Showing posts with label Power. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Power. Show all posts

Friday, March 4, 2016

INFRASTRUCTURE COLLAPSE: Nationwide Power Blackout Hits Syria - Cause Not Known?!

The Syrian civil war has claimed more than 270,000 lives (AFP Photo/Youssef Karwashan)

March 4, 2016 - SYRIA - War-torn Syria was hit Thursday by a nationwide power cut, state television reported, but the cause was not immediately known.

"Electricity has been cut across all provinces and teams are trying to determine the reason for this unexpected cut," the station reported, citing a source within the electricity ministry.

Damascus residents said power in the capital had been out since 1:00 pm (1100 GMT) and that mobile Internet connections from some private providers were also not working.

Syria's state mobile provider said its Internet service had been "partially cut due to part of the network unexpectedly malfunctioning".

Since Syria's conflict erupted in March 2011, various areas across the country have experienced intermittent power outages as a result of clashes or air strikes and many regularly rely on generators for power.

Syria's parliament had on Monday called in electricity minister Imad Khamis for a special hearing on the power sector.

Khamis told parliamentarians that the cost of "direct damage" to the country's power stations and the electricity network from 2011 until the end of 2015 was estimated $3.75 billion.

In statements carried by Syria's state news agency SANA, Khamis said five out of the 13 main power stations in Syria had been "directly damaged" in the war. - Yahoo.





Monday, February 29, 2016

INFRASTRUCTURE COLLAPSE: Wet Weather Causes "ALARMING MOMENTS" In Elizabeth, New Jersey - Underground Electrical Installations Explode; Manhole Explosion Sends Cover Flying Over 20 FEET Into The Air! [VIDEO]

File photo.

February 29, 2016 - NEW YORK, UNITED STATES - The wet weather on Wednesday caused some alarming moments in Elizabeth, New Jersey, when electrical installations underground began to explode.

As CBS2's Steve Langford reported, cellphone video captured the explosion that sent a manhole cover flying into the air.

With brutal force, the manhole cover was propelled skyward by a powerful explosion in a business district Wednesday in Elizabeth, as underground electrical wires once again proved to be an incendiary mix with salt and rain and snow.

The dangerous conditions in the manhole sparked one blast after the other mid-morning near Elizabeth Avenue and 7th Street.

"The explosion looked like it's the flames, they come. The flames maybe about maybe 6-foot high and they start to smoke - a lot of smoke," said witness Carlos Aviles.

The call first came in at 10:10 a.m. after the manhole exploded. Just as fire units were pulling up, the manhole cover blasted into the air.

"I stepped out of the vehicle and a manhole, probably 20, 25 feet away, shot right up in the air," said Elizabeth Deputy Fire Chief Lathey Wirkus. "It was a massive explosion."


WATCH: Exploding Manhole in NJ.





First responders cleared people away quickly and evacuated some 20 buildings, because of the real danger of getting killed by one of the manhole covers.

"We had a serious potential due to the manhole covers that were lifting off," Wirkus said.

What's more, carbon monoxide was detected - forcing the urgent ventilation of many basements. Emergency utility workers were out in force, scrambling to ensure safety, make repairs and get the power back on.

Local businesses suffered.

"It's slow," one business operator said. "You see, it's slow right now."

Mercifully, no pedestrians or drivers were at or near the manhole covers when they detonated with such frightening force. - CBS.
 









Friday, February 5, 2016

GEOLOGICAL UPHEAVALS: Sinkholes Keep Popping Up Across The United States - Rescue Crews Searching For Body Inside Massive Queen Creek Sinkhole In Arizona?! [LIVE VIDEO FEED]

Picture: AIR15

February 5, 2016 - ARIZONA, UNITED STATES - Rescue crews are on scene of a possible body recovery at a Queen Creek sinkhole.

A Queen Creek Fire Department spokesman said a body has not been found, but crews are continuing to search at the scene near Power and Ocotillo roads.

Fire officials say an unoccupied truck was found near the hole, prompting an initial rescue call to determine if a person was stuck in the trench.

Air15 video over the scene showed crews hovering over the hole in a ladder truck bucket assessing the situation.

Several law enforcement agencies are on scene. - ABC15.


WATCH: Rescue crews probe sink hole, seek possible injured person.





