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Heavy rains, flooding forcing snakes to seek higher ground in Arkansas

Heavy rains, flooding forcing snakes to seek higher ground in Arkansas- KATV 


Posted: May 27, 2015 11:44 PM EDT

Updated: May 27, 2015 11:44 PM EDT

By Matt Mershon, Reporter



LITTLE ROCK (KATV) -Emergency rooms, even veterinarians' offices are reporting more and more snake bites. Recent heavy rains in Arkansas are the apparent cause of the problem. Snakes and other animals are seeking higher ground as flooding ensues.

Not only have heavy rains either flooded and washed away the natural habitats for Arkansas native snakes, making snakes seek shelter elsewhere, much of the snake's food supply is on the run as well due to the high waters.

“If the rats and mice and other small animals that they feed on have moved out, they're following that prey source,” said Neil Curry, facility director at the Witt Stephens Jr. Central Arkansas Nature Center.

Curry said most of the snakes people will end up encountering are probably harmless, but both venomous and non-venomous can and will bite if provoked.

Out of 36 species of snakes in Arkansas, only six of those species are classified as venomous. The way, although not easy, to tell the difference is that non-venomous snakes tend to have more rounded features – rounded head and pupil. A venomous snake tends to have more slit-like eyes and more rigid head.

The most common venomous snake in Arkansas is the copperhead. The cottonmouth snake, commonly referred to as a water moccasin, is the only venomous water snake.

There are three rattlesnakes common to Arkansas – the Western Diamond Rattlesnake, Timber Rattlesnake and the Western Pigmy Rattlesnake. The last venomous snake is the Texas Coral Snake.

“If it's red, yellow and black, you don't want to mess with it,” commented Curry regarding the Coral snake. Two snakes native to Arkansas mimic the Coral snake, but are not actually venomous.

Keeping a well-groomed lawn and making sure brush piles are cleared away give snakes less room to hide. If cleaning up brush, be sure to do it with a rake first to potentially dislodge any unwanted creatures seeking shelter.

As warmer temperatures approach, the inclination to wear sandals, flip-flops or just be plain barefoot isn't a great idea if snakes are lurking.

“A study pair of boots can make a big difference,” said Curry.

Snake bites, regardless of being poisonous, can still hurt and be dangerous. If not treated properly, snake bites from non-venomous snakes can become infected.

“Soap and water and remain calm,” recounted Curry as two things to do post-snake bite. “We always say get your car keys, get to the doctor, have it checked out and they'll take appropriate action if it is determined that it's a venomous snake,”

Rule of thumb is if you see a snake and don't know what type of snake it is – just leave it alone. Snakes try to avoid people.

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission says they can identify pictures of snakes. You can upload a picture to the Witt Stephens Jr. Central Arkansas Nature Center for identification directly to their Facebook page or by messaging them by clicking here.

Source

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P.S.

Moral of this story - ⬆

Animals know when to head for the hills...

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Earthquakes and Floods

Photo (Courtesy) http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2014/03/31/24-confirmed-dead-22-missing-in-Washington-mudslide/9941396316781/

The enemy has worked, and he is working still. He is come down in great power, and the Spirit of God is being withdrawn from the earth. God has withdrawn His hand. We have only to look at Johnstown [Pennsylvania]. He did not prevent the devil from wiping that whole city out of existence. [On May 31, 1889, an estimated 2,200 people lost their lives in the Johnstown flood when a dam broke after many days of heavy rains.] And these very things will increase until the close of this earth’s history.—Sermons and Talks 1:109 (1889).

The earth’s crust will be rent by the outbursts of the elements concealed in the bowels of the earth. These elements, once broken loose, will sweep away the treasures of those who for years have been adding to their wealth by securing large possessions at starvation prices from those in their employ. And the religious world, too, is to be terribly shaken, for the end of all things is at hand.—Manuscript Releases 3:208 (1891).

The time is now come when one moment we may be on solid earth, the next the earth may be heaving beneath our feet. Earthquakes will take place when least expected.—Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 421 (1896).

In fires, in floods, in earthquakes, in the fury of the great deep, in calamities by sea and by land, the warning is given that God’s Spirit will not always strive with men.—Manuscript Releases 3:315 (1897).


Before the Son of man appears in the clouds of heaven everything in nature will be convulsed. Lightning from heaven uniting with the fire in the earth will cause the mountains to burn like a furnace and pour out their floods of lava over villages and cities. Molten masses of rock thrown into the water by the upheaval of things hidden in the earth will cause the water to boil and send forth rocks and earth. There will be mighty earthquakes and great destruction of human life.—The S.D.A. Bible Commentary 7:946 (1907).


Last Day Events, pp.25,26.
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Toronto travel chaos: What’s moving, or not, post-flood

A tow truck driver walks back through flood waters after hooking up a car on the Don Valley Parkway in Toronto on Monday July 8 2013. (THE CANADIAN PRESS)


CTV Toronto
Published Tuesday, July 9, 2013 8:53AM EDT
Last Updated Tuesday, July 9, 2013 1:28PM EDT


Toronto continues to recover from an unprecedented rainstorm that shattered records and paralyzed the city’s roads and transit infrastructure.

Commuters faced more delays Tuesday, as certain roads and transit lines remain closed.

