November 11, 2013

Philippine President Benigno Aquino declared a state of national calamity yesterday in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan. He issued a statement that thousands of survivors are desperately waiting for aid to reach them in the two worst-affected provinces, Leyte and Samar. Friday’s massive cyclone left widespread destruction and loss of life on both islands. Tacloban, the Leyte provincial capital with a population is 200,000, is nearly leveled. Authorities fear that thousands of people died in Tacloban alone. On the island of Samar, the small city of Guiuan was also largely destroyed. Relief workers told a BBC correspondent that areas in the far north of Cebu province suffered “80 to 90 percent” destruction.

The Philippine government estimates that the storm has affected some 9.5 million people—about 10 percent of the nation—and displaced more than 600,000 people. Entire regions are without food, water, and medical supplies. The head of the Philippine Red Cross, Richard Gordon, described the situation as “absolute bedlam,” and Jane Cocking, the humanitarian director for Oxfam, told the BBC that her colleagues witnessed “complete devastation. . . entire parts of the coastline just disappeared.” (Oxfam is an international confederation of 17 organizations working to find solutions to poverty and related injustice worldwide.) A team of 90 U.S. Marines and sailors based in Okinawa, Japan, landed in the Philippines yesterday to assess how the U.S. Department of Defense might best aid in the relief effort.

Meteorologists have confirmed that Haiyan was one of the strongest storms in recorded history. It smashed into the central Philippines On November 8 with sustained winds of 147 miles (235 kilometers) per hour and gusts of 190 miles (305 kilometers) per hour. The winds drove tsunami-like storm surges that were 40-feet- (12-meters-) high in places, leveling everything in their paths. In some areas, as much as 15.75 inches (400 millimeters) of rain fell, triggering massive flooding.

Typhoon Haiyan made landfall in Vietnam this morning, much weakened but, nevertheless, with sustained winds of 85 miles (140 kilometers) per hour.

Additional World Book articles:

• The Forecast: Better Weather Prediction Ahead (a special report)
• How the Ocean Affects Climate (a special report)

November 5, 2012

The death toll from the massive storm that started out as Hurricane Sandy stands at 71 people in the Caribbean, 110 in the United States, and 2 people in Canada. The storm left at least 40 people dead in New York City. More than 1.8 million homes and businesses remain without electric power in the states of Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, down from a peak of 8.5 million on October 30.

New York City’s 1.1 million public school students returned to class today. However, 57 school buildings are too damaged to be reopened, forcing some 34,000 students to be reassigned to other schools. At least 29 schools remain without electric power, and 8 buildings that normally house 24,000 students are currently being used as shelters for people left homeless by the storm.

The strong winds in hurricanes can push huge amounts of water onto land in a storm surge. Sandy's massive storm surges caused widespread devastation in parts of New York and New Jersey. (AP/Wide World)

An estimated 30,000 to 40,000 New Yorkers remain homeless, according to the office of Mayor Michael Bloomberg. At least 20,000 of the total were residents of public housing. In New Jersey, more than 5,000 people remain in shelters, and tens of thousands of people who evacuated are known to be living with friends or relatives.

Hurricane Sandy made landfall in the United States near Atlantic City, New Jersey, in the early evening of October 29. A record storm surge caused enormous damage along the Jersey Shore and in New York City, particularly in Queens and on Staten Island. As the storm 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. The storm left at least seven people dead in Pennsylvania and five dead in West Virginia.

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)

October 31, 2012

President Barack Obama, who has put campaigning on hold, accompanied New Jersey Governor Chris Christie today on a tour of areas of the Jersey Shore devastated by Hurricane Sandy. The storm made landfall on the night of October 29 along the New Jersey coast near the resort of Atlantic City. A storm surge flooded much of the city and tore up parts of the famed boardwalk. Governor Christie described the damage to the 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. Governor Christie, a Republican who supports Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, has gone out of his way to praise President Obama for his handling of the storm. “I spoke to the president three times yesterday,” he said during a televised interview. “He’s been incredibly supportive and helpful to our state and not once did he bring up the election.”

The death toll from the storm has been raised to at least 80, including 37 people in New York State. At least 8 million households and businesses remain without electric power, the U.S. Department of Energy announced today.

A fire fueled by high winds from Hurricane Sandy burned more than 100 houses in the New York City borough of Queens. Sections of Staten Island remain flooded. (World Book map)

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. Although parts of the system are running on a limited basis, rails and electrical equipment in the flooded tunnels will have to be cleaned before the entire network can reopen, which could take weeks.

The storm toppled thousands of trees in New York City and sparked numerous fires. Driven by the hurricane-force winds, one fire burned more than 100 houses in the 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. The area remains in the dark. However, the New York Stock Exchange reopened today, running on generator power, after being closed for two days. The last time the stock exchange shut down for so long because of the weather was during the Great Blizzard of 1888.

With offices reopening and the subway hobbled, many commuters drove into the city, creating massive gridlock. Drivers reported delays of hours, with cars and taxis lined up at major crossings and the entrances to reopened bridges and tunnels.

The famed Boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey, suffered major damage as a storm surge caused by Hurricane Sandy devastated beaches on the Jersey Shore. (© age fotostock/SuperStock)

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. The storm left at least seven people dead in Pennsylvania and five dead in West Virginia.

