The second half of 2017 certainly included an abundance of natural disasters. In August, we watched Hurricane Harvey slam into Houston and flood that city as never before. Then in September, Hurricane Irma hit the Florida Keys, causing power outages and wind damage. It was rapidly followed by Hurricane Maria, which devastated Puerto Rico, causing damage that will take years for recovery. The effects of each of these will be long lasting and we will never know all of the hidden tragedies associated with this brutal weather. Soon after these storms hit the east side of the country, wild fires struck in Northern California. In October 2017, over 250 wildfires burned more than 245,000 acres (990 km~2) in California, causing more than $9 billion in insured property loss. This was followed in December with more fires, bringing the yearly total to an unbelievable 8,700+ fires burning over 1,350,000 acres. Literally hundreds of thousands of people were forced to evacuate their homes and many of those homes were subsequently destroyed by the fires. Again, lots of nameless tragedies, except in the October fires we had a tragedy that hit close to home for COA.
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