“That just might be crazy enough to work” is the mantra of nearly 60,000 people hoping to dissuade Hurricane Irma from making landfall in Florida. A Facebook event, which started this week, aims to gather as many participants as possible in an effort to literally blow Irma back out to sea before it can do any real damage. How could that possibly be accomplished? With regular old fans.
The event, titled “Everybody Points Their Fans At The Hurricane To Blow It Away,” has gathered over 59,000 confirmed participants. “Everyone takes their fans outside and points them at Hurricane Irma to blow it away from us,” the event description reads. “Air compressors with a blow gun attachment also a plus, or anything else. Get creative. Date/time subject to change due to the unpredictable path it may take.”
It’s either an incredibly ambitious plan, or a foolhardy attempt to control Mother Nature, depending on your perspective, but the fact that the fan-blowers’ efforts are in vain isn’t stopping the massive hype train. Plenty of participants have posted photos to prove that they’re pitching in with their own fans, while others continue to urge more people to join in.
At the moment, Irma is headed for a strike on Florida, with Miami expected to be one of the most impacted cities. Widespread evacuations have already been in the works for some time, and will continue until the storm makes landfall sometime early Sunday morning. Videos showing the intensity of the storm from the inside are chilling, and if you’re in Irma’s path you have a number of options for tracking its progress. Stay safe.