TTC:

RELATED STORIES
Toronto urged to reduce power consumption in storm's wake
No subway service between Jane and Kipling on the Bloor Danforth line
All other subway / RT service running normally

GO Transit:

Certain sections of GO Train tracks were washed out across the rail system. Delays and detour are reported on the following train lines:
Lakeshore West line
Lakeshore East line

Toronto road closures:
Wilson Ave. at CN bridge underpass
Bridgeland Ave. at Hwy. 401 underpass
Intersection of Front and York streets (closed until about 2 p.m.)
Disco Road close to Atwell Frive
Royal York Road at Dundas Street underpass
Martin Grove Road between Vulcan Street and Bethridge Road
Bloor Street, west of Islington Avenue underpass


Source: http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/toronto-travel-chaos-what-s-moving-or-not-post-flood-1.1359415#ixzz2YZmn4N9X

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Signs Of Change - June 2013

Signs Of Change The Past Week Or June 2013

HawkkeyDavisChanne

Published on Jun 8, 2013


The signs keep adding up and are becoming hard to ignore. Major and historic flooding, earthquakes, massive tornadoes and more has taking place the past week or so. Stay Safe and thanks for watching here!

*Music Used*
Brand X Music - The Connection

Not everything makes these videos at the end of the week, if your looking for more events, links or you just want to share join us all here.
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Thank you all for sharing!

Watch More Of This Series From The Playlist
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I do not own any of these videos thanks to all the people who film these disasters and the news medias that report them.

FAIR USE NOTICE: This video may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes only. This constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law.

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Heavy Rain Causes Flooding Across Tri-State Area Wednesday

1010 WINS' John Montone Gets Stuck In Flood, Finds Himself Part Of The Story

 . . 
 May 8, 2013 1:02 PM

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – New York City got what appears to be a record-breaking soaking Wednesday morning.

According to CBS 2, New York City received 2.39 inches of rain in the early-morning drenching. That’s almost double what we received for all of April, which brought us just 1.31 inches of rain.

It appears to have broken the previous record for this date, set in 1886, when the Big Apple got 2.33 inches.

Photos: Heavy Rains Cause Flooding Around Tri-State

The National Weather Service will clarify whether the record was officially broken later today.

The worst of the rain passed through New York City this morning. Scattered showers were expected throughout the rest of the day, with pop-up thunderstorms possible.

CHECK: Radar | Forecast & Alerts | Traffic & Transit | Listen: 1010 WINS | WCBS 880

Excessive runoff from the heavy rainfall caused some flooding on highways, streets, underpasses and other low-lying areas.

An American Eagle jet from Detroit landed safely at LaGuardia Airport after reporting that it had been struck twice by lightning, the Federal Aviation Administration said. No one was injured.

1010 WINS’ reporter John Montone found himself becoming part of the story when his vehicle got stuck in a flooded street in Jersey City.



John Montone’s vehicle got stuck in the water during heavy rain May 8, 2013. (credit: John Montone/1010 WINS)

“I tried to get out to push the car, and as I’m sure a lot of people have experienced, the water came rushing in on me,” Montone said. “I stayed with the car, tried to get a tow, AAA informed me they didn’t want their trucks getting stuck in the water.”

John Montone Gets Stuck In Flood
1010 WINS  play

In Hoboken, cars that attempted to driver under two separate underpasses near Newark Avenue got stuck. One quick-thinking pedestrian hitched a ride on a big-rig to escape the flooding, CBS 2′s Elise Finch reported.

The flagship Apple store at 59th Street and 5th Avenue apparently got partially flooded. Photos from its subterranean level show what appears to be significant water damage to part of the ceiling and a large puddle on the ground.




The Apple store was partially flooded following heavy rain on May 8, 2013. (credit: Errol Rappaport)


Source
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Sandy's US toll climbs to 39; 8.2 million without power

5 hr ago By MSN News with wire reports

Residents and businesses began a massive clean-up effort Tuesday, even as large parts of the region remained without power, and transportation in the New York metropolitan area was at a standstill.


NEW YORK — The misery of superstorm Sandy's devastation grew Tuesday as millions along the U.S. East Coast faced life without power or mass transit for days, and huge swaths of New York City remained eerily quiet. The U.S. death toll climbed to 39, many of the victims killed by falling trees, and rescue work continued.

The storm that made landfall in New Jersey on Monday evening with hurricane force cut power to more than 8.2 million across the East and put the presidential campaign on hold just one week before Election Day.

New York was among the hardest hit, with its financial heart closed for a second day. The storm caused the worst damage in the 108-year history of the city's subway system, and there was no indication of when the largest U.S. transit system would be rolling again.

But the full extent of the damage in New Jersey was being revealed as morning arrived. Emergency crews fanned out to rescue hundreds.

A hoarse-voiced New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie gave bleak news at a morning news conference: Seaside rail lines washed away. No safe place on the state's barrier islands for him to land. Parts of the coast still under water.

"It is beyond anything I thought I'd ever see," he said. "It is a devastating sight right now."

President Obama will travel to New Jersey on Wednesday to view damage caused by the massive storm, the White House said in a statement.

Obama canceled campaign appearances planned for Ohio on Wednesday because of the storm.

Millions of people from Maine to the Carolinas awoke Tuesday without electricity, and an eerily quiet New York City was all but closed off by car, train and air as superstorm Sandy steamed inland, still delivering punishing wind and rain.

Jersey City was closed to cars because traffic lights were out, and Hoboken, just over the Hudson River from Manhattan, was hit with major flooding.

A huge swell of water swept over the small New Jersey town of Moonachie, near the Hackensack River, and authorities struggled to rescue about 800 people, some living in a trailer park. And in neighboring Little Ferry, water suddenly started gushing out of storm drains overnight, submerging a road under 4 feet of water and swamping houses.

