As Superstorm Sandy closed in on the Northeast (October 2012), it converged with a cold-weather system that turned it into a monstrous hybrid of rain and high wind -- and even snow in West Virginia and other mountainous areas inland.
The storm that made landfall in New Jersey on Monday evening with 80 mph sustained winds killed at least 39 people in nine states, cut power to more than 8.2 million homes and businesses from the Carolinas to Maine, caused scares at two nuclear power plants... "The devastation on the Jersey Shore is some of the worst we've ever seen. The cost of the storm is incalculable at this point."
Sitting on the dangerous northeast wall of the storm, the New York metropolitan area got the worst of it. An unprecedented 13-foot storm surge of seawater -- three feet above the previous record -- gushed into the harbor, flooding city streets and subway stations. The Brooklyn-Battery and Queens Midtown Tunnels were flooded.
The storm that made landfall in New Jersey on Monday evening with 80 mph sustained winds killed at least 39 people in nine states, cut power to more than 8.2 million homes and businesses from the Carolinas to Maine, caused scares at two nuclear power plants... "The devastation on the Jersey Shore is some of the worst we've ever seen. The cost of the storm is incalculable at this point."
Sitting on the dangerous northeast wall of the storm, the New York metropolitan area got the worst of it. An unprecedented 13-foot storm surge of seawater -- three feet above the previous record -- gushed into the harbor, flooding city streets and subway stations. The Brooklyn-Battery and Queens Midtown Tunnels were flooded.
Are we learning?
Regarding Hurricane Harvey, Jon Queally of Common Dreams writes, "As Historic Flooding Grips Texas, Groups Demand Nuclear Plant Be Shut Down" As he points out in his article, "This storm and flood is absolutely without precedent even before adding the possibility of a nuclear accident that could further imperil millions of people who are already battling for their lives."
As record-breaking rainfall and unprecedented flooding continue to batter the greater Houston area and along the Gulf coast on Tuesday, energy watchdogs groups are warning of "a credible threat of a severe accident" at two nuclear reactors still operating at full capacity in nearby Bay City, Texas.
"Both the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the STP operator have previously recognized a credible threat of a severe accident initiated by a breach of the embankment wall that surrounds the 7,000-acre reactor cooling water reservoir,"
| A breach of the embankment wall surrounding the twin reactors is potentially a very serious problem because the water could "cause high-energy electrical fires and other cascading events initiating a severe accident leading to core damage." Even worse, "any significant loss of cooling water inventory in the Main Cooling Reservoir would reduce cooling capacity to the still operating reactors that could result in a meltdown." |  |
But no matter how remote the possibility, said Gunter, "it's simply prudent that the operator put this reactor into its safest condition, cold shutdown."
The calls for a nuclear shut-down are necessary and required when those in charge, from Texas' governor, Greg Abbott, on down, do not believe in the preponderance of evidence from the scientific community. Remember also that former Texas governor Rick Perry is now the one in charge at the Department of Energy and he may be called upon to make a decision for the department he wanted to eliminate but couldn't remember the name of the department... so, oh well !!!
It is said that things have to get really, really bad before we humans are capable of making a change in direction. We desperately need to learn the lesson that our politicians are leading us toward extinction. We are surrounded with bad decision makers. We need to make 'that change' in direction quickly - very quickly.
There is a similar situation of stupidity in Florida where a state senator is attempting to find a word to describe events, but cannot use the phrase 'climate change' because the governor, Rick Scott, has banned use of the phrase by state employees.
“I used ‘climate change,'” said Florida State Senator Jeff Clemens , “but I’m suggesting that maybe as a state, we use the term ‘atmospheric reemployment.’ That might be something that the governor could get behind.”
The governor of the state, Rick Scott, a U.S. senator of the state Marco Rubio, the speaker of the House in Tallahassee and a host of other political leaders in the state are deniers of climate change. Apparently it is contagious among politicians.
For a nation still reeling from the devastation of Hurricane Harvey, on Wednesday came some unwelcome news. Tropical Storm Irma has formed in the central Atlantic Ocean, and is forecast to strengthen into a hurricane by the end of the week.
“For some reason or another, this issue of climate change has emerged as a paramount issue for the left in this country and around the world,” Vice President Mike Pence said.
Clearly, Mike doesn't get it. "For some reason or other"... maybe attempting to extend human existence on this planet would serve as a 'good reason'... and then there is this business about the "left" as if all of humanity wasn't involved... clearly, Mike doesn't get it. Is seems that we aren't learning anything at all.
Did you vote for these people? Are you paying attention? Yes, let's change our language so that when the end comes, we will know that 'global warming' was a hoax as we have been repeatedly told by our political leadership. Instead of being 'done-in' by climate change, we will know that humanity was extinguished by 'atmospheric reemployment", and that's the truth !!!
