Hurricane Sandy draws near the eastern seaboard

Lunchboxxy · Oct 29, 2012

With Sandy quickly approaching, pictures from the north east are already concerning. This is definitely a much larger threat than Irene was.

Battery Park, Manhattan

Freeport, New York

Margate, NJ

116,000 people are already out of power. I think Governor Christy put it best, "Don't be stupid. Get out!"

(CNN) -- Tens of millions of people braced Monday for howling winds, torrential downpours and storm surges that authorities warned could bring devastation unlike anything they've seen.

Hurricane Sandy could affect as many as 60 million people.

"This is the most catastrophic event that we have faced and been able to plan for in any of our lifetimes," Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy said.

An expected storm surge at midnight could raise water levels to 11 feet above normal high tide, bringing "the potential to cause unprecedented damage."

As of Monday afternoon, 116,000 customers were without power in seven states.

Obama hurricane warning: 'Please listen' ISS flies over Hurricane Sandy See damage inside cruise ship from Sandy Fugate: People need to be safe

Officials across the Eastern Seaboard had implored residents over the weekend to evacuate, emphasizing that authorities could be endangered if they tried to save them. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie put it bluntly: "Don't be stupid. Get out!"

Hundreds of thousands of people have abandoned their homes. New York City landmarks are eerily empty. The nation's capital is emptied of government workers.

Forecasters said Sandy was likely to collide with a cold front and spawn a "superstorm" that could generate flash floods, snowstorms and massive power outages from North Carolina to Maine.

The National Grid, which provides power to millions of customers, said 60 million people could be affected.
"It could be bad," said U.S. Coast Guard Rear Adm. Steven Rattior, "or it could be devastation."

The predicted impact extends beyond the East Coast. Wave heights in Lake Michigan could reach 28 feet Monday night and 31 feet by Tuesday, the National Weather Service said.

Eight days before Election Day with both candidates locked in a tight race, President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney canceled or changed planned campaign events because of the storm.

Obama returned to Washington on Monday from Florida and went directly to a White House Situation Room briefing on the storm. He then told reporters that he was confident that assets had been positioned for an effective response to the aftermath of the storm.
He, too, urged those in the path of the storm to heed warnings and other instructions.

"The most important message I have for the public right now is please listen to what your state and local officials are saying," Obama said. "When they tell you to evacuate, you need to evacuate."
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http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/29/us/tropical-weather-sandy/index.html

waltky · Oct 30, 2012

Sandy and the U.S. Military...

Military prepares for Sandy impact
October 29th, 2012 - The U.S. military is preparing to help with response to Hurricane Sandy and working to protect its own equipment.

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta was "monitoring" the storm from the Pentagon on Monday, according to a tweet from his press secretary George Little. Over the weekend, Panetta appointed "dual status" commanders, according to the Department of Defense website. The commanders are authorized to command both federal and state National Guard forces. "This special authority enables them to effectively integrate the defense support operations and capabilities that Governors request. The Secretary is prepared to quickly agree to similar requests from other States," according to a press release about the decision.

The decision was made by Panetta at the request of governor from Maryland, New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Rhode Island Over the weekend, the National Guard had approximately 1,500 forces on active duty in New York, Massachussets, Virginia, Delaware, Connecticut and Maryland. The troops are assisting local first responders and the Federal Emergency Management Agency with route clearance, search and rescue, equipment and supplies delivery and evacuations.

U.S. Northern Command has put helicopters, planes, and rescue teams on alert to be ready to deploy as needed. In addition to aiding in response, the military has been moving aircraft and ships to avoid damage during the storm. Bases in New York, New Jersey and Delaware have all moved aircraft, according to the Department of Defense. The Navy has also moved vessels including the USS Wasp, USS Taylor USNS Kanawa, USNS Medgar Evers and the USS Ross.

http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/29/military-prepares-for-sandy-impact/
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Standing guard through Hurricane Sandy at the Tomb of the Unknowns
October 29th, 2012 - The Army's Old Guard continues their duty as sentinals at the Tomb of the Unknowns even as Hurricane Sandy looms closer to Arlington National Cemetery.

The tomb has been guarded continuously since 1937. Service in the 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) is considered to be an assignment of the highest honor for soldiers. Their dedication to the duty is so strong that when Hurricane Isabel approached, the soldiers were ordered to seek safety. It was an order they disobeyed, and the Tomb was guarded throughout the storm.

