Poorly Timed 'Pokémon GO' Alert During Hurricane Irma Has People Concerned

The eye of Hurricane Irma struck the west coast of Florida on Sunday, leaving more than 2.5 million homes without power, and parts of the city of Miami under water. Three deaths have been reported in Florida, with 28 people killed when the storm made its way through the Caribbean. 

Irma is expected to continue along the coast of Florida before heading inland towards Georgia. 

As you can imagine, social media has been abuzz with conversation about one of the most powerful storms in recent history. And Twitter user @ReturntheHunter took to social media to point out a notification he'd gotten on his phone from the Pokemon Go app. 

I hope he's ready to catch some water Pokemon. 

Seriously though, don't go outside!

The death toll for Hurricane Harvey currently stands at seventy, while Hurricane Irma is predicted to cause massive devastation in Florida. Irma has already slammed the Caribbean, reducing some areas to rubble. 

Hurricane Harvey moved into Texas as a Category 4 hurricane over the weekend, and has since been downgraded to a tropical storm. Despite being downgraded, Harvey is still the strongest storm to hit the United States since Charley in August 2004 and the most powerful to hit Texas since Hurricane Carla in 1961. 

The National Weather Service predicted that as much as 50 inches of rain has fallen in some areas. Perhaps the hardest hit area has been Houston, the most populous city in the state, with millions being affected by flash flooding.  

Joel Osteen, head of the Lakewood mega-church in Houston, Texas, also became the focus of the Internet's anger over the past several days. When Hurricane Harvey hit the coast, flooding huge swaths of land and leaving thousands without shelter, Osteen refused to open the doors of his 17,000-seat building.  

Osteen then began claiming the church was inaccessible due to flooding, despite pictures people quickly shared on Twitter showing the premises almost completely unharmed. In response to the intense public outcry, Osteen finally bowed to pressure and opened Lakewood to those in need. 

Former child-actor-turned-evangelist Kirk Cameron also became the target of Internet outrage. As he stood in an Orlando airport preparing to flee Hurricane Irma, Cameron had this to say:

This is a spectacular display of God’s immense power. And when he puts his power on display, it’s never without reason. There’s a purpose. And we may not always understand what that purpose is, but we know it’s not random. And we know that weather is sent to cause us to respond to God in humility, awe, and repentance. 

Remind them that God is the blessed controller of all things. He is the one who gives us peace, security and strength in the midst of the storm and that he uses this to point us to him and to his care for us.