Police and fire officials used boats and trucks to reach the stranded.

"I looked out and the next thing you know, the water just came up through the grates. It came up so quickly you couldn't do anything about it. If you wanted to move your car to higher ground you didn't have enough time," said Little Ferry resident Leo Quigley, who with his wife was taken to higher ground by boat.



The death toll from Sandy in the U.S. included several killed by falling trees. Sandy also killed 69 people in the Caribbean before making its way up the Eastern Seaboard.

Airlines canceled more than 12,000 flights. New York City's three major airports remained closed.

"This was a devastating storm, maybe the worst that we have ever experienced," New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.



more hurricane sandy coverage
Slideshow: Hurricane Sandy hits the East Coast
President Obama on storm
Slideshow: Sandy slams New Jersey
Lower Manhattan faces up to four days without power
Update: NYSE to test plan to resume trading
Sandy grounds more than 18,000 flights worldwide
Amtrak to resume some service in Northeast
Sandy disrupts telecommunication networks
Floods hit New Jersey refineries
One nuclear plant shut down
NYC Marathon expected to go on
How to stay connected during Hurricane Sandy
Small businesses take hit from storm
Sandy unlikely to hurt US economy
Storm effect on sports world
Sandy forces pause in presidential campaign
Coast Guard to continue search for missing captain


Trading at the New York Stock Exchange was canceled again Tuesday after the storm sent a nearly 14-foot surge of seawater, a record, coursing over its seawalls and highways and into low-lying streets. The water inundated tunnels, subway stations and the electrical system that powers Wall Street and sent hospital patients and tourists scrambling for safety. Skyscrapers swayed and creaked in winds that partially toppled a crane 74 stories above Midtown. A large tanker ship ran aground on the city's Staten Island.

"This will be one for the record books," said John Miksad, senior vice president for electric operations at Consolidated Edison, which had more than 670,000 customers without power in and around New York City.

In New Jersey, where the superstorm came ashore, a huge swell of water swept over the small town of Moonachie, and authorities struggled to rescue about 800 people, some of them living in a trailer park. Police and fire officials used boats to try to reach the stranded.

"I saw trees not just knocked down but ripped right out of the ground. I watched a tree crush a guy's house like a wet sponge," mobile home park resident Juan Allen said.

The massive storm reached well into the Midwest with heavy rain and snow. Chicago officials warned residents to stay away from the Lake Michigan shore as the city prepared for winds of up to 60 mph (96 kph) and waves exceeding 24 feet (7.2 meters) well into Wednesday.

Curiosity turned to concern overnight as New York City residents watched whole neighborhoods disappear into darkness as power was cut. The World Trade Center site was a glowing ghost near the tip of Lower Manhattan. Residents reported seeing no lights but the strobes of emergency vehicles and the glimpses of flashlights in nearby apartments. Lobbies were flooded, cars floated and people started to worry about food.

As Hurricane Sandy closed in on the Northeast, it converged with a cold-weather system that turned it into a monstrous hybrid of rain and high winds — even bringing snow in West Virginia and other mountainous areas inland.

Just before it made landfall, forecasters stripped Sandy of hurricane status, but the distinction was purely technical, based on its shape and internal temperature. It still packed hurricane-force winds.

While the hurricane's 90 mph (144 kph) winds registered as only a Category 1 on a scale of five, it packed "astoundingly low" barometric pressure, giving it terrific energy to push water inland, said Kerry Emanuel, a professor of meteorology at MIT.

"We are looking at the highest storm surges ever recorded" in the Northeast, said Jeff Masters, meteorology director for Weather Underground, a private forecasting service.

Tunnels and bridges to Manhattan were shut down, and some flooded.

"We have no idea how long it's going to take" to restore the transit system, MTA spokeswoman Marjorie Anders said Tuesday.

New York University's Tisch Hospital was forced to evacuate 200 patients after its backup generator failed. NYU Medical Dean Robert Grossman said patients — among them 20 babies from the neonatal intensive care unit who were on battery-powered respirators — had to be carried down staircases and to dozens of ambulances waiting to take them to other hospitals.

A construction crane atop a $1.5 billion luxury high-rise overlooking Central Park collapsed in high winds and dangled precariously. Thousands of people were ordered to leave several nearby buildings as a precaution.

Reggie Thomas emerged Tuesday morning from his job as a maintenance supervisor at a prison near the overflowing Hudson River, a toothbrush in his front pocket, to find his 2011 Honda with its windows down and a foot (304 millimeters) of water inside.

"It's totaled," Thomas said, with a shrug. "You would have needed a boat last night."

In the storm's wake, President Obama issued federal emergency decrees for New York and New Jersey, declaring that "major disasters" existed in both states. One disaster-forecasting company predicted economic losses could ultimately reach $20 billion, only half insured. Add an additional $10 billion to $30 billion more in lost business, according to IHS Global Insight, a forecasting firm.

In the long run, the devastation the storm inflicted on New York City and other parts of the Northeast will barely nick the U.S. economy. That's the view of economists who say higher gas prices and a slightly slower economy in coming weeks will likely be matched by reconstruction and repairs that will contribute to growth over time.

The short-term blow to the economy, though, could subtract about 0.6 percentage point from U.S. economic growth in the October-December quarter, IHS says. Retailers, airlines and home construction firms will likely lose some business.

