to a tropical storm on Thursday morning, became too much. At least one person has been killed.
“We’ve never seen storm surge of this magnitude,” Florida governor Ron DeSantis said.
“The amount of water that’s been rising, and will likely continue to rise today even as the storm is passing, is basically a 500-year flooding event.”
Cassandra Woodson, a home maker from Atlanta, Georgia, shared a Google Map resource showing more than 2,800 livestreaming webcams, a number of which showed the unfolding danger.
“I started the map because I would watch live storm coverage during severe weather outbreaks and I was just curious about what it looked like in those places in real-time,” Ms Woodson, 32, told The National.
After starting in March, she shared the map on social media site Reddit, and received a good reception, so has continued adding public cameras she finds.
“I’m still to this day adding more cameras. Today, I’ve added 15 cameras in the Savannah and Charleston area because they are expecting Hurricane Ian to make a second landfall around there,” she said.
Ft Myers, Florida webcam
Fortt Myers was hit worst of all by the hurricane. Authorities say they are struggling to reach stranded people amid thousands of 911 calls. Many roads and bridges in the area are impassable due to flooding.
Emergency crews cut through fallen trees to unblock roads, but some people have been unable to even call for help due to electric and phone lines being down.
Officials said 23 people are missing after a boat carrying migrants capsized and sank off the coast of Stock Island, Florida.
Ms Woodson continued to post footage captured from the various webcams on her map to Twitter. One of those videos attracted more than one million views.
“With Hurricane Ian, the view that some of these live cameras had were just incredible and very unique,” she said.
“No storm chaser or news folks could get these shots themselves and so it just lent to getting some very intense video without being in harm's way.”
City of Sanibel webcam
A chunk of the Sanibel Causeway fell into the sea, cutting off access to the barrier island where 6,300 people normally
live. It was unknown how many had heeded orders to evacuate, but Charlotte County emergency management director, Patrick Fuller, expressed cautious optimism that worst-case scenarios might not have been realised.
The island's webcams captured the streets filling with water over a 30-minute period. Many are still running as the storm batters the area.
South of Sanibel Island, the historic beachfront pier in Naples was destroyed, with even the pilings underneath torn out, as towering waves crashed over the structure.
“Right now, there is no pier,” said Penny Taylor, a Collier County commissioner.
I-75 motorway webcam
Motorways also bore the brunt of the storm. A webcam on the I-75 captured winds buffeting the road.
Ian struck Florida as a monstrous Category 4 storm, with 241 kilometre an hour winds — the joint fifth-strongest hurricane to hit the US.
St Augustine webcam
Ms Woodson says she believes the cameras democratise viewing on big events, which is why she made her Google Map resource.
“I enjoy seeing things through the lens of a live camera without anything else attached and I believe others are probably the same way,” she said.
“So, if it’s weather, natural disasters or anything else for that matter, it’s nice to see these things live as they are happening, within the comfort of your own home.
“I want anyone who has an interest in seeing weather as it is happening to be able to do so.”
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
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Profile of Tarabut Gateway
Founder: Abdulla Almoayed
Based: UAE
Founded: 2017
Number of employees: 35
Sector: FinTech
Raised: $13 million
Backers: Berlin-based venture capital company Target Global, Kingsway, CE Ventures, Entrée Capital, Zamil Investment Group, Global Ventures, Almoayed Technologies and Mad’a Investment.
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Takreem Awards winners 2021
Corporate Leadership: Carl Bistany (Lebanon)
Cultural Excellence: Hoor Al Qasimi (UAE)
Environmental Development and Sustainability: Bkerzay (Lebanon)
Environmental Development and Sustainability: Raya Ani (Iraq)
Humanitarian and Civic Services: Women’s Programs Association (Lebanon)
Humanitarian and Civic Services: Osamah Al Thini (Libya)
Excellence in Education: World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) (Qatar)
Outstanding Arab Woman: Balghis Badri (Sudan)
Scientific and Technological Achievement: Mohamed Slim Alouini (KSA)
Young Entrepreneur: Omar Itani (Lebanon)
Lifetime Achievement: Suad Al Amiry (Palestine)
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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FIXTURES
All kick-off times 10.45pm UAE ( 4 GMT)
Tuesday
Mairobr v Liverpool
Spartak Moscow v Sevilla
Feyenoord v Shakhtar Donetsk
Manchester City v Napoli
Monaco v Besiktas
RB Leipzig v Porto
Apoel Nicosia v Borussia Dortmund
Real Madrid v Tottenham Hotspur
Wednesday
Benfica v Manchester United
CSKA Moscow v Basel
Bayern Munich v Celtic
Anderlecht v Paris Saint-Germain
Qarabag v Atletico Madrid
Chelsea v Roma
Barcelona v Olympiakos
Juventus v Sporting Lisbon
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
WOMAN AND CHILD
Director: Saeed Roustaee
Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi
Rating: 4/5
Countdown to Zero exhibition will show how disease can be beaten
Countdown to Zero: Defeating Disease, an international multimedia exhibition created by the American Museum of National History in collaboration with The Carter Center, will open in Abu Dhabi a month before Reaching the Last Mile.
Opening on October 15 and running until November 15, the free exhibition opens at The Galleria mall on Al Maryah Island, and has already been seen at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta, the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
The biog
Name: Dhabia Khalifa AlQubaisi
Age: 23
How she spends spare time: Playing with cats at the clinic and feeding them
Inspiration: My father. He’s a hard working man who has been through a lot to provide us with everything we need
Favourite book: Attitude, emotions and the psychology of cats by Dr Nicholes Dodman
Favourit film: 101 Dalmatians - it remind me of my childhood and began my love of dogs
Word of advice: By being patient, good things will come and by staying positive you’ll have the will to continue to love what you're doing
The more serious side of specialty coffee
While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.
The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.
Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”
One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.
Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms.
