Disasters

"About 166,000 homes and businesses in the eastern United States were still without power on Sunday, after being battered first by Hurricane Sandy in late October and then by last week's Nor'easter storm, company and government data showed."

"A Homeland Security Department undersecretary has told Janet Napolitano she has doubts about a new version of the nation's troubled system for detecting a biological attack."

Years of poor land-use decisions and neglect of emergency preparedness probably made the losses of life and property from superstorm Sandy significantly worse. Similar situations exist in other U.S. coastal areas.

"ABOUT 100,000 homes and businesses in New York City and Long Island were so damaged by hurricane Sandy that restoring power to some of them may take months, the Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, has said."

Turns out that computer models may have been underestimating the severity of climate change.

"For a clue to the possible impact of climate change on modern society, a study suggests a look back at the end of classic Maya civilization, which disintegrated into famine, war and collapse as a long-term wet weather pattern shifted to drought."

"Damage from Superstorm Sandy to the electricity system in the U.S. Northeast exposed deep flaws in the structure and regulation of power utilities that will require a complete redesign, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Thursday."

"A northeaster threatened to unravel progress made since Hurricane Sandy ravaged the New York area, delivering a second angry serving of howling wind and high water on Wednesday in places where misery and frustration had yet to recede."

"Storm-weary residents across the New York and New Jersey area encountered confusion and long lines as they went to cast ballots in the presidential election on Tuesday, and regional officials began scrambling to prepare for a new weather threat due as early as Wednesday."

"Elected officials in New York and New Jersey scrambled Monday to enable displaced citizens to vote in the election on Tuesday, relocating scores of coastal polling places that had become unusable because of power failures, flooding or evacuations."