The New York City Marathon is scheduled for Saturday. But there are many questions about whether transportation not just to and from the city, but also in and around the city, will be ready in time. The marathon pours an estimated $350 million into the city each year. But it also requires major support from city departments that are being strained by the storm.

New York Road Runners President Mary Wittenberg said Monday they had a long list of contingency plans already in place to deal with any obstacles that might arise. The biggest concerns centered on getting runners to the start on Staten Island.

The 26.2-mile route through the five boroughs mostly avoids areas considered at highest risk for flooding.

SCENES OF DESTRUCTION

All along the East Coast, residents and business owners awoke to scenes of destruction.

"There are boats in the street five blocks from the ocean," said evacuee Peter Sandomeno, one of the owners of the Broadway Court Motel in Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey. "That's the worst storm I've ever seen, and I've been there for 11 years."

Sandy, which was especially imposing because of its wide-ranging winds, brought a record storm surge of almost 14 feet to downtown Manhattan, well above the previous record of 10 feet during Hurricane Donna in 1960, the National Weather Service said.

Water poured into the subway tunnels that course under the city, the country's financial capital, and Bloomberg said the subway system would likely be closed for four or five days.

"Hitting at high tide, the strongest surge and the strongest winds all hit at the worst possible time," said Jeffrey Tongue, a meteorologist for the weather service in Brookhaven, New York.

Hurricane-force winds as high as 90 miles per hour (145 km per hour) were recorded, he said. "Hopefully it's a once-in-a-lifetime storm," Tongue said.

As residents and business owners began a massive clean-up effort and faced a long and costly recovery, large parts of the region remained without power, and transportation in the New York metropolitan area was at a standstill.

The U.S. Department of Energy said more than 8 million homes and businesses in several states were without electricity due to the storm, which crashed ashore late on Monday near the gambling resort of Atlantic City, New Jersey.

MORE THAN 50 HOMES BURN

The unprecedented flooding hampered efforts to fight a massive fire that destroyed more than 50 homes in Breezy Point, a private beach community on the Rockaway barrier island in the New York City borough of Queens.

New York University's Tisch hospital was forced to evacuate more than 200 patients, among them babies on respirators in the neonatal intensive care unit, when the backup generator failed. Four of the newborns had to be carried down nine flights of stairs while nurses manually squeezed bags to deliver air to the babies' lungs, CNN reported.

The death toll continued to climb.

"Sadly the storm claimed lives throughout the region, including at least 10 in our city ... and we expect that number to go up," Bloomberg said.

Other storm-related deaths were reported elsewhere in New York state in addition to Massachusetts, Maryland, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Toronto police also recorded one death - a woman hit by flying debris.

Sandy killed 66 people in the Caribbean last week before pounding U.S. coastal areas.

Federal government offices in Washington, which was spared the full force of the storm, were closed for a second day on Tuesday, and schools were shut up and down the East Coast.

The storm weakened as it plowed slowly west across southern Pennsylvania, its remnants situated between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, with maximum winds down to 45 mph, the National Hurricane Center said.

As Sandy converged with a cold weather system, blizzard warnings were in effect for West Virginia, western Maryland, eastern Tennessee, eastern Kentucky and western North Carolina.

Wind gusts, rain and flooding were likely to extend well into Tuesday, but without the storm's earlier devastating power, said AccuWeather meteorologist Jim Dickey.

At its peak, the storm's wind field stretched from North Carolina north to the Canadian border and from West Virginia to a point in the Atlantic Ocean halfway to Bermuda, easily one of the largest ever seen, the hurricane center said.

Obama and Republican presidential rival Mitt Romney put campaigning on hold for a second day instead of launching their final push for votes ahead of the November 6 election.

Obama, who has made every effort to show himself staying on top of the storm situation, faces political danger if the federal government fails to respond well in the storm's aftermath, as was the case with predecessor George W. Bush's botched handling of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

But Obama also has a chance to look presidential in a national crisis.

With politics cast aside for the moment, Republican Christie heaped praise on the Democratic incumbent for the government's initial storm response.

"The federal government response has been great," Christie, a staunch Romney supporter, told NBC's "Today" show. "I was on the phone at midnight again last night with the president personally ... and the president has been outstanding in this."

In New York, a crane partially collapsed and dangled precariously from a 90-story luxury apartment building under construction in Midtown Manhattan.

Much of the city was deserted, as its subways, buses, commuter trains, bridges and airports were closed. Power outages darkened most of downtown Manhattan as well as Westchester County, affecting more than 650,000 customers, power company Consolidated Edison said.

Neighborhoods along the East and Hudson rivers in Manhattan were underwater, as were low-lying streets in Battery Park near Ground Zero, where the World Trade Center once stood.

U.S. stock markets were closed on Tuesday but would likely reopen on Wednesday. They closed on Monday for the first time since the attacks of September 11, 2001.

Most areas in downtown Manhattan were without power on Monday morning. As the sun rose, most of the water in Manhattan's low-lying Battery Park City appeared to have receded.

A security guard at 7 World Trade Center, Gregory Baldwin, was catching some rest in his car after laboring overnight against floodwater that engulfed a nearby office building.

"The water went inside up to here," he said, pointing to his chest. "The water came shooting down from Battery Park with the gusting wind."

In Lower Manhattan, firefighters used inflatable orange boats to rescue utility workers stranded for three hours by rising floodwaters inside a power substation.

One of the Con Ed workers pulled from the floodwater, Angelo Amato, said he was part of a crew who had offered to work through the storm.