Monday, March 9, 2015

OMEN, SIGNS IN THE HEAVENS & INFRASTRUCTURE COLLAPSE: Upcoming "SUPERMOON" Eclipse Will Dazzle Britain - But Will Hit Europe's Power Grids Hard, Could Create The Biggest Blackout Since 1999!

The moment of totality during the solar eclipse (Reuters / Howard Burditt)

March 9, 2015 - EUROPE
- This spring should reward plenty of star-gazers, especially in Britain, which will experience its deepest solar eclipse in 15 years, as well as a Supermoon, all at the same time – an event that will sink the island into twilight for two whole hours.

The Supermoon eclipse, as the phenomenon is known, is an astronomical alignment where the Moon is sent on a trajectory between the Sun and the Earth, depriving us of light. The event will occur on March 20 at around 8:40GMT.

Scotland will have it best though, with a whopping 98 percent of the sky darkened, compared to about 85 percent for the south of England. For best results the Scottish need to look up starting 9:36 am.

Other areas in Britain will only get around 30 percent.

Similar events took place in 2006, 2008 and 2011, but neither of them can touch the upcoming Supermoon eclipse, except an event that occurred in 1999.

We’ll have to wait three years for the next one in 2018. However, only 2026 will present us with a deep solar eclipse once again. As for the magnitude, it won’t be until 2090 that we get to see anything like the 1999 and upcoming March 20 events.

Whenever particularly striking displays take place, it is because the Moon is close to the Earth. According to Dr Edward Bloomer of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, the March eclipse will see the Moon closer to us than it has been in more than 18 years.

“The Earth is orbiting around the Sun and sometimes is slightly closer and sometimes further away, and the Earth is also wobbling around on its axis,”
the Telegraph cites him as saying.

“Likewise the orbit of the Moon around the Earth is elliptical and slightly tilted so it’s rare for the Sun, Earth and Moon to actually line up,”
he also said. And when the Moon’s orbit is as close as possible to the Earth’s, we have a total eclipse, Bloomer explains.

That’s when the Supermoon appears, and that is what will take place in Britain in a few days, as our satellite appears to us as an enormous black, glowing orb, shortly before March 20.


Reuters / Michaela Rehle

The only thing the Brits have to worry about is weather. It can potentially ruin their viewing experience, with the possibility of clouds and rain.

But if skies are clear, another treat for everyone will be the moon itself. With such proximity and lighting conditions, a pair of binoculars will give the viewer surface details that could never be seen with the naked eye.

However, it’s not just the fun factor of such events that is attracting attention. The Brits are afraid it might cause power grid failures as well. The National Grid says around 50 percent of power will be lost throughout the morning hours later in March.

But Britain will remain relatively unscathed, compared to its European neighbors, where up to 10 percent of energy is generated sustainably, meaning they depend more on the sun. According to the UK’s energy body, only 1.5 percent of power there is generated by solar panels. And since people will be going out in droves to watch the spectacle, energy consumption should drop almost at the same time the shortages will strike, it says.

The European Network Transmission System Operators for Electricity says, according to the Independent, “with the increase of installed photovoltaic energy generation, the risk of an incident could be serious without appropriate countermeasures.”

"Within 30 minutes the solar power production would decrease from 17.5 gigawatts to 6.2GW and then increase again up to 24.6GW. This means that within 30 minutes the system will have to adapt to a load change of -10GW to +15GW,"
said Patrick Graichen, executive director of the Berlin-based think-tank on renewable energy Agora Energiewende, as cited by the Financial Times.

While the world is only hearing about the Supermoon eclipse now, energy companies have been preparing for the event for months in advance, some in Europe setting up contingency measures for extracting energy from other power stations.

Experts predict that precautionary methods will only increase with time, as more solar energy becomes increasingly commonplace. - RT.



Wednesday, February 25, 2015

OMEN & SIGNS IN THE HEAVENS: The Next Solar Eclipse On March 20th Will Plunge The United Kingdom Into Darkness - The Biggest Blackout Since 1999!

Corona time: What the sky will look like in March

February 25, 2015 - UNITED KINGDOM
- Power supplies could drop suddenly next month when the UK is plunged into darkness with an eclipse of the sun.

Energy experts warned there could be possible blackouts in the biggest solar eclipse since 1999.

