A "killer" storm that local officials and experts are describing as potentially unprecedented in its intensity has shut down Metro and thefederal governmentas the Washington area braces for devastating rains and winds that are expected to last well into Tuesday.
PBO Declares DC State of Emerg Both US Capital and Largest City At Risk
Update 1
CNN
[Update 8:33 p.m. ET] President Barack Obama has declared a state of emergency in the District of Columbia ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Sandy, according to a release from the White House. Obama earlier declared states of emergency for Maryland, Massachusetts and New York.
OMG
WAPO
On Sunday night, the system was to remain in operation until the normal close of service.
As for Monday’s Metro closure, officials said said no decision had yet been made about when rail service would be restored. The announcement said bus service would be suspended Monday “until further notice.”
Earlier today
CNBC
Visiting the federal storm-response headquarters in Washington, Obama warned East Coast residents to prepare for a "serious and big" storm that will be slow-moving and might take time to clear up. But he vowed the government would "respond big and respond fast" after it strikes.
Even as he pledged to stay on top of the storm threat, Obama - after shuffling his campaign travel because of the approaching hurricane - stuck to his plan to fly to Florida on Sunday night for a rally in Orlando on Monday.
But he scrapped an appearance later in the day in Ohio - considered the most critical election swing state - so that he could return to Washington to monitor what could be one of the largest storms to ever hit the U.S. mainland.
The hurricane threat also scrambled Republican challenger Mitt Romney's schedule, but he too was going ahead with some of his events.
And you know the Romney campaign will try to hang some fail meme about him due to this.
The President's visit to FEMA today brought to mind the 1 billion in cuts to FEMA's budget in 2011. What will be cut next? With the last 10 years seeing crazier and crazier weather, this does not seem like an area to slice.
Climate Change And Storms
Bill Mckibben
And that’s the world we live in now. James Hansen, the NASA climatologist, published a paper earlier this year showing how the seemingly small one degree we’ve already warmed the earth has made extreme weather far more likely. The insurance industry has published a series of warnings in recent years saying the same thing. The world grows steadily more unpredictable, and hence we grow less comfortable in it.
“Frankenstorms” like Sandy are stitched together from some spooky combination of the natural and the unnatural.
You see the same thing on much smaller scales. In Vermont this fall we had our first deaths ever from Eastern equine encephalitis, a mosquito-borne disease that the experts had predicted would come with a warming climate. They were right, and now when you go out to weed the garden, the dusk carries with it a slight whiff of apprehension it never did before.
Our relationship to the world around us is shifting as fast as that world is shifting. “Frankenstorm” is the right name for Sandy, and indeed for many other storms and droughts and heat waves now. They’re stitched together from some spooky combination of the natural and the unnatural. Some state will doubtless bear the brunt of this particular monster, but it also will do its damage to everyone’s state of mind.
We should use this experience as a major wake up call and take action. Some of climate change major offenders --Fossil fuel corporations Bill and 350.org are taking to the colleges and university campuses in the coming weeks....
These extremely profitable entities put millions into influencing government policy.
On November 7th, we’re hitting the road to jumpstart the next phase of the climate movement.
It’s simple math: we can burn 565 more gigatons of carbon and stay below 2°C of warming — anything more than that risks catastrophe for life on earth. The only problem? Fossil fuel corporations now have 2,795 gigatons in their reserves, five times the safe amount. And they’re planning to burn it all — unless we rise up to stop them.
This November, Bill McKibben and 350.org are hitting the road to build the movement that will change the terrifying math of the climate crisis.
Join us.