"This is what happens when you volunteer," he said.

(Additional reporting by Daniel Bases, Edward Krudy and Scott DiSavino in New York and Tabassum Zakaria in Washington. Writing by Matt Spetalnick and Ellen Wulfhorst; Editing by Eric Beech)


___

Hays reported from New York and Breed reported from Raleigh, North Carolina; AP Science Writer Seth Borenstein contributed to this report from Washington. Associated Press writers David Dishneau in Delaware City, Delaware, Katie Zezima in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and Emery P. Dalesio in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, also contributed.

Source

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Sandy comes ashore with flooding, power outages

1 hr ago By MSN News with wire reports

Massive flooding, high winds and widespread power outages hit the East Coast as Sandy moves inland.

NEW YORK — Superstorm Sandy slammed into the New Jersey coastline with 80 mph winds Monday night and hurled an unprecedented 13-foot surge of seawater at New York City, threatening its subways and the electrical system that powers Wall Street. At least four deaths were blamed on the storm, and the presidential campaign ground to a halt a week before Election Day.

Sandy knocked out power to at least 3.1 million people, and New York's main utility said large sections of Manhattan had been plunged into darkness by the storm. Water pressed into the island from three sides.

At least four deaths were blamed on the storm in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and New York. Among them were two people killed by falling trees.

As the storm closed in, it smacked the boarded-up big cities of the Northeast corridor — Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and Boston — with stinging rain and gusts of more than 85 mph. It also converged with a cold-weather system that turned it into a superstorm, a monstrous hybrid consisting not only of rain and high wind but snow.

Sandy made landfall at 8 p.m. near Atlantic City, which was already mostly under water and saw a piece of its world-famous Boardwalk washed away earlier in the day.

Authorities reported a record surge more than 13 feet high at the Battery at the southern tip of Manhattan, from the storm and high tide combined.

In an attempt to lessen damage from saltwater to the subway system and the underground electrical network that underlies the city's financial district, New York City's main utility cut power to about 6,500 customers in lower Manhattan. But a far wider swath was hit with blackouts caused by flooding and transformer explosions.

Rising floodwaters forced the closing of LaGuardia and JFK airports, according to media reports. All MTA bridges and tunnels, including the Battery Tunnel and Queens Midtown Tunnel, were closed to traffic the Metropolitan Transit Authority said. Authorities say it could take a week for the tunnels and subway to reopen. The MTA reported up to four feet of seawater at a Lower Manhattan subway station.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo confirms cars are floating down streets in Lower Manhattan.

Between 8 million and 10 million people could lose power over the next few days as the storm moves through New England, according to a Johns Hopkins University study.

Airlines canceled more than 12,000 flights, disrupting the plans of travelers all over the world, and storm damage was projected at $10 billion to $20 billion, meaning it could prove to be one of the costliest natural disasters in U.S. history.

Because of Sandy's vast reach, with tropical storm-force winds extending almost 500 miles from its center, other major cities across the Northeast - Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Boston - also prepared to for the worst.

"The days ahead are going to be very difficult," Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley said. "There will be people who die and are killed in this storm."

Federal government offices in Washington, D.C., will be closed to the public on Tuesday, as Hurricane Sandy threatens to cause extensive damage to the area. Amtrak also said it has canceled all Tuesday service in the Northeast due to high winds and heavy rain from Hurricane Sandy.


more hurricane sandy coverage
Slideshow: Hurricane Sandy
President Obama on storm
Hurricane Sandy tracker
NYSE to shut down on Tuesday
More than 12,000 flights canceled
Two New Jersey nuclear reactors shut down
NYC Marathon expected to go on
How to stay connected during Hurricane Sandy
Snow plows out in West Virginia
Small businesses take hit from storm
Sandy unlikely to hurt US economy
Storm effect on sports world
Sandy blows the election off course


Sheila Gladden evacuated her home in Philadelphia's flood-prone Eastwick neighborhood and headed to a hotel.

"I'm not going through this again," said Gladden, who had 5 1/2 feet of water in her home after Hurricane Floyd in 1999.

The storm washed away an old section of the world-famous Atlantic City Boardwalk and left most of the city's emptied-out streets under water. All 12 casinos in the city were closed, and some 30,000 people were under orders to evacuate.

"When I think about how much water is already in the streets, and how much more is going to come with high tide tonight, this is going to be devastating. I think this is going to be a really bad situation tonight," said Bob McDevitt, president of the main Atlantic City casino workers union.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, addressing those who were told to evacuate the state's barrier islands, said in his usual blunt way: "This is not a time to be a show-off. This is not a time to be stupid. This is the time to save yourself and your family."

In New York City, where 375,000 people were ordered to clear out, authorities closed the Holland Tunnel, which connects New York and New Jersey, and a tunnel between Manhattan and Brooklyn. Street grates above the subway were boarded up, but officials still worried that seawater would seep in and damage the electrical switches.

The major American stock exchanges closed for the day, the first unplanned shutdown since the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001. Wall Street expected to remain closed Tuesday. The United Nations canceled all meetings at its New York headquarters. New York called off school for the city's 1.1 million students Monday and Tuesday.

Cuomo deployed National Guard troops to the city and Long Island.Broadway shows were canceled for Sunday and Monday. One small hospital was being evacuated, while several others were moving patients to higher floors.

Amtrak said passenger service between Boston and Raleigh, N.C., and between the East Coast and Chicago, New Orleans and Florida will be suspended Tuesday for the second day in a row.

