FOREIGN
Hurricane Michael leaves ‘unimaginable destruction’
By Innocent Onoja with Agency Report.
Hurricane Michael left “unimaginable destruction” as it ploughed into coastal areas of Florida, the state’s governor, Rick Scott says.
“So many lives have been changed forever,” he said. “So many families have lost everything.”
The worst hit areas of Florida’s northwest coast saw houses ripped from their foundations, trees felled, and power lines strewn across streets.
Hurricane Michael struck on Wednesday with winds of 155mph (250km/h).
It weakened to a storm as it moved inland towards the north-east, but at least six people have died, most of them in Florida.
More than 370,000 people in Florida were ordered to evacuate but officials believe many ignored the warning.
Governor Scott said the US Coast Guard carried out 10 missions overnight, saving at least 27 people.
Michael ploughed into Florida’s Panhandle coast near the town of Mexico Beach at 14:00 (18:00 GMT) on Wednesday, one of the strongest storms to ever hit the US mainland.
Ranked four on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale and with a storm surge of 9ft (2.7m), it lifted homes from their foundations and heavily damaged others in districts closest to the sea in Mexico Beach, CNN helicopter footage showed.
Twenty survivors were found in the town overnight, AP reports, but 285 had refused to obey warnings to evacuate.
Head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Brock Long, called Mexico Beach “ground zero” due to the damage.
Trees were downed in Panama City, northwest of Mexico Beach, buildings flattened, boats and electrical cables scattered.
Apalachicola, with 2,300 residents, was also badly affected, the mayor reporting that downed cables were making it difficult to get through the town.
Debris and floodwater are also making some of the worst-hit areas difficult to reach.
Governor Scott urged residents not to return until the authorities “make sure things are safe”, given the danger from power lines and other debris.
Six deaths have been confirmed – four in Florida, one in Georgia and one in North Carolina.
Florida officials say one man died when he was crushed in an incident involving a tree in Gadsden County.
In Seminole County, Georgia, a metal car-shelter lifted by a gust of wind hit a mobile home, killing a girl of 11.
Fyre Festival: Founder Billy McFarland jailed for six years
The founder of the ill-fated Fyre Festival – called a “complete disaster” by fans – has been jailed for six years by a US judge.
Billy McFarland, 26, pleaded guilty to fraud earlier this year.
A judge on Thursday described him as “a serial fraudster” who had been dishonest for “most of his life.”
Partygoers were promised a luxury event in the Bahamas but instead were stranded on an island without enough food, water or accommodation.
The event in April 2017 was eventually cancelled and hundreds of people evacuated.
Tickets had cost between $1,200 and $100,000 (£900 and £75,000).
“Today, McFarland found out the hard way that empty promises don’t lead to jet-setting, champagne and extravagant parties – they lead to federal prison,” said US Attorney for Manhattan, Geoffrey Berman.
Addressing the court on Thursday, McFarland said he knew he had “betrayed the trust of my investors, my customers, my family.”
He said the sentencing was an “extremely bitter reality.”
McFarland pleaded guilty in March to two counts of wire fraud related to the festival, but then in July admitted two more counts of fraud relating to another ticket-selling scam that he had set up while on bail.
In October, prosecutors requested that McFarland serve between 11 and 14 years in prison, describing him as “the consummate con artist.”
Sentencing on Thursday, Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald said McFarland was “unique in this court’s memory”.
“The defendant is a serial fraudster and to date his fraud, like a circle, has no end,” she told the court in Manhattan. “Mr. McFarland has been dishonest most of his life.”
Fyre Festival was billed as a “cultural moment created from a blend of music, art and food” in the Bahamas.
Tickets included a flight from Miami; a stay in a “geodesic dome” and activities including yoga and kayaking.
It had initially been advertised with an Instagram video featuring famous models sailing on a luxury yacht and top music acts such as Blink-182 were on the bill.
But festival-goers posted videos and photos online of the “mass chaos” and “a compete disaster”.
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