Interpreter Mostly Signed Nonsense During Irma Briefing

As Hurricane Irma was advancing on Florida, this was the message deaf residents of Manatee County received regarding a mandatory evacuation: "Help you at that time to use bear big." Jason Hurdich, a Clemson University professor and expert in American Sign Language, tells the Bradenton Herald he couldn't understand 95% of what a deaf interpreter was signing during the Sept. 8 briefing from the Manatee County Emergency Operations Center. 

County officials tell WPTV they were "in a pinch" to find a qualified professional interpreter for the briefing, so they asked an employee. AL.com reports interpretation duties fell to county lifeguard Marshall Greene, whose brother is deaf.

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