Nearly 90 per cent of the sun's rays will be blocked out in parts of Europe on March 20.

In London and the South East, 85 per cent of the sun will be obscured by the moon whilst in northern Scotland, more than 95 per cent will be covered.

The National Grid has warned that solar power output in Britain will halve during the event.
It is unlikely to cause problems as so little electricity comes from solar power im the UK but other parts of Europe come be plunged into darkness.


Eclipse map courtesy of Fred Espenak -
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center


The European Network Transmission System Operators for Electricity said: "The risk of incident cannot be completely ruled out. Solar eclipses have happened before but with the increase of installed photovoltaic energy generation, the risk of an incident could be serious without appropriate countermeasures."

The organisation said it had been planning for months so that suppliers across Europe provide more energy from other power stations during the hours that solar energy supplies are hit. Patrick Graichen, executive director of Agora Energiewende, a renewable energy think-tank in Berlin, said such events might become problematic in the future as more solar farms are built.

He told the Financial Times: "In a way March 20 is a glimpse into the future of our power systems."

The eclipse will last around two hours from 8.40am. The next one will not be until 2026.

The UK's leading group for beginners to stargazing, the Society for Popular Astronomy, has made a video with practical tips on how to observe the eclipse safely. It is presented by Lucie Green, from the BBC's The Sky at Night. - Telegraph.




Wednesday, February 18, 2015

INFRASTRUCTURE COLLAPSE: Cars Submerged And Property Destroyed As Pipe Burst Floods Hollywood Hills, California - Over 100,000 Gallons Of Water Released; Water Main Break Average Three Times A Day In Aging Los Angeles!

Still from vine video/Sarah Parvini

February 18, 2015 - CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
- A water main break sent 100,000 gallons of water flooding into the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles early Wednesday morning, engulfing cars and destroying property.

Marty Adams, water systems manager for the LA Department of Water & Power, described the break as “unfortunate but not a disaster.”


Still from vine video/Sarah Parvini

Still from vine video/Sarah Parvini

Still from vine video/Sarah Parvini

He told the LA Times the cast-iron pipe that broke was installed in 1926, and had not leaked for the past 10 years.
LADWP PIPE LEAK: Cast iron pipe has leaked at least 100,000 gallons, officials say. pic.twitter.com/NzHVBrvD94
— Matt Stevens (@ByMattStevens) February 18, 2015
DWP officials said last year that water main leaks and breaks occurred on average three times a day across Los Angeles. Hollywood Hills has had 48 pipe leaks between January 2010 and December 2014.


WATCH: Vine video/Sarah Parvini.




Damage has been localized, but it could take up to 15 hours to stop the leak, said Adams. “This is an indication of what’s going on in an aging city.” - RT.



Friday, April 4, 2014

INFRASTRUCTURE & SOCIETAL COLLAPSE: Blackout - Power Outages Up 15 PERCENT Nationwide In The United States; Surges And Spikes To Cost The U.S. Economy $150 BILLION!

April 04, 2014 - UNITED STATES - An unusual power outage in Redondo Beach, California affected 6,100 customers for three hours in 2013. The cause? Wild parrots roosting on an overhead power line, consequentially knocking out service.




While outages aren’t typically sparked by such unusual circumstances, facility managers should be prepared for unplanned outages. According to a new report from Eaton, such outages were up 15% in 2013 and over half of those surveyed believe that downtime could have been prevented.

Eaton’s Blackout Tracker Annual Report contains data that is based on a full year of reported power outages across the U.S. and provides an overview of national power outage data as well as power outage data by state. For the fifth year running, California topped the list of states with the most power outages, followed by Texas and Michigan.

“The Blackout Tracker Annual Report illustrates the scope and severity of power outages across the country and the serious consequences that can arise for businesses when the lights go out,” said Mike DeCamp, senior marketing communications manager, Eaton Power Quality Division.

“With electrical power outages, surges and spikes estimated to cost the U.S. economy $150 billion, it’s more important than ever for companies of all sizes to invest in reliable power backup solutions.”

Don’t let downtime affect your facility. Be prepared with emergency generator tips. For the full report, visit Eaton's Blackout Tracker. - Buildings.



