Slow Progress on New York Islands After Hurricane Sandy

source: Craig Peter Low

More Bodies Found on Devastated Staten Island

On Thursday the bodies of two young boys who were swept away from their mother’s grasp during the storm surge were recovered, NBC News reported. A missing husband and wife were also found dead Thursday, NBCNewYork.com reported.
That brought the toll on the island to 19, NBCNewYork.com reported. On Thursday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Superstorm Sandy is responsible for the deaths of at least 37 New Yorkers.


Staten Island via maketodayadtr on tumblr
. . . Staten Island, which took a direct blow from Sandy, is a scene of immeasurable misery and utter devastation, with homes obliterated, others off their foundations in addition to widespread flooding.
"The city of New York right now is talking about getting water out of the Battery Tunnel and preparing for a marathon," U.S. Rep. Rep. Michael Grimm said. "We're pulling bodies out of the water. You see the disconnect here?"

NYPD officials have denied to NBC News that Staten Island’s working class neighborhoods have come after wealthier areas.
“We are heading into the area where there is major destruction now,” Red Cross spokeswoman Anne Marie Borrego told NBC News late Thursday.

Staten Island via maketodayadtr on tumblr
Chuck Schumer Vows to Restore Long Island Beaches

“We will get our beaches restored,” New York senior said outside a water treatment facility in Long Beach that has been inoperable since Monday, leaving residents without running water.

Schumer toured parts of Long Beach on foot Wednesday afternoon and surveyed Fire Island by helicopter. ”Much of the beach is gone,” he said. “And the beach is what Fire Island is.”

He said the beaches could be restored with the help of the Army Corp of Engineers, which could use sand from dredging projects to rebuild them. In Long Beach, he said FEMA would pay for the rebuilding of the boardwalk that had been twisted and torn up by the storm.

“The far bigger problem is global warming which is causing these storms to threaten our coastline,” Schumer said.

source: Craig Peter Low
Mayor Bloomberg Insists that NYC Marathon Will Happen on Sunday

Mayor Bloomberg today insisted the New York City Marathon should go on as scheduled, even as huge swaths of Gotham remain in ruins and with no electricity.
The famed five -borough race is set for Sunday, starting at the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge and ending in Central Park.
The mayor is banking on the restoration of electricity on several blocks of Manhattan, below 34th Street, thus relieving some police burden there.

“The marathon is not going to redirect any focus. Keep in mind by Sunday we’ll have electricity back downtown,” Bloomberg said. “That will free up an enormous number of police. Also, a lot of the transportation needs that we have during the week aren’t there on the weekends.”

Former Comptroller Bill Thompson said he appreciates the importance the marathon -- but believes there are too many other issues to address in New York right now.
"The New York City Marathon is one of our country’s quintessential events, but in the wake of the natural disaster that has struck our city and its residents we need to focus on more important priorities," Thompson wrote on his Facebook page tonight.

"New Yorkers are suffering. Lives have been lost, homes destroyed, seniors stranded in public housing with no electricity and entire neighborhoods are suffering with scant access to fresh water, food and electricity. While I understand the importance of this event and the fact that it draws people from all over the world to watch and participate, I believe this year’s race needs to be postponed to a later date."

Dust Storm Blows Eastward from Oklahoma

I thought I had seen every kind of weather where I live in Tennessee, from drought to blizzards to tornadoes to remnants of hurricanes. Did I mention hailstorms, straight-line-wind and downbursts? Yes, I thought I had experienced everything Mother Nature had to throw at us, even an occasional flood, earthquake, landslide, and sinkhole.

So imagine my surprise when my local forecast surprised me.

Today it says: Blowing Dust. And you can see it on the radar (screencap below) as sort of muddy-looking streaks blowing up from Alabama - surreal. Outdoors, it only appears as a haze over everything. Usually a windy day in October would be nice and clear with blue skies and long-distance visibility. Not today.

My mother grew up in Kansas and told us what it was like during the Dust Bowl of the 30s, when they had to wear rags over their faces to walk to school, and blocked cracks around the windows to try and keep the dirt out. This is nothing compared to that, of course. And when I was a kid, Chattanooga had such bad air pollution that it was hazy for months at a time, so we've come a long way.

But the fact that the drought in Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska is so horrible that eroded dirt is blowing across the country again is disturbing. It wasn't supposed to happen again, and the fact it coincides with the Great Recession is really something to think about in terms of history repeating itself.







From the Chattanoogan

Kathy Robertson of the Air Pollution Control Bureau said, "We started getting calls about 10 o'clock this morning. By 12 or 12:30 when people were getting out for lunch, our phones were ringing off the hooks."

She said at first it was thought to be a woods fire, "but we didn't smell smoke and the haze was a different color."

Ms. Robertson said she eventually found reports of the dust storm that hit the Midwest and knew that it had arrived here.

It started as a beautiful clear day, but around mid-morning it began to get difficult to see Lookout Mountain or Missionary Ridge from downtown.

Ms. Robertson said it was the same situation in places like Fort Payne, Dalton and Cleveland. "I got a call saying it was even worse in Knoxville."

However, she said local air quality readings remained good. She said the dust should not be a health factor except for those who are sensitive to dust.

Levees Overtopped in Louisiana ~ "Worse than Katrina"

Last night Hurricane Isaac came ashore in New Orleans, then enigmatically bumped right back out to sea where it went stationary for many hours. That means that it has rained, and rained, and rained all night over one area with band after band of rain and wind. So the levees are being overtopped, and some places that didn't flood in Katrina are underwater now. This could be a total disaster, and my heart just breaks for the people of New Orleans!!! This is only a Category One storm, but the rain amounts are astronomical - 20 inches or more.