October 30, 2012

Some 6 million people remain without electric power on the East Coast of the United States in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. The storm, reclassified as a post-tropical cyclone, made landfall at 6:45 p.m. last night near the New Jersey resort of Atlantic City, where a storm surge flooded much of the city and tore up parts of the famed boardwalk. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie described the damage to the “devastated” Jersey Shore as “incalculable,” and President Barack Obama declared a federal disaster area in eight New Jersey counties as well as in New York City and Long Island.

Hurricanes can cause massive damage from strong winds, flooding, mudslides, and a rapid rise in sea level called a storm surge. (AP/Wide World)

In New York City, the storm flooded seven subway tunnels under the East River in what the chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority characterized as the single most destructive disaster in the 108-year history of the subway system. The Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel is also filled with sea water from “end-to-end.”

At least 33 people died in the storm, which toppled trees and sparked numerous fires. Driven by the hurricane-force winds, one fire burned at least 80 houses in the New York City borough of Queens. In Manhattan, flooding topped the sea wall in the financial district and triggered an explosion in a Consolidated Edison generating plant, cutting electric power to much of the island below mid-town.

As Sandy moved inland, it collided with two other weather systems, including a burst of cold air sweeping down through the Canadian Plains. The combined storm brought high winds, freezing rains, and heavy snows to parts of West Virginia. In Pennsylvania, it caused power outages and flooding and forced numerous closures of roads, schools, and businesses.

Sandy’s strong winds also spawned dangerous conditions on the Great Lakes. In Chicago, emergency management officials warned that winds up to 60 miles (100 kilometers) per hour could send waves as high as 25 feet (8 meters) crashing along the shoreline of Lake Michigan. In Cleveland and other areas of northeastern Ohio, an estimated 250,000 people are without power amid heavy rains, high winds, flooding, and icy roads. The National Weather Service reports wind gusts of 60 to 70 miles (100 to 112 kilometers) per hour along the shoreline of Lake Huron near Port Huron, north of Detroit.

Additional World Book articles:

• Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
• The Forecast: Better Weather Prediction Ahead (a special report)
• How the Ocean Affects Climate (a special report)

August 9, 2012

Global food prices are rising due to wild swings in weather conditions, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced today. The drought in the United States, combined with untimely rains in Brazil and production problems in Russia, sent food prices up by 6 percent in July 2012. The severe deterioration of the U.S. corn crop due to extensive drought damage pushed corn prices up by more than 30 percent in July. Cereal prices climbed by 17 percent and sugar by 12 percent. (Corn is an especially important source of sugar-rich syrups in the United States. The consumption of corn sweeteners in the United States is about equal to the consumption of sucrose.)

Drought conditions in the United States have caused severe damage to corn crops, pushing up food prices worldwide. (AP/Wide World photo)

Rising food prices have already caused a food crisis in the Sahel sub-region of west and central Africa, affecting more than 18 million people. The situation has renewed fears of the kind of food crisis that resulted in violent street protests in Egypt and Haiti in 2007 and 2008. “This is not some gentle wake-up call–it’s the same global alarm that’s been screaming at us since 2008,” notes Hannah Stoddart, Oxfam’s head of economic justice policy. (Oxfam is an international confederation of 17 organizations that work directly with communities to ensure that poor people can improve their lives and livelihoods.)

July 2012 was the hottest single month on record for the continental United States since record keeping began in 1895, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported yesterday. The average temperature across the lower 48 states was 77.6 °F (25.3 °C), 3.3 Fahrenheit degrees above the 20th-century average. The first seven months of the year were the warmest of any year on record and were drier than average. The excessive heat and drought have led Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to declare more than half of all counties in the United States disaster zones.

Additional World Book articles:

• Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
• When the Rain Stops (a special report)