This is the second time in 14 months that New York City has faced a scenario forecasters have long feared: a big hurricane hitting the city or a bit south, such that the cyclone's counterclockwise winds drive water into miles of densely populated shoreline.

Hurricane Irene ultimately came ashore as a tropical storm in Coney Island, with a 4-foot storm surge that washed over parts of the southern tip of Manhattan but didn't wreak the havoc that officials had feared, although it caused tremendous damage elsewhere. Some experts have said that a surge 3 feet higher could have caused huge damage.

The storm bore down barely a week before the presidential election. Wary of being seen as putting political pursuits ahead of public safety, Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney reshuffled their campaign plans.

In Virginia, one of the most competitive states, election officials eased absentee voting requirements for those affected by the storm. Three other closely contested states, New Hampshire, North Carolina and Ohio, were within Sandy's reach. Early voting was canceled Monday in Maryland and Washington, D.C., both reliably Democratic.

Craig Fugate, chief of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said FEMA teams were deployed from North Carolina to Maine and as far inland as West Virginia, bringing generators and basic supplies that will be needed in the storm's aftermath.

"I have not been around long enough to see a hurricane forecast with a snow advisory in it," Fugate told NBC's "Today" show.

Pennsylvania's largest utilities brought in hundreds of line-repair and tree-trimming crews. In New Jersey, where utilities were widely criticized last year for slow responses after the remnants of storms Irene and Lee, authorities promised a better performance. Hundreds of homes and businesses were already without electricity early Monday.

Source

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Much Of Atlantic City Under Water

October 29, 2012 9:59 AM

Reporting Jim Melwert


By Jim Melwert

ATLANTIC CITY, NJ (CBS) - Some parts of Atlantic City were already becoming impassable because of flooding, this morning, and the concern is if the Atlantic City Expressway goes under water. It is already closed, but at least now, emergency crews can get in and out.


Police say the high tide will say a lot about how bad today will be.

Atlantic City resident Steve Walsh, 35, says it’s been a while since he’s seen the ocean this angry, and this is only the start.

“I was just up on the boardwalk and seeing the ocean, I haven’t seen it that high in a long time, and it’s been awhile since I’ve seen it like this, and if it’s going to get worse, it’s going to get worse.”

Of course, it is mostly a ghost town here as the casinos closed yesterday, up on the boardwalk it’s all sandbags and plywood, as the waves are up to the dunes.

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Floods force pilgrims to flee Lourdes

French rescue services have helped hundreds of Catholic pilgrims escape the sanctuary of Lourdes as the region was flooded by days of non-stop rain.

More than 450 visitors to the Catholic shrine were ferried from hotels in the lower town to higher ground.

Officials said the famed sites visited by millions of religious pilgrims each year would remain closed for several days.

"The space in front of the grotto is entirely covered with water, the altar is under water," Thierry Castillo, the custodian of the sanctuaries, told the AFP news agency.

Catholics believe the Virgin Mary appeared to a peasant girl named Bernadette Soubirous in the grotto in Lourdes in 1858.

Waters rise

The water was around one meter (three feet) high in front of the grotto 80 centimeters high in the avenue du Paradis, where most of the hotels are located.

Officials have said this is the worst flooding in 25 years. The river Gave de Pau was three meters above its usual level on Saturday and rising. Weather forecasts predicted that the rain would continue until Sunday, following a continuous downpour overnight on Saturday.

Last year, more than six million visitors descended upon shrine. The Catholic church has recognized 68 miracles linked to Lourdes.

Lourdes has special meaning for the suffering, many of whom believe its water can heal and even work miracles. Many disabled or sick people go there to pray for a cure.

The sanctuaries are not expected to reopen before Tuesday or Wednesday.

tm/ccp (AFP, AP)

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Isaac: Significant flooding, power outages on Gulf Coast PLAY CBS NEWS VIDEO

August 31, 2012 8:28 AM

PLAY CBS NEWS VIDEO

Last Updated 9:57 a.m. ET

(CBS/AP) NEW ORLEANS - The storm that was Hurricane Isaac - and which is now a tropical depression - swirled into the central U.S. Friday, leaving behind a darkened, soggy mess in Louisiana. Neighborhoods were underwater, and even homes that stayed dry didn't have lights, air conditioning or clean water.

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Federal help sought for storm relief

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3193/2600764428_27d288507f_z.jpg

August 30, 2011

JOE LoTEMPLIO
KIM SMITH DEDAM Plattsburgh Press Republican


PLATTSBURGH — As the North Country continues the arduous task of cleaning up from Tropical Storm Irene, many hope for a stronger helping hand from the federal government this time.

"These counties deserve the same federal emergency resources that other communities are getting so that they too can prevent injuries and property damage and help minimize further flooding," Sens. Charles Schumer (D-Brooklyn) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-Brunswick) said in a joint statement.

"We strongly urge the president to grant this designation and approve New York state's anticipated request as quickly as possible, so that federal emergency crews and equipment will get to these communities in time to prevent further damage."

In a letter to President Barack Obama, Schumer and Gillibrand asked for help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for Clinton, Essex and 23 other counties.

INDIVIDUAL AID

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo visited Keene on Tuesday to see the damage. He said he spoke with the president Monday night and asked for help for Clinton and Essex counties, including aid for individuals, which was not granted to this area after major flooding this spring.

"I don't think that is going to be a problem in this case," the governor, standing next to what was left of the Keene Fire Station, said when asked if the numbers would reach the FEMA threshold.