Tuesday, February 18, 2014

THE AGE OF OBAMA & CHILDHOOD'S END: Precursors To The End Of The U.S. Corporation And The Collapse Of The FAILED White Supremacy Paradigm - The United States Of Decline, America Unravels At An Increasingly Dizzying Pace!

"So far have they [the United States] strayed into wickedness in those [future] times that their destruction has been sealed by my [father]. Their great cities will burn, their crops and cattle will suffer disease and death, their children will perish from diseases never seen upon this Earth, and I reveal to you the greatest [mystery] of all as I have been allowed to see that their [the United States] destruction will come about through the vengeful hands of one of our very own sons." - Kenyan Prophet, Johanwa Owalo, the founder of Kenya’s Nomiya Luo Church, 1912.


"The U.S. Corporation, one of the fundamental tools of the White Supremacy Paradigm has not worked and will never work for the majority of Americans or the people across the globe. Behind its military and economy dominance lies a trail awash with the blood of billions, who have suffered from its immoral foreign policies and asymmetrical wars, carried out on the behest of the Vatican and European overlords. It's inevitable collapse must not only be welcomed, it should be accelerated." - Andre Heath, Editor.

February 18, 2014 -
UNITED STATES - America is unraveling at a stunning speed and to a staggering degree. This decline is breathtaking, and the prognosis is dim.




For starters, Obama now rules by decree. Reportedly for the 27th time, he has changed the rules of Obamacare singlehandedly, with neither congressional approval nor even ceremonial resolutions to limit his actions. Obama needs no such frivolities.

“That’s the good thing about being president,” Obama joked on February 10. “I can do whatever I want.” In an especially bitter irony, Obama uttered these despicable words while guiding French president François Hollande through Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson — a key architect of America’s foundation of limited government.

That very day, Obama decreed that the Obamacare mandate for employers with 50 to 99 workers would be postponed until 2016 (beyond an earlier extension to 2015), well past the November 2014 midterm elections. This eases the pressure on Democrats, whose campaigns would suffer if voters saw their company health plans canceled due to Obamacare’s unnecessary, expensive, mandatory benefits — e.g. maternity coverage for men.

So, by fiat, Obama has postponed the employer mandate. When Senator Ted Cruz (R., Texas) effectively tried to do this through legislation last fall, Democrats virtually lassoed and branded him.

Also by decree last week, Obama decided unilaterally to soften political-asylum rules. Refugees and other immigrants who provide terrorists “limited material support” now can come to America. So what if someone merely clothed and fed Mohamed Atta or Khalid Sheikh Mohammed? After all, garments and meals don’t blow up. Welcome to America, Mustafa!

Meanwhile, the Justice Department is working hard to revoke the asylum of and deport the Romeikes. This evangelical-Christian family was granted refuge in America to escape prosecution for homeschooling their children, which German law forbids.

So, Obama believes, those who are only somewhat helpful to deadly, anti-U.S. terrorists may become Americans, while religiously oppressed homeschoolers who face prison should get the hell out.

The transparent electoral motive that fuels so many of Obama’s executive orders seems unprecedented. The tone is also brand new. Obama’s predecessors have signed executive orders and, more or less, left it at that. But Obama pounds his chest as he does so. As he told Congress at last month’s State of the Union address: “America does not stand still — and neither will I. So wherever and whenever I can take steps without legislation to expand opportunity for more American families, that’s what I’m going to do.”

While appalled Republicans sat on their hands, Democrats stood up and shouted like equatorial, rubber-stamp parliamentarians: “Hooray! We are irrelevant!”

Chilling.

Meanwhile, as the American Enterprise Institute’s Marc Thiessen wrote in the February 10 Washington Post, new Congressional Budget Office figures show that Obamacare will reduce U.S. incomes by $70 billion annually between 2017 and 2024. The CBO also estimated that by 2021, Obamacare’s disincentives to hire and incentives not to work would slash labor hours by the equivalent of 2.3 million jobs.

Rather than dispute these figures, key Democrats embraced them.

“We want people to have the freedom to be a writer, to be a photographer, to make music, to paint,” said House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California. She added that “people would no longer be job-locked by their [health] policies, but have the freedom to follow their passion.”

So, rather than expand economic growth and jobs, Democrats applaud as Americans stop working — to do watercolors, draft poetry, and take naps — while exhausted taxpayers foot the bill.

