News of the Day: Obama Declares Disaster in New York
President Barack Obama declared a major disaster in the New York City area Tuesday as superstorm Sandy pounded the Northeast, killing at least 15, sweeping homes into the ocean, flooding large swaths of coastal areas, crippling public transit, and leaving millions without power.
As the East Coast woke up Tuesday, authorities were struggling to measure the full wrath of the once-in-a-generation hurricane. But as the sun rose, more details of the deaths and devastion were becoming clear:
About 7.8 million homes were without power across many states, The Weather Channel reported. NBC meteorologist Bill Karins warned to "expect the cleanup and power outage restoration to continue right up through Election Day."
A massive fire destroyed at least 50 homes in Breezy Point, a seaside community in Queens, N.Y., about a 45-minute drive from midtown Manhattan. Firefighters had great difficulty reaching the blaze due to the severe weather, NBCNewYork.com reported. The cause of the fire, which began about 11 p.m. ET Monday, was not immediately known.
Seven subway tunnels under East River in New York City were flooded, leading MTA Chairman Joseph J. Lhota to declare: "The New York City subway system is 108 years old, but it has never faced a disaster as devastating as what we experienced last night."
Half of Hoboken, N.J., was under water, preventing emergency crews from reaching areas of the city, according to Mayor Dawn Zimmer. "We want people to be aware that it's a very dangerous situation," she told MSNBC.
At least four towns in north New Jersey -- Moonachie, Little Ferry, South Hackensack and Hackensack -- were submerged by up to 6 feet of water after a levee broke.
New York University Medical Center evacuated 215 patients to other hospitals because its backup generator was out. Critical patients — including infants in neonatal intensive care — were being taken by ambulance to Mount Sinai Hospital, Memorial Sloan-Kettering and New York Presbyterian Hospital.
The storm surge destroyed a number of houses on Fire Island, New York, where some people had decided to sit out Sandy, according to a local official.
A crane atop a luxury, high-rise under construction in midtown Manhattan toppled over and was dangling over the side, forcing nearby offices and streets to be evacuated.
More than 13,000 flights were canceled Monday and more than 3,500 called off Tuesday. Rail traffic was also heavily affected, with Amtrak canceling all of its Northeast Corridor service, in addition to some other lines.
Rising waters sparked an alert at the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant in New Jersey at 8:45 p.m. ET Monday, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in a statement. It said the alert was the "second lowest of four NRC action levels" and was "due to water exceeding certain high water level criteria in the plant’s water intake structure." Exelon said in a statement that there was no danger to equipment and no threat to public health or safety.
"I think the losses will be almost incalculable," New Jersey Governor Chris Christie told TODAY. A disaster forecasting company predicted economic losses could ultimately reach $20 billion, Reuters said.
Source: NBC News
News of the Day: Irene vs Sandy
This comparison image of Hurricane Irene, which slammed into the Northeast in August of 2011 vs. Hurricane Sandy, which hit the same region of the country in late October 2012, shows the dramatic difference between the two storms. The size of Hurricane Sandy was estimated to be approximately 1,000 miles across. Sandy also registered the lowest barametric pressure reading of any spot in the US north of Cape Hatteras, according to data compiles by the Weather Underground. [Christian Science Monitor, 10/9/2012]
News of the Day: Hurricane Sandy
Tropical Storm Sandy formed on Oct. 22, 2012, in the Caribbean Sea, south of Jamaica. It strengthened into a category one hurricane on Oct. 24 before making landfall in Jamaica.
On Oct. 27, having killed more than 40 people in the Caribbean, Sandy was briefly downgraded to a tropical storm before reverting to hurricane status. It remains a serious threat to the US East Coast, where it is expected to hit on Oct 29.
News of the Day: Black Friday Starting Before Thanksgiving Ends
If you are one who desires to simplify your life and lead a life less driven by consumerism, avoid television the week of Thanksgiving! I have been amazed at how obsessed the news media is concerning “black Friday.” It is so bad that Thanksgiving has become nothing more than an unavoidable bump in the road to the Christmas shopping season.
Folks, we need to take a step back and realize that there is more to life than shopping. Still, listen to our political leaders, and they will try to convince you that from an economic perspective there is so much riding on the holiday shopping season that everyone needs shop, shop, shop in order to support the economy. Am I the only one who thinks this is warped?
Earlier this week, the Congress failed to agree on spending cuts equalling $1.2 Trillion. No one wants to deal with the difficult reality that this nation is broke. Leaders should be encouraging our people to be frugal this Christmas season and seek out ways to celebrate Christmas without spending themselves into debt. Instead, it’s the opposite. No one wants to deal with the unpleasant reality of financial bankruptcy. As a country, we continually kick the can a little further down the road hoping that somehow, everything will fix itself before the entire house comes crashing down on top of us. Sooner or later, we must draw a line in the sand and say enough. America has become a consumer-oriented economy, and the consumers are broke.
What would happen if the majority (the 99 percent) agreed to shop only with cash this Christmas season? What would happen if the 99 percent agreed to give $1 to missions or a charity for every $1 spent on Christmas gifts? What would happen if the 99 percent agreed to invest one hour in real time with friends and family for every hour they spend shopping or planning to shop?
What ideas do you have to curb the compulsion to shop?
News of the Day: ISU Defeats No. 2 OSU
Wow. That seemed to be the single word the erupted across social media sites as news began to spread of Iowa State’s stunning upset of No. 2 ranked Oklahoma State. ESPN’s David Ubben summed up the evening this way: "Oklahoma State's title hopes? Gone. Brandon Weeden's Heisman hopes? Dashed. Iowa State shook up the college football races Friday night.” As #Cyclones began trending on Twitter, fans from Alabama to Oklahoma (OU) to Oregon began rejoicing that their teams were back in the chase for a chance at the national title.
This game was played at home for Iowa State in front of a sell out crowd and a national television audience. The first half of the game looked like the games was going to play out as expected--OSU led ISU 24-7 at one point. Then OSU began making mistakes and ISU began playing like champions.
Even as the game entered its second overtime, I think everyone watching just knew OSU was going to pull this out. The ESPN announcing crew kept reminding us that ISU had something like a 0-56 record in overtime against top two teams.
Then OSU’s quarterback, Brandon Weeden, had a pass picked off and ISU was able to score in a couple of running plays.
That’s when Twitter and Facebook lit up. Wow. Unbelievable. Oh. My. Goodness.
It was quite an evening for the Cyclone Nation, quote an evening for the state of Iowa, and quite an evening for college football.