MOVING FASTER

State Emergency Management Office Director Andrew X. Feeney, who traveled to Keene with the governor, said the process should move faster this time.

With winter some two months off and hundreds of roads, homes and workplaces to fix, there is no time for six weeks of paperwork, Feeney said.

"We are working to expedite this."

Essex County was hit hard, especially in Keene, AuSable Forks and Jay, with more than 100 roads closed and many homes and businesses damaged.

Many Clinton County communities also suffered damage, and two people died when their car went off a washed-out bridge on Devil's Den Road in Altona and into the raging Great Chazy River.

Power remained out Tuesday for tens of thousands of people in both counties.

FEDERAL ASSISTANCE

In addition to providing help for rebuilding by declaring a state of emergency, FEMA can initiate protective measures to prevent more injuries or loss of life.

Warning devices, such as barricades, signs and announcements; search and rescue efforts; construction of levees; shelters and emergency care centers; and food, water, ice and other essentials can be provided.

Later, FEMA can also supply funds for major infrastructure repairs, such as bridges and roads.

Schumer said he would also seek aid from other federal agencies to help individuals, municipalities, businesses and farms.

"The North Country should receive every possible type of federal aid to help rebuild and recover from Irene," Schumer said. "I am going to fight as hard as possible to secure every last dollar to help our communities get back up on their feet again."

Schumer and Gillibrand were criticized by many in upstate New York for not doing enough when FEMA denied individual assistance to people who suffered damage from the spring flooding in May and June.

Victims of flooding could not understand why individual aid was given to those in Vermont while New Yorkers were denied. Under FEMA's formula, Vermont qualified for individual assistance as a small state, but New York, as a large state, did not have enough homes damaged to earn the designation.

FEMA aid was granted to municipalities in New York.

'DEVASTATING'

Congressman Bill Owens (D-Plattsburgh) said he believes New York will qualify for aid for this storm because much of downstate was also affected.

"I toured AuSable Forks, and the damage was just devastating. I can't imagine what it was like to sit and watch all of that happen," Owens said.

National reports indicate FEMA is running low on funds, having to deal with 10 disasters this year that cost at least $1 billion.

Republicans in Congress were saying Tuesday that if any more money is to be put into FEMA's coffers, cuts will have to come from somewhere else.

Owens said playing politics with natural disasters is not helpful.

"It is unfortunate that Republicans would really want to hold aid hostage to communities that absolutely need it. If they do that, then I would have to question their motivation. Are they turning a disaster into politics or do they really want to help people?"

Email Joe LoTemplio at: jlotemplio@pressrepublican.com


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Related:

Clinton County snubbed again on individual aid
Sens. Schumer and Gillibrand don't want county to be left behind, like it was in spring flooding.
August 31, 2011

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Helicopters rush food, water to cut-off Vt. towns

By JOHN CURRAN, Associated Press

Tuesday, August 30, 2011


Polina Yamshchikov / AP
Emergency crews keep people at a safe distance from the Quechee Covered Bridge in Lebanon, N.H., as it flooded with water from the Ottauquechee River Sunday, Aug. 28, 2011. A weakened but dangerous Tropical Storm Irene dumped up to half a foot of rain in places, flooded roads, knocked down trees and left more than 165,000 New Hampshire homes and businesses on the dark before blowing out of the state on Sunday.


(08-30) 17:18 PDT Newfane, Vt. (AP) --

National Guard helicopters rushed food and water Tuesday to a dozen cut-off Vermont towns after the rainy remnants of Hurricane Irene washed out roads and bridges in a deluge that took many people in the landlocked New England state by surprise.

"As soon as we can get help, we need help," Liam McKinley said by cellphone from a mountain above flood-stricken Rochester, Vt.

Up to 11 inches of rain from the weekend storm turned placid streams into churning, brown torrents that knocked homes off their foundations, flattened trees and took giant bites out of the asphalt across the countryside. At least three people died in Vermont.

"I think that people are still a little shell-shocked right now. There's just a lot of disbelief on people's faces. It came through so quickly, and there's so much damage," Gail Devine, director of the Woodstock Recreation Center, said as volunteers moved furniture out of the flooded basement and shoveled out thick mud that filled the center's two swimming pools.

As crews raced to repair the roads, the National Guard began flying in supplies to the towns of Cavendish, Granville, Hancock, Killington-Mendon, Marlboro, Pittsfield, Plymouth, Rochester, Stockbridge, Strafford, Stratton and Wardsboro. The Guard also used heavy-duty vehicles to bring relief to flood-stricken communities still reachable by road.

The cut-off towns ranged in population from under 200 (Stratton) to nearly 1,400 (Cavendish).

"If it's a life-and-death situation, where someone needs to be Medevac-ed or taken to a hospital, we would get a helicopter there to airlift them out, if we could get close to them. A lot of these areas are mountainous areas where there may not be a place to land," said Mark Bosma, a spokesman for Vermont Emergency Management.

There were no immediate reports of anyone in dire condition being rescued by helicopter.

But it took a relay operation involving two ambulances and an all-terrain vehicle to take a Killington woman in respiratory distress to a hospital in Rutland, about 13 miles away, after floodwaters severed the road between the two communities, Rutland Regional Medical Center President Tom Hubner said. The patient, whose name was not released, was doing fine, he said.

In Rochester, where telephones were out and damage was severe, people could be seen from helicopters standing in line outside a grocery store. McKinley said the town's restaurants and a supermarket were giving food away rather than let it spoil, and townspeople were helping each other.

