The hurricane which became tropical storm Irene ended up doing more damage with its precipitation than it did with its winds. In parts of the East Coast, August was already the rainiest month on record prior to the storm. So the waterways were swelled and more prone to flooding. Apparently Vermont got some of the [...]

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has ordered the city’s first hurricane evacuations in history in advance of Hurricane Irene, expected to hit the area over the weekend. The city ordered a mandatory evacuation of Zone A of this map. Zone A is marked in orange. Zone A includes low-lying coastal areas in parts of [...]

That’s the implication of the House Majority Leader’s statement that Congress has to “find the money” for federal aid for natural disasters: House Majority Leader Eric Cantor assured his constituents on Wednesday that Congress “will find the monies” to assist earthquake victims in Mineral, Virginia – but the Republican lawmaker noted that “those monies will [...]

It looks like the Atlantic Coast has, so far, dodged a bullet. Hurricane Earl passed by North Carolina’s Outer Banks last night and this morning, delivering a glancing blow. North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue reported no injuries from the tropical storm-force they saw. The path of the hurricane, which has degraded to a Category 2, [...]

The best-case scenario for Hurricane Earl was that it would move out to sea and only affect the eastern seaboard with rip currents and maybe a slight sprinkling of rain. But the storm appears to have pushed enough to the west to now threaten parts of the East Coast with much more than that. As [...]

Well, this is something: BP Plc has decided not to attach a second blowout preventer on its leaking well in the Gulf of Mexico and efforts to end the flow are over until the relief wells are finished, according to the U.S. Coast Guard’s Thad Allen, who spoke at a press conference today. Today is [...]