A large percentage of SNPA's members were affected by historic Hurricane Irma. They managed to report the news amid power outages, flooding and dangerously high winds that struck most of Florida and parts of South Carolina and Georgia.

This was a storm that made landfall on the west coast of Florida but blasted the east coast. The eye moved through the center of the state. Initially, delivering a newspaper was difficult if not impossible, but websites could be updated constantly.

What follows are some of the newspapers' own stories.

Sun Coast Media Group, the parent company of Sun Newspapers, has announced a million dollar disaster relief program for local businesses. For any business closed due to storm damage beyond Monday, Sept. 18, Sun Coast Media Group is offering a "Get Back on Your Feet Program."

When Hurricanes Harvey and Irma carved their destructive paths across Texas and Florida within a week of each other, Cox Media Group's keen focus on preparedness and collaboration across markets and media platforms ensured that its audiences continued to count on CMG for the critical news and information they needed during the disasters. CMG had round-the-clock, emergency coverage in eight Texas and Florida markets – providing a vital link to communities during the critical window before, during and after these hurricanes.

The Victoria Advocate has covered the story of Hurricane Harvey and the storms that have followed while dealing with loss of power, no water and a displaced staff.

Members of Texas-based Southern Newspapers Inc. haven't missed a beat even though four of the 16 papers are directly involved in covering Tropical Storm Harvey and its historic flooding.

"We haven't missed any editions of our papers," SNI president Dolph Tillotson said Monday from his home in Galveston, Texas. We've printed them all either in Lake Jackson or in Galveston."

SNPA will post updates from (or about) SNPA members in the path of Hurricane Matthew at this link. Please share your news with us, by sending updates to cindy@snpa.org

Posted Saturday morning by The Island Packet (Hilton Head, S.C.):

Reporters Caitlin Turner, Erin Heffernan and Rebecca Lurye were just some of the newsroom staff that spent Friday embedded with area first responders. As Hurricane Matthew ravaged Florida and headed north, here's a look at how our emergency personnel prepared for the unknown. READ MORE

. . .

If your newspaper, information center or multimedia content operation is located on the eastern side of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina or North Carolina, then right now you should be figuring out what your staff knows about how to cover a hurricane.

Here are some suggestions from someone who has seen Gulf Coast storms first-hand.