As Hurricane Irma pounds the Caribbean and heads toward Florida, some residents who decided to stay in the state are taking selfies next to giant waves despite officials’ pleas to evacuate.
https://youtu.be/3qkhiw0UD-A
One man in Key West decided to take a photo of a giant wave crashing over the barrier of the U.S.’s southernmost point but got wiped out by the wave he tried to capture, according to video footage from the U.S.’s southernmost webcam.
The video shows the man standing on top of the barrier to get a picture-perfect view of the crashing waves when one of them knocked him to the ground. The man got up and walked away as if the incident never took place.
The National Weather Service in Key West tweeted Sunday afternoon that the eye of the storm is near Naples, Florida, and the Florida Keys will experience 70-80 mph wind gusts and water levels surging 5-10 feet above normal:
Despite meteorologists’ predictions that Irma would be one of the most catastrophic hurricanes ever to make landfall in Florida, some Sunshine State residents are still going about their normal routines.
“Where am I going to go?” Miami Beach resident Kathleen Paca told the New York Post. “It’s not going to be that bad. I’m on the second floor and have impact windows. I’ve thrown coconuts at my windows, and they don’t break.”
Some people who chose to stay reasoned that driving north with no guarantee of gasoline and accommodations was a bigger risk than staying put and weathering out the storm.
“I have two choices, stay or run north, a bad idea,” said Michel Polette, 31, who lives near the ocean in South Beach. “If you drive to Atlanta or Tallahassee, you’re risking running out of gas and being in your car in a Category 4 hurricane.”
Florida Gov. Rick Scott announced that an estimated 76,000 people in the state are without power due to the hurricane.
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