CNN requested an opportunity to visit the tomb today to videotape the soldiers carrying out their duty. We were told that because of the weather, the cemetery was closed to visitors and that the members of the guard have switched to camouflage uniforms. The Army does not want them photographed or videotaped wearing anything other than their traditional dress uniforms.

FULL http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2012/...urricane-sandy-at-tomb-of-the-unkown-soldier/
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waltky · Oct 30, 2012

Might take from 2-3 weeks to have power restored in some places...

More than 11 Million Could Lose Power from Sandy
October 29, 2012 - More than 11 million people along the Eastern Seaboard could lose power before Hurricane Sandy is over, according to a Johns Hopkins University engineering professor, who based his prediction on a computer model that he developed based on both current forecasts and data from outages in 11 past hurricanes.

Engineer Seth Guikema says hardest hit will be Pennsylvania, with nearly 4 million people losing power during Sandy. New Jersey will follow, with 3.4 million people predicted to lose power, and Maryland will be right behind with 2 million people predicted to lose power.

Washington, D.C., Delaware and Northern Virginia will have fewer outages, with under a million people combined predicted to experience outages.

Guikema and his team of researchers are using the official National Hurricane Center track and intensity forecast as well as historical data. The computer model is based on expected gust wind speed, expected duration of strong winds greater than 20 meters per second, and population density.

It is possible that 11 million people is a conservative estimate, Guikema said in a news release.

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/more-11-million-could-lose-power-sandy
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waltky · Nov 1, 2012

Looks like they called this one right...

Sandy Could Be Catastrophic
Oct 29, 2012 | Hurricane Sandy bore down on the Eastern Seaboard's largest cities Monday, forcing the shutdown of mass transit, schools and financial markets, sending coastal residents fleeing, and threatening a dangerous mix of high winds, soaking rain and a surging wall of water up to 11 feet tall.

The massive storm's impact on some 50 million residents was fueling both apprehension and urgency. Sandy strengthened before dawn and stayed on a predicted path toward Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York - putting it on a collision course with two other weather systems that would create a superstorm with the potential for havoc over 800 miles from the East Coast to the Great Lakes. About 2 to 3 feet of snow were even forecast for mountainous parts of West Virginia.

The center of the storm was positioned to come ashore Monday night in New Jersey, meaning the worst of the surge could be in the northern part of that state and in New York City and on Long Island. Higher tides brought by a full moon compounded the threat to the metropolitan area of about 20 million people. "This is the worst-case scenario," said Louis Uccellini, environmental prediction chief for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Early Monday the Coast Guard was responding to a distressed vessel with 17 people aboard approximately 90 miles southeast of Hatteras N.C., Monday. Responsible for at least 66 deaths in Cuba, Haiti and the Bahamas, Sandy - with a 520-mile diameter - is one of the largest ever potential storms to hit the U.S. according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The storm was churning north Monday morning at 14 mph, still about 280 miles east of North Carolina's coast at 2 a.m. ET. It began its turn towards the north after midnight, driving towards coastal areas after battering popular tourist spots with heavy winds and rains.

The storm is expected to bring 50 to 75 mph winds, up to 10 inches of rain and potential snowfall of up to two feet over 14 states beginning late Monday afternoon or early evening, when its expected to hit land somewhere between Delaware and New York's Long Island. Craig Fugate, administrator for the federal Emergency Management Agency, said Monday the agency has stationed teams from North Carolina to Maine and in states as far inland as West Virginia. "We've been moving generators, basic supplies, we would need after the storm," he said. Fugate said he was worried about people evacuating ahead of storm surges. First there will be the coastal impact, then the wind knocking out power and then heavy rain and flash flooding, he said, adding "we don't want people to thin it's not that bad when it comes ashore."

More http://www.13wmaz.com/news/topstories/article/201984/175/Sandy-Could-Be-Catastrophic
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The Science Behind Hurricane Sandy: Climate Change or Freak Storm?
October 28, 2012 | Update: Read our report on three ways climate change exacerbated the superstorm here, featuring an interview with Texas Tech climate scientists Katharine Hayhoe.