Clearly unafraid of Obama, Iranian warships for the first time are steaming toward America’s Atlantic maritime borders. Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps navy commander Ali Fadayi said, “The Americans can sense by all means how their warships will be sunk with 5,000 crews and forces in combat against Iran and how they should find its hulk in the depths of the sea.” Tehran last week also aired fantasy videos of drones blasting a U.S. warship and bombing Tel Aviv. This is how Iran behaves while it negotiates with U.S. diplomats over “peaceful” uranium enrichment?

Nearby, embattled Syrians flee the city of Homs while they and their United Nations protectors dodge incoming mortar shells. This sorry spectacle has exposed Obama’s Syrian policy as a miserable flop. So does the fact that Syrian president Bashar Assad has handed over only 4 percent of the chemical weapons that his deal last September with Obama and Vladimir Putin was supposed to neutralize. According to GOP senators John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Secretary of State John Kerry privately conceded to them that Obama’s approach in Syria has failed.

America liberated Afghanistan from a regime that hosted al-Qaeda, banned kites and recorded music, and built a bridge to the seventh century. And what thanks does the U.S. get? Over American objections, Afghan president Hamid Karzai last week released 65 Taliban warriors from Bagram prison, where they were being held on suspicion of killing American troops, murdering Afghan civilians, deploying roadside bombs, and otherwise perpetrating mayhem. When U.S. officials complained that these killers could return to the fight — as have other Taliban thugs, once freed — Karzai exploded: “If the Afghan judicial authorities decide to release a prisoner, it is of no concern to the U.S. I hope that the U.S. will stop harassing Afghanistan’s procedures and judicial authority, and I hope the U.S. will now begin to respect Afghan sovereignty.”

For these and many other reasons, Democrats are fleeing Obama.

“I don’t care to have him campaign for me,” said Senator Mark Begich (D., Alaska).

A reelection ad for Representative Joe Garcia (D., Fla.) boasts that “he voted to let you keep your existing health plan, and he took the White House to task for the disastrous healthcare website.”

“He [Obama] is hurting the Democratic brand right now,” veteran Democratic campaign strategist Joe Trippi told Fox News Channel’s Megyn Kelly on February 12. “The Obamacare snafus, his approval rating is declining, and his credibility problems all drag the Democratic brand down.”

Rather than resist an increasingly weak — yet ever more assertive — Obama, GOP congressional leaders hand him whatever he wants. Thus, House speaker John Boehner and Senate GOP chief Mitch McConnell of Kentucky pushed through a $1.012 trillion budget with, at best, minuscule and illusory spending cuts. A $956 billion farm bill includes $3 million to promote Christmas trees (who on Earth would buy them without federal assistance?), $100 million for maple-syrup market research, and $170 million for catfish protectionism. Boehner and McConnell sent Obama this gift-wrapped monstrosity, which was $56 billion higher than Obamacare’s original price tag. And in exchange, Obama gave them . . . zippo!

On February 12, Boehner and McConnell helped send Obama a measure to suspend the debt limit until March 15, 2015. (The debt ceiling was not raised from $17.2 trillion to a higher level; it simply was removed. The gas pedal remains in Obama’s Little Red Cor-debt, but the brakes are gone.) This passed the GOP House with Boehner and only 27 Republicans voting yes. The other 194 votes were from Democrats. When McConnell surrendered on cloture, 11 other Republican senators helped Democrats advance their dirty work. The debt ceiling is now a debt sunroof.

And what did Washington’s top two Republicans get for giving Obama 13 months to shop till America drops? Nothing! No repeal of Obamacare’s $47 billion bailout of health insurers. No approval of the Keystone XL Pipeline. No termination of the cure-killing medical-device tax. No votes on these matters, which would have forced Democrats to choose. This could have helped Republican candidates in November.

Steely resolve could stymie the unpopular and untrustworthy Obama. Sadly, Boehner, McConnell, and other GOP leaders are as firm as foil.


Happy Valentine’s Day! The Senate Conservatives Fund has broken up with House Speaker John Boehner.

“Republicans are giving up because they know that winning is impossible when their leaders are determined to lose,” the Senate Conservatives Fund stated. “These leaders have telegraphed weakness to the Democrats and sabotaged conservative efforts so many times that Republicans now have no leverage.” The group concluded: “John Boehner must be replaced as Speaker of the House. . . . Unless we install a new leader who will actually go on offense, Democrats will never fear us and we will never have any leverage.”

