Follow Ed and the Cat 5s
News, links and helpful information for our Key West neighbors
We’re collecting lots of handy links for now and after Hurricane Irma to help you access the latest news and recovery information. Bookmark the page. We’ll be updating it over the next week or more.
And, for those wondering where we are and how we’re doing? Stay tuned here. PS: The Cat 5s are our five cattens.
Follow Ed and the Cat 5s
Hurricane Irma: 9-23-17: Closing up shop. Saying Godspeed. Going home to the Cat 5s
On Tuesday, Sept. 5, frustrated with the lack of local news coverage of then-approaching Hurricane Irma, I figured, what the heck, I used to be a journalist and I love the possibilities of social media, so I could do it myself. Facebook makes social media...
Hurricane Irma: Meet John Teets without whom there would be trolls
By John Teets The man behind those personal messages and comments Hi, everybody. I’m John Teets. Linda Grist Cunningham has been Penn and I’ve been Teller since just after this thing started. I’ve stood quietly to the side doing folded-napkin tricks and...
Hurricane Irma: Our choices for best Keys charities
The temptation is to pack up supplies to send. Resist. Make a cash donation to a reputable, local charitable organization. Supplies, no matter how well intentioned, too often end in towering piles with no efficient way of distributing them. Cash is a far better...
Hurricane Irma: Our choices for best Keys news sources
As John Teets and I wind down our coverage of Hurricane Irma, we know many of our followers want to stay connected to the latest news and updates. We’ve gathered what we consider the best, most reliable and most credible sources, many of which we relied...
Hurricane Irma: 9-18-17: Please stay home for a couple three weeks
When your town's paychecks depend on tourists, second home owners and vacation rentals, it's downright discourteous to say "Y'all stay the heck out of here." For sure, no one that gets paid to promote tourism in the Keys is gonna put it that bluntly. I'll do it for...
Hurricane Irma: 9-17-17: Has it only been seven days?
For seven days we have shared the (cliche alert) roller coaster that began with believing Key West and the Keys might be spared the worst of Hurricane Irma as the predicted path of the Category 4 storm headed up the east coast of Florida. Wibble wobble back and forth...
Hurricane Irma | 9-16-17: This Key West homecoming ain’t some kind of “glamping”
Home! You can go home on Sunday. Though why in the world you would escapes me tonight. Monroe County officials told off-island folks today they could return to the Lower Keys, including Key West, Sunday morning. That "welcome home" is filled with so many caveats that...
Hurricane Irma: 9-15-17: Ready to come home to Key West? Maybe Sunday
What we know, what we don't and what we think we know We only know one thing tonight: The slog of restoring a sliver of normalcy to Key West after Hurricane Irma continues. Progress is astounding thanks to scores of men and women who do what most of us would never...
Hurricane Irma: 9-14-17: Cutting down trees, piling up brush, restoring Fort Zach
Fort Zachary Taylor State Park Fort Zachary Taylor State Park ranger Ed Cunningham went back to work today cutting brush, removing trees, piling debris and trying awfully hard to handle his grief over the devastation of the park. He told me tonight that "there are...
Hurricane Irma: Sept. 13-17: Key West clean-up. Tempers fray. Frustrations increase. Time for Cat 5 pictures
Internet trolls are like Key West iguanas. Not even Hurricane Irma kills 'em. You knew it was going to happen. After the adrenaline surge of that pounding storm; after we confirmed Key West was (sorta) OK; after we wore out our welcome with our evacuation partners;...