As Hurricane Sandy cuts a path of destruction through the eastern states, many are wondering about the science behind this Frankenstorm and whether it has any clear connection to global climate change. In a piece titled Frankenstorm: Has Climate Change Created a Monster?, NPRs Adam Frank notes that 2012 has been a banner year for weather anomalies: droughts, fires, floods, and extreme temperatures. But while some of those events can be tied to climate change, others cannot. There is a hierarchy of weather events which scientists feel they understand well enough for establishing climate change links, Frank writes. Global temperature rises and extreme heat rank high on that list, but Hurricanes rank low. That being said, Frank write that warmer ocean temperatures do lead to more evaporation, and that likely leads to storms with more and more dangerous rainfall of the kind we saw with Hurricane Irene last year.

In situations like Sandy, climate scientists will often use an analogy: climate change is like putting expected extreme weather events on steroids. These scientists say that while its difficult to immediately attribute specific events to climate change (though not impossible, according to Frank), it is possible to say that many of these events are made worse by it. Like the slugger thats more apt to hit a home run out of the park while doping, but can still get one into the stands while clean, scientists say the changes that humans have inflicted on the climate are making extreme weather events more frequent and more intense. Overloading the atmosphere with carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels is heating the planet, shrinking the Arctic ice cap, melting glaciers and raising sea levels, Michael Mann, a leading climate scientist, has written. It is leading to more widespread drought, more frequent heat waves and more powerful hurricanes. The way to think about it isnt in terms of specific events, that this particular wildfire or this particular heat wave, was caused by climate change, Mann told StateImpact Texas in an interview earlier this month. But to look at whats unfolding collectively.

Climate change, Mann says, boils down to taking bad weather, and then increasing the odds. Think of these individual weather events as the random rolls of a die, of a six-sided die, Mann said. What we are doing with climate change is we are loading those dice. Mann noted that over the last decade, the U.S. has seen all-time heat records broken at twice the rate you would expect from chance alone. And its getting worse. Over the past year, weve seen those records broken at ten times of the rate you would expect from chance alone, Mann told us. Thats like sixes coming up ten times as often as you would expect.

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waltky · Nov 1, 2012

Granny says, "Dat's the American spirit...

Air bridge brings help from California to Sandy victims
November 1st, 2012 - Seventeen of the biggest Air Force cargo jets are forming an air bridge from Southern California to the New York City region to carry electric repair crews and their equipment to assist Hurricane Sandy recovery efforts.

The 69 vehicles on the flights belong to Southern California Edison. The trucks and the power crews are being flown Thursday to New York’s Stewart Air National Guard Base on five C-5 Galaxys and 12 C-17 Globemaster jets, according Air Force news release. The first jet is scheduled to land at Stewart about 4 p.m.

The equipment will be used to help restore power to customers in New York state and New Jersey. Those areas have already been getting help from power companies closer to New York, but using the cargo jets means the trucks can get to the heart of the storm-ravaged region in a matter of hours instead of days.

"There's been a lot of mutual aid to bring in more utility crews from surrounding areas as far south and west as California, those crews that can drive in that can get in relatively fast, have driven in," FEMA Director Craig Fugate said Thursday. "But we still have some equipment teams on the west coast that the concern was still 3-5 days transit time to get them to the east coast. There was also concern with their fire season, that if they couldn't get back to their fire season once that gets going, then they wouldn't be able to send the resources. So the President directed that we bring to bear DOD resources, aircraft."

Source
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Military helps pump water, restore power
October 31st, 2012 - The U.S. military is continuing to provide support in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, focusing particularly on pumping water out of flooded areas and restoring power.

In New York, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is working to deploy 100 high-volume water pumps, supplementing 100 units provided by the Defense Department. More than 200 power generators have been set up in New York and New Jersey. They will be deployed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency as needed. According to the Pentagon, approximately 10,000 National Guard forces have been activated to support these states: Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia and West Virginia.

Guard forces are assisting with search and rescue missions, debris removal, transportation and providing communication. And in West Virginia, which has been hit with a heavy snowfall, the National Guard is patrolling Interstate 68 for stranded motorists and assisting the power company with generators. The Defense Department's Transportation Command has airlifted approximately 120 medical personnel to New York City to assist with care in nursing homes and at-risk elderly patients.