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)

October 28, 2012

Hurricane Sandy continues to sweep northward through the Atlantic Ocean en route to what forecasters agree will be a devastating landfall along the New Jersey coast, possibly within 100 miles (160 kilometers) of New York City. According to the National Hurricane Center, the huge storm, which is 1,000 miles (1,610 kilometers) wide, is currently producing sustained winds of 85 miles (137 kilometers) per hour and is moving north by northwest at approximately 20 miles (32 kilometers) per hour.

The Hurricane Center issued a warning yesterday that Sandy is likely to create a “life-threatening storm surge” that could cause record-breaking coastal flooding from Delaware to southern New England. In response, authorities across the region ordered the evacuation of low-lying areas. Hurricane Center forecasters predicted that the storm surge could be as much as 11 feet (3.35 meters) above normal tide levels along New York Bay and Long Island Sound. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo ordered the shutdown of subway, bus, and railroad services, and New York City Mayor Bloomberg ordered residents in low-lying areas to evacuate. The mayor also ordered the city schools closed.

Storm surges from Hurricane Sandy were expected to hit the bays south of New York City as well as Long Island Sound northeast of the city. (World Book map)

As Hurricane Sandy approaches land, it will collide with a severe winter storm that is moving across the country from the west. At the same time, forecasters expect a burst of arctic air to sweep down through the Canadian Plains. The confluence of these weather systems is expected to wreck havoc from the East Coast to the Great Lakes, even producing massive blizzards as far west as Ohio and Kentucky.

Forecasters believe the storm is on a scale with little precedent along the East Coast. “One of the biggest storms of our lifetimes is unfolding right now,” predicted meteorologist Kelly Cass on The Weather Channel during the cable network’s fourth day of nonstop storm coverage. Public utility officials estimate that as many as 10 million people living along the Philadelphia-New York-Boston corridor are likely to lose electric power as Hurricane Sandy topples trees and light poles, pulling down power lines. The region has not faced a storm this destructive since the New England hurricane of 1938, which left some 600 people dead.

A satellite image taken on Monday, October 28, shows Hurricane Sandy (circular storm) meeting a winter storm (north to south line) covering the Appalachian Mountains. (NASA Earth Observatory image by Robert Simmon with data courtesy of the NASA/NOAA GOES Project Science team.)

Additional World Book articles:

• National Weather Service
• Weather (1938) (a Back in Time article)
• The Forecast: Better Weather Prediction Ahead (a special report)
• How the Ocean Affects Climate (a special report)

August 29, 2012

Hurricane Isaac barreled into the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday, bringing storm surges, heavy rains, stiff winds, flooding, and threats of tornadoes. The Category 1 hurricane, which struck parts of Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi, was expected to reach New Orleans late this evening, seven years to the day that Hurricane Katrina slammed into the city. One of the most destructive storms in United States history, Katrina killed about 1,800 people and caused about $100 billion in damage. About 80 percent of New Orleans was flooded as parts of the city’s system of levees (flood barriers) failed. Most of the approximately 1,500 Louisianians who died because of the storm were from New Orleans.

Isaac made its first landfall at about 7:45 p.m. (EDT), about 95 miles (153 kilometers) south of New Orleans in Plaquemines Parish. The storm then wobbled westward and back into the gulf but returned for a second landfall at 3 a.m. (EDT) on Wednesday, near Port Fourchon, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) south of New Orleans. Heavy rainfall and storm surges along the Gulf Coast in Louisiana and Mississippi caused flooding as deep as 14 feet (4 meters) in some areas, sending residents who chose not to evacuate to the rooftops of their houses. Local residents and members of the National Guard mounted rescue operations in Plaquemines Parish, where a 12-foot (3.6-meter) storm surge overtopped (flowed over) an 18-mile (5.4-meter) section of levee.

By midday Tuesday, the slow-moving storm had essentially stalled, leading forecasters to predict that heavy rains would pound the area for several days. New Orleans could receive up to 20 inches (51 centimeters), said an official with the National Weather Service. Residents and officials in New Orleans were keeping a close eye on the city’s levees and pumps, which had undergone a $14-billion federal upgrade after the flood protection system had failed catastrophically during the much-stronger Hurricane Katrina.

A street intersection lies flooded near downtown New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina struck the city in August 2005. The hurricane caused many deaths and widespread damage. A combination of storm surge (a rapid rise in water levels produced when winds drive ocean waters ashore), heavy rainfall, and broken levees (walls to prevent flooding) caused water to cover most of the city. (© Chris Graythen, Getty Images)

Ahead of Isaac’s arrival, the governors of Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi ordered mandatory evacuations in some counties. The next day, U.S. President Barack Obama declared a state of emergency in Louisiana. troops were placed on stand-by alert to help communities affected by the storm. New Orleans officials also declared a state of emergency and provided buses for people to wished to leave their homes voluntarily.

Before hitting the Gulf Coast, Isaac–then a tropical storm–had lashed central and southern Florida with heavy rains and strong winds. The storm also caused the deaths of 24 people in Haiti and widespread damage along that country’s southern coast. The storm left 5 people dead in neighboring Dominican Republic.

Additional World Book articles:

• Corps of Engineers
• Federal Emergency Management Agency
• The Second Battle of New Orleans (a Special Report)
• City (2005) (a Back in Time article)
• Safety (2005) (a Back in Time article)