Eve Samples 🌊

Miami native. Executive director of @FoEverglades, founded by Marjory Stoneman Douglas in 1969. Former journalist still seeking truth. @UNC alum.

[Friends of the Everglades @FoEverglades]

⛑ We have a rare opportunity to Rescue the River of Grass. NOW is the time! Learn how you can join the movement at https://t.co/kuaO2GKsJa.

[Friends of the Everglades @FoEverglades]

The Everglades are on the brink.
The risks are real.
They're urgent.
This one-of-a-kind wilderness still can be saved — if we let science lead the way.
Grassroots donations power our science, legal action, education, advocacy. Join us on #GiveMiamiDay
https://t.co/TdHIlM0B39

[Eve Samples 🌊 @EveSamples]

@swamp_prof @chase_wilsey @IslandPress Snagging my copy now!

[Eve Samples 🌊 @EveSamples]

@FS_EKiller @TCPalm @AP @Gannett My god, this thread is wrenching.

[Ed Killer @FS_EKiller]

Just realized Bill Whitehead, longtime freelancer for @TCPalm @AP @Gannett and many other organizations, had his home destroyed by a tornado. Help if you can

[Friends of the Everglades @FoEverglades]

We oppose Amendment 2 because:

❌ There’s no need for this amendment to the Florida Constitution.
❌ The amendment is not based on science.
❌ It could have unintended consequences.
❌ It’s driven by special interests.
❌ It could threaten private property rights.

[Dylan Federico @DylanFedericoWX]

There is no immediate threat of another storm. Please don’t get your weather info from TikTok.

#TropicalUpdate 🌀

[Eve Samples 🌊 @EveSamples]

I’ve been through many hurricanes, and the tropical tornadoes spawned by Milton were scary and deadly. People in our community lost their homes, some lost their lives. We can’t keep paving over every patch of green space if we want a future in Florida. And I still do. 3/3

[Eve Samples 🌊 @EveSamples]

Shutters down. Yard tidied. Cats recalibrating. Hurricane Milton took the humidity when he rolled out, leaving us with a beautiful, first-tease-of-fall evening. How can one state be so enchanting and so destructive in a 24-hour period? That’s the story of Florida, I guess. 1/3

[Eve Samples 🌊 @EveSamples]

It’s why people keep moving to an eroding peninsula where the allure relies upon living in harm’s way. Milton felt different, though, and we have more dangerous climate changes coming. 2/3

[Eve Samples 🌊 @EveSamples]

@MaxChesnes @IanJHodgson Well-deserved break. Take good care of yourself, @MaxChesnes

[Eve Samples 🌊 @EveSamples]

And yet the hardworking journalists at the @TB_Times soldier on, covering this storm with integrity and compassion. Thank you @MaxChesnes and many others.

[Ian Hodgson @IanJHodgson]

First light is revealing just how extensive the damage is to the Tampa Bay Times office. Sections of the crane stretch across 1st Ave S. The top quarter of the building is shattered. #milton

[Max Chesnes @MaxChesnes]

Speechless. We are at the entrance to our Tampa Bay Times office in downtown St. Petersburg.

A crane is blocking the road, and several stories up, smoke billows out of the building from where it appears the crane fell

Smell of gas in the air and you can hear alarms #MILTON

[Dave Moore @DaveMoore_83]

The view from our window as we ride out the storm. The roof of Tropicana Field is destroyed by the winds of #HurricaneMilton. Praying for Tampa Bay and all areas affected. Stay safe, everyone

[Jeff VanderMeer @jeffvandermeer]

Florida politicians have failed us while dismantling regulation and pandering to developers. This has made all of us less safe. You simply CANNOT build in parts of Florida without severe repercussions, but the legislature and developers have done so anyway.

[Max Chesnes @MaxChesnes]

Lives were lost on this barrier island just 12 days ago from Hurricane Helene’s storm surge

The fact that this beautiful community is now preparing for another hurricane, so soon, is truly heartbreaking

[Max Chesnes @MaxChesnes]

Yesterday, @noaaocean crews flew over Tampa Bay to document damage from #Helene

I've compiled a few before-and-afters from across the region, starting with Sunset Beach 1/
https://t.co/32mNZe5yr1

[Eve Samples 🌊 @EveSamples]

In case there was any doubt:

"As surrounding seas rise, the pressure will also raise groundwater under the Everglades and the rest of South Florida and the natural gravity-driven flow of drainage to the coasts will slow."
https://t.co/cguo86uI0A

[Cory Vaillancourt @The_CoryV]

Was finally able to find Canton Mayor @ZebSmathers just now, and he has some choice words for cell phone service providers — the lack of cell service during #helene and even as we speak has been appalling.

Smathers told me:

"The number one issue that I'm dealing with is the lack of cellular service. It started with Verizon. It seems to go to many [providers]. I have not been able to communicate with our emergency services directly from my cell phone since approximately 9 a.m. yesterday morning until today. The idea that not just us here in Canton — Haywood County and across Western North Carolina — we cannot communicate to our citizens and our emergency management is absolutely disgraceful.

I have yet to hear any good reason. I understand that there have been several issues — power, water. We understand those issues, but the idea that our cellular network and the people that run those networks did not prepare for this storm or do what is necessary or have resources on the ground for us to be able to communicate with emergency management, the idea that anybody out there — though I hope it’s not true — had the ability to rescue someone and tell their loved ones to get out, and they couldn't because their cell phone signal when we needed our communication network the most has at best let us down and at worst put people's lives at risk.

I want answers and I will not rest. I will be talking with Congressman [Chuck] Edwards. This is above my pay grade as a mayor, but the people of Western North Carolina need to know why this happened. We know there's going to be other issues and storms and natural disasters. I mean, we’re facing a storm, the worst we've ever had, and we we’re facing it with technology from the 1990s.

I was able to speak with Governor Cooper and Attorney General Stein about this issue, and brought it to their attention very early yesterday with one of the few phone calls I was able to get out. If you cannot communicate, it affects your ability to respond to every single issue. And it's absolutely disgraceful."

#WNC #WNXwx

[Eve Samples 🌊 @EveSamples]

@jeffvandermeer Stay safe, Jeff. Glad to hear you got out of dodge.