"We've been fine so far. The worst part is not being able to communicate with the rest of the state and know when people are coming in," he said.

He said government agencies did a good job of warning people about the storm. "But here in Vermont, I think we just didn't expect it and didn't prepare for it," he said. "I thought, how could it happen here?"

Wendy Pratt, another of the few townspeople able to communicate with the outside world, posted an update on Facebook using a generator and a satellite Internet connection. She sketched a picture of both devastation and New England neighborliness.

"People have lost their homes, their belongings, businesses ... the cemetery was flooded and caskets were lost down the river. So many areas of complete devastation," Pratt wrote. "In town there is no cell service or internet service - all phones in town are out. We had a big town meeting at the church at 4 this afternoon to get any updates."

"Mac's opened up at 5 and gave perishables away to anyone who came," she added. "The Huntington House put on a big, free community dinner tonight."

Access to Rochester and Stratton by road was restored later in the day, officials said.

All together, the storm has been blamed for at least 42 deaths in 12 states. More than 2.5 million people from North Carolina to Maine were still without electricity Tuesday, three days after the hurricane churned up the Eastern Seaboard.

While all eyes were on the coast as Irene swirled northward, some of the worst destruction took place well inland, away from the storm's most punishing winds. In Vermont, Gov. Peter Shumlin called it the worst flooding in a century. Small towns in upstate New York — especially in the Catskills and the Adirondacks — were also besieged by floodwaters.

In Pittsfield, Vt., newlyweds Marc Leibowitz and Janina Stegmeyer of New York City were stranded Sunday along with members of the wedding party and dozens of their guests after floodwaters swamped the couple's honeymoon cottage. The honeymooners narrowly escaped in a four-wheel-drive rental car just before a bridge behind them collapsed.

More than a dozen of the 60 or so guests were airlifted out by private helicopters on Tuesday.

Michael Ricci of Woodstock, Vt., spent the day clearing debris from his backyard along the Ottauquechee River. What had been a meticulously mowed, sloping grass lawn and gorgeous flower beds was now a muddy expanse littered with debris, including wooden boards, propane tanks and a deer hunting target.

"The things we saw go down the river were just incredible," he said. "Sheds, picnic tables, propane tanks, furnaces, refrigerators. We weren't prepared for that. We had prepared for wind and what we ended up with was more water than I could possibly, possibly have imagined." He said the water in the yard was almost up to the house, or about 15 to 20 feet above normal.

He added: "The force of it was beyond our comprehension."

Vermont emergency officials and the National Weather Service warned before the storm about the potential for heavy rain and flooding. On Thursday, Shumlin recommended stocking up on enough food, water and other supplies to last three days.

On Tuesday, the governor defended his state's decision not to undertake extensive evacuations before the storm arrived, noting that it was too hard to predict which communities in a rugged place like Vermont would get hit.

"You'd have to evacuate the entire state," he said.

Gerald and Evangeline Monroe of Quechee, Vt., agreed with the governor and said they had no complaints about the way authorities handled the crisis.

Gerald Monroe noted that some homes on one side of the river through his town were damaged, while those on the opposite banks 100 yards away were unscathed.

His wife said city-dwellers may see a weather report and know it applies to their entire metropolitan area. "But when you live in Vermont, there are lots of little microclimates and every village is different." she said. "I think our authorities were fine."

Approximately 260 roads in Vermont were closed because of storm damage, along with about 30 highway bridges. Vermont Deputy Transportation Secretary Sue Minter said the infrastructure damage was in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Relief supplies arrived at Vermont's National Guard headquarters early Tuesday in a convoy of 30 trucks from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Accompanied by Shumlin, FEMA administrator Craig Fugate toured the state by helicopter Tuesday to survey the damage.

Meanwhile, in North Carolina, where Irene blew ashore along the Outer Banks on Saturday before heading for New York and New England, Gov. Beverly Perdue said the hurricane destroyed more than 1,100 homes and caused at least $70 million in damage.

Airlines said it would be days before the thousands of passengers stranded by Irene find their way home. Amtrak service was still out Tuesday between Philadelphia and New York because of flooding in Trenton. Commuter train service between New Jersey and New York City resumed Tuesday, except for one line that was still dealing with flooding.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said at news conference in North Carolina that she was unaware of anything federal authorities should have done differently in Vermont. She said FEMA and its state counterpart worked closely together, and she noted that after the state agency operations center got flooded out, it moved into FEMA's quarters.

William "Breck" Bowden, an expert on Vermont's watershed at the University of Vermont, attributed the disaster to a combination of factors: The soil was wet, Vermont's steep hills quickly fed the rainfall into streams, and the storm dumped a huge amount of water.

"There was plenty of warning being given about the coming storm by the meteorological community and the news media," he said. "The real issues are the enormous damage to our infrastructure. That's nothing an evacuation could have done anything about."

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Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Holly Ramer in Woodstock, Vt., Wilson Ring and Dave Gram in Montpelier, and Michael Gormley in Albany, N.Y.

Source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/08/27/national/a002503D36.DTL&ao=all#ixzz1WZPOkajk
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Flood Challenges Nuclear Plant

Published on Jun 27, 2011 by AssociatedPress

The nation's top nuclear power regulator says both of Nebraska's nuclear power plants have remained safe as they battle floodwaters. There is more concern about the Fort Calhoun plant because floodwaters are close. (June 27)

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal Holds News Conference on the Flooding in His State

To view go to: http://abcnews.go.com/video/video?id=6046305

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