October 30, 2012

Rogue pigs in Berlin

BERLIN—Berlin authorities say they shot and killed a 120 kilogram (265-pound) wild boar after it attacked and injured four people including a police officer in a residential neighbourhood.

Police said Tuesday the boar bit a 74-year-old man on the back and leg, and knocked a 74-year-old woman to the ground and injured her hip on Monday afternoon in the Charlottenburg area of the capital. It also bit a 24-year-old woman before she climbed aboard a parked car to safety. All three were treated in a hospital.

Police say when a police officer arrived, the boar attacked him and cut his leg before he pulled his gun and killed the animal with “multiple shots.” ...............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1279487--wild-boar-rampage-leaves-4-injured-in-berlin-residential-neighbourhood

October 30, 2012

Superstorm Sandy’s climate change connection

from Grist:



Superstorm Sandy’s climate change connection
By Susie Cagle


It’s been a banner year for extreme weather conditions, from the drought that held the country hostage this summer to superstorm Sandy. But then, last year was a banner year for extreme weather too. And the years before that …



Scientists are mostly agreed that climate change has had a hand in crafting the Frankenstorm. But how, exactly? From Boing Boing:



Well, both. There are multiple factors that came together to whip up Sandy, and no one causal judgment, however attractive, is fair. But given the evidence, it’s likely that no matter how Sandy came in to this world, climate change has helped this storm grow bigger, go faster, and head farther than it might have in earlier times and cooler seas.



In chalking up Sandy to climate change, we should remember all the damage we’ve already done that hasn’t manifested in the form of an apocalyptic storm system nearly the size of Mexico. All that stuff plays into how Sandy acts now, from ocean temperatures and levels to our new general, um, moistness. ...................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://grist.org/news/superstorm-sandys-climate-change-connection/

October 30, 2012

Rockaways Still Burning, 3 Dead Elsewhere in N.Y.C.

(NYT) Rockaways Still Burning, 3 Dead Elsewhere in N.Y.C.

A six-alarm fire that has engulfed several entire blocks of houses in the Queens beach community of Breezy Point in the Rockaways was still burning out of control on Tuesday morning, the Fire Department said. Firefighters were hampered by high winds and the lack of available water.

“Once we get there it’s hard to begin fighting it,” said Firefighter Danny Glover, a spokesman.

“The wind is pushing it from house to house. That’s a big factor. Another big factor is the difficulty of gaining access to viable water sources.” Sea water cannot be used in firefighting equipment, he said. ..............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/10/28/nyregion/hurricane-sandy.html#sha=0c7a166c3

October 30, 2012

Power out at NYC hospital; 200 patients evacuate

NEW YORK — A backup generator failed at a New York City hospital Monday night, forcing it to move out more than 200 patients, including 20 babies from neonatal intensive care.

Dozens of ambulances lined up around the block outside New York University Tisch Hospital as doctors and nurses began the slow process of evacuation. They started with the sickest and youngest. Some were on respirators operating on battery power.

"It's a challenging situation," NYU Medical Dean Robert Grossman told WCBS-TV. "We drill all the time for this kind of thing. But this isn't a drill. This is the real thing."

Much of New York was plunged into darkness by superstorm Sandy, a monstrous hybrid system that swept across a huge swath of the East. .................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://xfinity.comcast.net/articles/news-national/20121030/US.Superstorm.Hospital/?cid=hero_media

October 30, 2012

Water on the runways at LaGuardia......

...... authorities aren't sure when it will reopen because a damage assessment needs to take place. (per Weather Channel)

October 30, 2012

Weather Channel: Substantial amounts of water in PATH train system......

...... and in NYC subway tunnels that cross the East River.

October 30, 2012

Weather Channel reporting that floodwaters are building up in the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel AND.....

....... that the East River has flooded a good deal of the East Village.

October 29, 2012

Weather Channel says ConEd has begun shutting off power to part of Lower Manhattan.

nt

October 29, 2012

Hurricane Sandy Threatens $20 Billion in Economic Damage

(Bloomberg) Hurricane Sandy may cause as much as $20 billion in economic damage and losses as the biggest Atlantic storm floods homes, disrupts millions of fliers, and forces retailers to close stores.

Insured losses may reach $5 billion to $10 billion, or about half of the total, according to the estimates today by Eqecat Inc., an Oakland, California-based provider of catastrophic risk models.

Sandy spans 900 miles and is strengthening as it makes landfall near Cape May, New Jersey. The storm may unleash life- threatening surges from Virginia to Massachusetts, reaching almost 12 feet (3.7 meters) in lower Manhattan. U.S. airlines have grounded about 12,500 flights, stranding travelers, and U.S. stock trading is closed through tomorrow in the first back- to-back shutdowns for weather since 1888.

.....(snip).....

Fourth-Quarter Estimates

Hurricane Sandy ultimately may subtract 0.1 to 0.2 percentage points from U.S. gross domestic product in the fourth quarter as spending drops on services such as restaurant meals, according to Mark Vitner, a senior economist at Wells Fargo Securities LLC in Charlotte, North Carolina. The economy, with annualized GDP of $13.6 trillion, expanded at a 2 percent pace in the third quarter.

“There’s a loss of activity that’s going to be hard to make up,” Vitner said. “If you’re a restaurant and you’re closed today, people are not going to eat two lunches tomorrow.” .................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-29/hurricane-sandy-threatens-20-billion-in-u-s-economic-damage.html

October 29, 2012

Bill McKibben on Sandy and Climate Change: "If There Was Ever A Wake-up Call, This Is It"

Published on Oct 29, 2012 by democracynow


Visit http://www.democracynow.org to watch more reports on Democracy Now!, an independent, global news hour that airs weekdays on 1,100+ TV and radio stations.

Much of the East Coast is shut down today as residents prepare for Hurricane Sandy, a massive storm that could impact up to 50 million people from the Carolinas to Boston. The storm has already killed 66 people in the Caribbean where it battered Haiti and Cuba. "This thing is stitched together from elements natural and un-natural and it seems poised to cause real havoc," says Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org. New York and other cities have shut down schools and transit systems. Hundreds of thousands of people have already been evacuated. Millions could lose power over the next day. Meteorologists say Sandy could be the largest storm ever to hit the U.S. mainland. The megastorm comes at a time when President Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney have refused to make climate change an issue on the campaign trail. For the first time since 1984, climate change was never addressed during a presidential debate. "It's really important that everybody, even those who aren't in the path of this storm, reflect about what it means that in the warmest year in U.S. history ... when we saw essentially summer sea ice in the Arctic just vanish before our eyes, what it means that we're now seeing storms this unprecedented magnitude," McKibben says. "If there was ever a wake-up call, this is it." We're also joined by climate scientist Greg Jones from Southern Oregon University.