Florida

One could be forgiven for believing that, with all this talk of the coming “climate catastrophe,” Americans would be scrambling to flee Hurricane-prone states like Texas and Florida. The reality is just the opposite: Thanks to their low cost of living, and minimal taxes, Florida and Texas are among the states in the US where populations are rising via interstate migration. Contrast that with Connecticut, which is far less vulnerable to hurricanes, and where the population drain has accelerated dramatically in recent years.

The National Hurricane Center downgraded Irma to a Tropical Depression late Monday night, but even in its weakened state, the storm continues to cause deadly storm surges and volatile winds as it travels through Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina, flooding downtown Charleston, South Carolina and uprooting trees in Atlanta, according to CNN.

Meanwhile, authorities have confirmed 11 deaths from the storm.

Authored by James Howard Kunstler via Kunstler.com,

Authored by Aaron Nelson via TheAntiMedia.org,

Residents of South Florida woke up yesterday morning to Hurricane Irma making landfall at 9:10 a.m. in the Florida Keys as a monster Category 4 storm with maximum sustained winds of 130 mph.

The monster storm made a second landfall later at 3:35 p.m. near Marco Island as it continued traveling north along Florida’s Gulf Coast. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) expects Irma to continue overnight into Monday before finally losing hurricane strength status.

After tumbling last week on concerns that between damage from Harvey and Irma, losses for the P&C space would be devastating, today the broader insurer space is breathing a sigh of relief after the Hurricane's damage reportedly underwhelmed, especially following some especially dire observations over the weekend from the likes of Torsten Jeworrek, member of the board of the German reinsurance giant Munich Re, who on Sunday said that Hurricane Irma is proving to be a “major event” for Florida and the insurance industry.