The Defense Logistics Agency is providing fuel and fuel transportation. The U.S. Navy moved three ships toward New York and New Jersey in case the storm-struck states ask for help, officials said on Wednesday. Navy spokesman Lt. Commander Chris Servello said there has been no official request for assistance from the amphibious landing ships that can launch helicopters, make fresh water and haul critical supplies and other aid.

http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/31/military-helps-pump-water-restore-power/
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waltky · Jan 15, 2013

Pork gonna kill superstorm Sandy aid bill?...

Watchdog sees pork in Sandy relief bill
Monday, January 14, 2013 - Christie fights for $51B in aid

As Congress takes up the second slice of relief money for Superstorm Sandy, the influential Club for Growth said Monday it will seek to punish the lawmakers who support the $51 billion package because it includes wasteful spending and pork that have nothing to do with reconstruction efforts in the Northeast.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, meanwhile, continued to ramp up pressure on Congress to pass the relief package, saying that the proposal before Congress simply isnt a pork bill, and that he has been assured that the GOP-controlled House will handle the Sandy relief legislation in a similar fashion to how Congress handled federal assistance for victims of Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Coast, the tornado that slammed Joplin, Mo., and floods in Iowa. We dont expect anything more than that, but will not accept anything less, Mr. Christie said, after touring recovery efforts in Bradley Beach, N.J. If they want to make new rules about disasters, well they picked the wrong state to make the new rules with, and we are going to continue to fight as hard as we need to.

The dueling messages underscore the divisions within Republicans ranks over the relief package a $17 billion bill and $34 billion amendment - that the House is expected to vote on this week. Earlier this month, Congress approved a $9 billion relief package to fund the Federal Emergency Management Agencys flood insurance program. But Mr. Christie, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, and other elected leaders from the Northeast and both sides of the political aisle have been waiting on Congress to approve more emergency funding and harshly criticized the delay.

The funding was expected to be voted on two weeks ago, but House Speaker John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican, changed gears and pulled a proposal after Republican lawmakers raised questions about some of the spending that was unrelated to the relief efforts. Still, the Club for Growth and other budget watchdogs, such as Taxpayers for Common Sense, say the $51 billion package that Congress is expected to consider this week also includes millions of dollars for Amtrak upgrades, FBI salaries and road projects in states not affected by the storm. As a result, there are some questions about whether there is enough Republican support in the House to approve the new spending.

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jan/14/watchdog-sees-pork-sandy-relief-bill/#ixzz2I5vWVg3Z
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Conservatives chip away at $50b Sandy aid package
January 14, 2013 WASHINGTON (AP) House conservatives opposed to more deficit spending tried Monday to chip away at the $50.7 billion Superstorm Sandy aid package by requiring offsetting spending cuts to pay for recovery efforts and by stripping money for projects they say are unrelated to the Oct. 29 storm or not urgently needed.

The push by budget hawks for amendments sets up a fight with Northeast lawmakers in both parties eager to provide recovery aid for one of the worst storms ever to strike the region as the House moves toward expected votes Tuesday on the emergency spending package. The base $17 billion bill by the House Appropriations Committee is aimed at immediate Sandy recovery needs, including $5.4 billion for New York and New Jersey transit systems and $5.4 billion for Federal Emergency Management Agency's disaster relief aid fund.

Northeast lawmakers will have a chance to add to that bill with an amendment by Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-N.J., for an additional $33.7 billion, including $10.9 billion for public transportation projects. The Club for Growth, a conservative group, on Monday urged lawmakers to oppose both Sandy aid measures. "Congress shouldn't keep passing massive 'emergency' relief bills that aren't paid for, have little oversight, and are stuffed with pork," the club said in a statement.

Sandy aid supporters, nonetheless, voiced confidence Monday they would prevail. The Senate passed a $60.4 billion Sandy aid package in December with bipartisan support. "We have more than enough votes, I'm confident of that," said Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., claiming a base of strong support from Democrats as well as Republicans from the Northeast and other states for both the base $17 billion bill and the amendment for the additional $33.7 billion.

The House Rules Committee Monday night approved 13 amendments for floor consideration, including one requiring spending offsets and four seeking to strike money for some projects not directly related to Sandy or not seen as emergency spending. "With that many amendments, one could sneak through," King said. "We should be able to defeat the important amendments, though."

More http://cnsnews.com/news/article/conservatives-chip-away-50b-sandy-aid-package
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Hurricane Sandy draws near the eastern seaboard

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Hurricane Sandy draws near the eastern seaboard

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