Rush Limbaugh spent the better part of this week calling out the news media for over-dramatizing hurricane forecasts to perpetuate climate-change conspiracies, but the conservative radio show host ended his week high-tailing out of Florida when forecasts started hitting a little too close to home.
Limbaugh announced on his show Thursday that he would be evacuating South Florida, where he lives and broadcasts from, and would be off the air for the next couple of days as he rides out Hurricane Irma in a presumably safer location.
“May as well announce this: I’m not going to get into details because of the security nature of things, but it turns out that we will not be able to do the program here tomorrow,” Limbaugh said. “We’ll be on the air next week, folks, from parts unknown.”
Rush Limbaugh announces he’s evacuating in clip below
His decision to evacuate comes just days after he ridiculed media coverage and storm prep of the Category 4-strength hurricane that has already claimed 23 lives and decimated homes and neighborhoods throughout the Caribbean as a conspiracy by the liberal media and local retailers.
In a Tuesday rant Limbaugh said, “Here comes a hurricane, local media goes on the air, ‘Big hurricane coming, oh my God! Make sure you got batteries. Make sure you got water. It could be the worst ever… People run to the stores, they stock up everything, and they hoard. And they end up with vacant stores, nothing there. And it’s a big success. TV stations got eyeballs, the advertising businesses have sold out of business, gotta restock and the cycle repeats.”
“All you need is to create the fear and panic accompanied by talk that climate change is causing hurricanes to become more frequent and bigger and more dangerous, and you create the panic, and it’s mission accomplished, agenda advanced,” Limbaugh continued.
Though Limbaugh told listeners, “I am not a meteorologist, and nothing I say today should be considered to be a forecast or a prediction,” his comments earned sharp criticism from The Washington Post and meteorologists like NBC’s Al Roker. By Thursday Limbaugh had changed his tune, calling Hurricane Irma “dire” and a “mammoth,” The Hill reported.
“It’s gonna affect Florida no matter where it goes. And the effects in Florida, depending on where, are gonna be damaging,” Limbaugh said on his radio show on Thursday.
