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Hurricane Michael and disasters lashing America

By Rhodesia Muhammad -Contributing Writer- | Last updated: Oct 17, 2018 - 3:17:12 PM

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No city left unscathed?
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Rescue personnel perform a search in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael in Mexico Beach, Fla., Oct. 11. Photo: AP

Researchers say there has been an increase in hurricane activity because climate change is making the oceans hotter, resulting in bigger hurricanes, more intense and longer-lasting hurricanes than in the past.

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A U.S. Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations UH-60 Black Hawk fl ight crew conducts search and rescue operations in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael that left a swath of destruction across the area near Panama City, Florida, October 11. The fl ight originated at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Florida. U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Photo: Glenn Fawcett/ dvidshub
However, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam has warned that it’s America’s climate that needs to change. His teacher, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, prophesied that God will use the forces of nature, rain, hail, snow and earthquakes as chastisement for America’s mistreatment of Black and Indigenous people. Minister Farrakhan has said repeatedly: watch the weather and that it will only intensify.

Unfortunately, residents of the Florida Panhandle, Georgia, the Carolinas, and Virginia are reeling from Hurricane Michael’s devastating impact. The category 4 storm made landfall at Mexico Beach, Fla., Oct. 10, in the afternoon.

Clean up had already began the next morning from Panama City through Mexico Beach.

More than a million people in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, the Carolinas, and Virgina, were without power and could be for weeks. The hurricane was the most powerful on record to hit the Panhandle, with winds reaching 155 mph, just shy of a category 5 hurricane. Storm surge was reported as high as 14 feet.

As of Oct. 14, the death toll had risen to 18.

One of the hardest hit areas was Mexico Beach and other communities along the Panhandle. Residents described certain areas as war zones.

“The damages to some neighborhoods looked like bombs had been dropped,” one resident along the Florida Panhandle reported.

 Hurricane Michael was so powerful it snapped boats in half and knocked over 30-ton freight rail cars.  The storm’s robust winds and high storm surge swept many of Mexico Beach beachfront homes off their foundation.

The debris and destruction was so severe, some residents were unable to find their streets. Officials are calling Mexico Beach, Fla., Ground Zero.

“Hurricane Michael was unprecedented in its intensity when it made landfall,” said Dr. Abdul Haleem Muhammad, city planner and Southwest student regional minister of the Nation of Islam based in Houston, Texas. “Unfortunately, I believe the impact is going to be that they’re literally going to have to close the city down, or I should say, they’re not going to rebuild those cities. They’re going to have to move inland because the insurance companies are not going to want to insure that type of risk in the coastal cities.”

“The devastation of 155 mph winds and over nine foot storm surge—no, the military and insurance companies won’t rebuild because they already know the effects of the climate change and these natural disasters,” Dr. Muhammad predicted. 

President Donald Trump declared a state of emergency ahead of Hurricane Michael on Oct. 9, which allowed the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA to coordinate disaster relief efforts.

“FEMA never really helped my uninsured clients,” said Tara Glover, a former community worker for a disaster relief organization. “FEMA is set up to provide supplemental help, that’s why they encourage you to get insured. But as we know, our people can’t afford insurance or else they would have it,” she continued. “It’s sad, there’s just not enough assistance for those who lose everything.”

Authorities in Florida were still assessing damage from Hurricane Michael, but government officials said early estimates indicate this will be the 12th weather disaster this year to top $1 billion in damages. 

According to forecasting service Corelogic, losses could top $4.5 billion, approximately $1.5 billion to $3 billion of that will be in residential losses, with another $500 million to $1 billion in commercial losses.

Some folks are still reeling from Hurricane Florence that made landfall outside of Wilmington, N.C., in early September. She became the first major Atlantic hurricane of 2018.  Her damages were estimated at well over $20 billion.

FEMA administrator Brock Long warned people not to go back to hard hit areas, specifically Bay County, Fla.

“There’s no infrastructure there to support you and quite honestly, it’s a dangerous area to go back into,” warned Mr. Long during an Oct. 12 press conference. Gas and powerlines are down and you can be putting your life in danger, he said.     

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad, patriarch of the Nation of Islam, said way back in the 1960s that the powerful United States could not win a war against natural disasters. “He said America will suffer from unusual rain, unusual snow, unusual earthquakes, cold and fires. He said, your cities will be underwater, your farmlands will be destroyed, fires burning the lands of California, and cities will be destroyed by tornadoes and hurricanes,” said Dr. Muhammad.

“That’s exactly what we’re experiencing,” said Lakesha Wright, a resident from Tampa, Fla. “Everything’s unusual. Tornadoes are touching down all year round. Hurricanes seems to head for Florida every hurricane season. We keep water stocked. We have our can goods, and survival tools, but what tools could I use to protect my family from a 13 foot storm surge,” she professed.

“I bear witness to what the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan has been professing all along—these natural disasters will increase in intensity, until the Black man and the Indians get justice,” said Dr. Muhammad.

“Allah will force America to come to the table,” he asserted, “and let his people go, so we can separate and that they may build a nation for God’s glory.”

“These natural disasters remind me of the last pages in the Honorable Elijah Muhammad’s book Fall of America,” said Nation of Islam Student Minister Patrick Muhammad in Miami.

“Everything the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan is doing and saying, Allah (God) is backing him. Although we were spared in Miami from Hurricane Michael, I remember calling Min. Farrakhan when Hurricane Irma was developing and it was headed straight for us. I called him for guidance because we were in a dangerous position and wasn’t sure what to do,” Patrick Muhammad recalled. “Minister Farrakhan told us to pray and literally at the last minute, the storm turned and spared us and hit the Key West.”

“We’re living in that time,” he added, “during the modern Moses and the modern Aaron and the seven plagues.”