Storms
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Phoenix

Hurricane Sandy causes devastating fires in Breezy Point, Queens

James Barron
The New York Times
Wed, 31 Oct 2012 06:18 UTC
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© Mark Lennihan / Associated PressThis aerial photo shows the Breezy Point neighborhood in New York, where dozens of homes burned to the ground Monday as a result of Superstorm Sandy.
The New York region began the daunting process on Tuesday of rebuilding in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, a storm that remade the landscape and rewrote the record books as it left behind a tableau of damage, destruction and grief.

The toll - in lives disrupted or lost and communities washed out - was staggering. A rampaging fire reduced more than 100 houses to ash in Breezy Point, Queens. Explosions and downed power lines left the lower part of Manhattan and 90 percent of Long Island in the dark. The New York City subway system - a lifeline for millions - was paralyzed by flooded tunnels and was expect to remain silent for days.

Accidents claimed more than 40 lives in the United States and Canada, including 22 in the city. Two boys - an 11-year-old Little League star and a 13-year-old friend - were killed when a 90-foot-tall tree smashed into the family room of a house in North Salem, N.Y. An off-duty police officer who led seven relatives, including a 15-month-old boy, to safety in the storm drowned when he went to check on the basement.
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Snowflake

Almost all of Switzerland covered in snow


Zurich4u.com
Wed, 31 Oct 2012 06:29 UTC
Dozens of road accidents were reported in the canton on Saturday evening following the heavy snowfall which has affected almost the whole of the country.

As many of the deciduous trees still have their leaves, many trees have suffered under the weight of the snow and branches have broken off, some of them falling on to roads and blocking them. Woodland in both cantons of Basel is particularly affected, especially above 400 metres. The authorities there have advised people not to walk in woods, or even on the edge of them.

The Zurich Cantonal Police have advised motorists to adapt their speed to the prevailing wintery conditions accordingly. They have reported a number of accidents caused by people still driving with summer tyres.

Several accidents were reported in the canton of Schwyz, too, with the mountain road between Schindellegi and Sattel particularly badly affected.

Nine accidents were reported in the canton of St Gallen, with the fire brigade busy clearing roads of fallen trees.

The photograph shows an overturned car in Bonau in the neighbouring canton of Thurgau.
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Snowflake

Heavy snowfall in Hungary - Video


First Post
Wed, 31 Oct 2012 06:25 UTC
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Igloo

France: Winter before it should be


Euronews/YouTube
Sun, 28 Oct 2012 13:48 UTC

"C'est l'hiver avant l'heure;" or 'it is winter before it should be', was one local person's reaction to heavy snow falls which have hit eastern parts of France.

The cold snap brought power cuts with up to 50,000 households in the Isere region in the Alps deprived of electricity.

Authorities have issued an "Orange" warning, the second highest alert, and rescue services have been fully mobilised.

Up to 50 centimetres of snow fell in some parts making driving hazardous. An icy wind and fresh falls of snow on top of the ice only added to the dangerous conditions.

Many drivers were forced to abandon their cars while emergency services were called to clear trees from roads felled in the high winds, with gusts blowing up to 130 kilometres per hour recorded in one area.

Parts of the south of France were the worst hit by the high winds where on the riviera two people have been reported missing.

A search has been mounted for a 12-year-old boy on the island of Porquerolles. Emergency services say his bike has been found. A 26-year-old windsurfer is also missing.

In the port of Marseille the ferry Napoleon Bonaparte was damaged when strong winds broke the ship's moorings.

The hull smashed against the dock flooding two of its watertight compartments.
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Snowflake Cold

Sweden braces for week of heavy snow


Ice Age Now
Tue, 30 Oct 2012 06:40 UTC
Meteorologists predict heavy snowfall throughout the country and have issued a nationwide class 1 warning.

"There may be large quantities of snow," explained Lisa Frost of the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, SMHI.

"As it's the first snow and it's quite early in the season, we're issuing the warning - especially as some people haven't changed to their winter tyres yet."

Throughout Monday, the Dalarna and Värmland counties have been slammed by a lengthy snow storm, which has left 10 cm (4 inches) of snow. SMHI forecast a further 10 cm before Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket) is already fighting the blizzards.

The season's lowest temperature was recorded on Sunday night with Nattavaara in far northern Sweden hitting -22.1C (-6F).
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Road Cone

Frankenstorm Sandy: 16 dead and millions without power as Obama declares New York City major disaster area


BBC
Tue, 30 Oct 2012 06:29 UTC
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US President Barack Obama has declared a "major disaster" in New York state after storm Sandy smashed into the US East Coast causing flooding and cutting power to millions.

A record 4m (13ft) tidal surge sent seawater cascading into large parts of New York City's subway system.

Across the city, a power sub-station suffered an explosion, a hospital was evacuated and fire destroyed 50 homes.

At least 13 people are reported dead across several states.

An estimated 50 million people could be affected by the storm, with up to one million ordered to evacuate homes.

Sandy, now downgraded from a hurricane but described as a "super-storm", is churning north heading for Canada still packing torrential rain driven by gale-force winds.
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Bulb

High winds leave tens of thousands without power across the Greater Toronto Area


CTV News
Mon, 29 Oct 2012 07:47 UTC
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Firefighters attend to the scene on Lyall Road, a tree and hydro poll are down due to strong weather on Monday, Oct. 29, 2012.
Canada - Tens of thousands of residents across Ontario were without power early Tuesday morning as a powerful storm system worked its way through the province.

As post-tropical cyclone Sandy slammed into New Jersey's southern coast late Monday, its effects were immediately felt throughout the GTA, as high winds and heavy rain downed tree branches and power lines.

Early Tuesday, power outages affected:
  • More than 60,000 Hydro One customers
  • 26,000 Toronto Hydro customers
  • More than 15,000 Powersource customers
  • About 250 Enersource customers
In announcing widespread power outages late Monday night, Energy Minister Chris Bentley said that, "Trained crews of professionals are onsite across Ontario and working to restore power safely and as quickly as possible."

Toronto Hydro reassured residents earlier Monday they had 80 crews on standby to respond to calls as opposed to the usual 15 crews that they keep at the ready.
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Apple Red

Storm damages crops in Haiti, fueling food price woes

Susana Ferreira
Reuters
Tue, 30 Oct 2012 01:32 UTC
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    © The Associated Press/Dieu Nalio CheryMany homes remain underwater in southern Haiti.
    Huge crop losses in southern Haiti raise famine worries
  • Flooding raises specter of cholera
  • Crop losses in Cuba, Jamaica as well
Port-au-Prince - As Hurricane Sandy barreled toward the U.S. East Coast on Monday, the full extent of the storm's havoc on Haiti was just beginning to emerge.

Extensive damage to crops throughout the southern third of the country, as well as the high potential for a spike in cases of cholera and other water-borne diseases, could mean Haiti will see the deadliest effects of Sandy in the coming days and weeks.

Haiti reported the highest death toll in the Caribbean, as swollen rivers and landslides claimed at least 52 lives, according to the country's Civil Protection office. More than three days of constant rain left roads and bridges heavily damaged, cutting off access to several towns and a key border crossing with the Dominican Republic.

"The economy took a huge hit," Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe told Reuters. He also said Sandy's impact was devastating, "even by international standards," adding that Haiti was planning an appeal for emergency aid.

"Most of the agricultural crops that were left from Hurricane Isaac were destroyed during Sandy," he said, "so food security will be an issue."

Sandy also destroyed banana crops in eastern Jamaica as well as decimating the coffee crop in eastern Cuba.

But the widespread loss of crops and supplies in the south, both for commercial growers and subsistence farmers, is what has Haitian authorities and aid organizations had worried about most.

The past several months have seen a series of nationwide protests and general strikes over the rising cost of living. Even before Hurricane Sandy hit, residents complained that food prices were too high.
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Cloud Lightning

Hurricane Sandy barrels ashore, leaving path of destruction

James Barron
The New York Times
Mon, 29 Oct 2012 00:00 UTC
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© The New York TimesA power failure affected most of Manhattan below Midtown.
Hurricane Sandy battered the mid-Atlantic region on Monday, its powerful gusts and storm surges causing once-in-a-generation flooding in coastal communities, knocking down trees and power lines and leaving more than five million people - including a large swath of Manhattan - in the rain-soaked dark. At least seven deaths in the New York region were tied to the storm.

The mammoth and merciless storm made landfall near Atlantic City around 8 p.m., with maximum sustained winds of about 80 miles per hour, the National Hurricane Center said. That was shortly after the center had reclassified the storm as a post-tropical cyclone, a scientific renaming that had no bearing on the powerful winds, driving rains and life-threatening storm surge expected to accompany its push onto land.
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© Ruth Fremson/The New York TimesWater rose from F.D.R. Drive on East 62nd Street in Manhattan.
The storm had unexpectedly picked up speed as it roared over the Atlantic Ocean on a slate-gray day and went on to paralyze life for millions of people in more than a half-dozen states, with extensive evacuations that turned shorefront neighborhoods into ghost towns. Even the superintendent of the Statue of Liberty left to ride out the storm at his mother's house in New Jersey; he said the statue itself was "high and dry," but his house in the shadow of the torch was not.

The wind-driven rain lashed sea walls and protective barriers in places like Atlantic City, where the Boardwalk was damaged as water forced its way inland. Foam was spitting, and the sand gave in to the waves along the beach at Sandy Hook, N.J., at the entrance to New York Harbor. Water was thigh-high on the streets in Sea Bright, N.J., a three-mile sand-sliver of a town where the ocean joined the Shrewsbury River.
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Cloud Precipitation

Hurricane Sandy grows to a thousand miles wide as East Coast awaits arrival of 'storm of the century'

Amy Oliver and Lydia Warren
Daily Mail
Mon, 29 Oct 2012 09:40 UTC
Hurricane Sandy has strengthened to nearly 1,000 miles wide with deadly winds in excess of 85 miles per hour - as hundreds of thousands of residents scrambled to higher ground, public transport systems shut down and thousands of flights across the country were cancelled.

The New Jersey shore is expected to take the brunt of the massive weather front - which forecasters said could be the largest in U.S. history - as Sandy hits near Atlantic City around 2am on Tuesday and churns north, with 50 million people in its path.

The worst of the Category 1 storm, which experts say is accelerating as it moves northwestward, is expected to bring a 'life-threatening' surge of seawater up to 11 feet high, coastal hurricane winds and a barrage of heavy snow in the Appalachian Mountains.

Nine U.S. states have declared states of emergency with the National Guard poised to swoop in, and President Obama has warned the nation to brace itself. 'This is a serious and big storm,' Mr Obama said after a briefing at the federal government's storm response center in Washington. 'We don't yet know where it's going to hit, where we're going to see the biggest impacts.'


Additional images
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