Also, Earth’s sole superpower is sagging where it should be No. 1. America has slouched to No. 12 on the 2014 Heritage Foundation/Wall Street Journal Index of Economic Freedom.

“Now considered only a ‘mostly free’ economy, the U.S. has earned the dubious distinction of having recorded one of the longest sustained declines in economic freedom, second only to Argentina, of any country in the [20-year] history of the Index,” the report states. “The U.S. is the only country to have recorded a loss of economic freedom each of the past seven years.”

Regarding graft, America has stayed stable in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index. Unfortunately, and as recently as 2013, the U.S. has remained Earth’s 19th most honest country.

Thanks, in part, to Team Obama’s surveillance of journalists from Fox News Channel and the Associated Press, America tumbled 13 spots down Reporters Without Borders’ 2014 World Press Freedom Index. The U.S. dropped this year from No. 33 to No. 46. Hence, 45 nations now have freer journalists than does America. RWB calls America “satisfactory” rather than the top-rated “good.” As the report states: “Amid an all-out hunt for leaks and sources, 2013 will also be the year of the Associated Press scandal, which came to light when the Department of Justice acknowledged that it had seized the news agency’s phone records.”

America is a total mess.

The Land of the Free is governed by an out-of-control egomaniac, neither bolstered by managerial competence nor hindered by the legislature’s institutional prerogatives. In the Home of the Brave, half of Congress cheers Obama’s unconstitutional behavior, while the other half grumbles and then meekly carpet-bombs his path with white flags.

The American people have been betrayed — both by Obama and the Democrats, whose lust for control intensifies daily, and by Republican leaders in Washington, whose cowardice and defeatism have turned their guts and spines into tapioca.

America, as Paul Simon sings, is slip-slidin’ away. And the worst part hasn’t happened yet. - National Review.


"Us living as we do upside-down And the new word to have is revolution People don't even want to hear the preacher spill or spiel Because God's whole card has been thoroughly piqued And America is now blood and tears instead of milk and honey The youngsters who were programmed To continue fucking up woke up one night Digging Paul Revere and Nat Turner as the good guys America stripped for bed and we had not all yet closed our eyes The signs of truth were tattooed across our often entered vagina We learned to our amazement, the untold tale of scandal Two long centuries buried in the musty vault Hosed down daily with a gagging perfume America was a bastard The illegitimate daughter of the mother country Whose legs were then spread around the world And a rapist known as freedom, free-DOOM Democracy, liberty, and justice were revolutionary code names That preceded, the bubblin' bubblin' bubblin' bubblin' bubblin' In the mother country's crotch What does Webster say about soul? "All I want is a good home and a wife And a children, and some food to feed them every night" After all is said and done, build a new route to China if they'll have you WHO WILL SURVIVE IN AMERICA? WHO WILL SURVIVE IN AMERICA? WHO WILL SURVIVE IN AMERICA? WHO WILL SURVIVE IN AMERICA?" - Kanye West Featuring Gil Scott-Heron, "Who Will Survive In America."



Monday, November 19, 2012

DISASTER IMPACT: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy - 4,500 Tons (9 Million Pounds) and Counting of Sandy Debris Piles up at Queens Park, Uprooted Trees by the Thousands in New York and New Jersey, Some New Yorkers May Not Have Electricity Until Christmas!

November 19, 2012 - UNITED STATES - It has now been three weeks since Hurricane Sandy hit New York, New Jersey, and many other northeast locations in the United States. Still, the debris is still piling up and many people have no electricity or wont have back their power until Christmas.

Superstorm Sandy debris is seen in the parking lot of Jacob Riis Park in the Rockaway section
of Queens on Wednesday. Mark Lennihan / AP.
Sandy Debris Piles Up At NY Site - 4,500 Tons (9 Million Pounds) And Counting.
Last summer it was packed with beachgoers, a parking lot where New Yorkers stashed their cars, applied sunscreen and dragged lawn chairs, coolers and umbrellas across the blacktop toward the shore. Today it's an enormous waste collection site half a mile long and a quarter-mile wide, piled high with debris from the flooding caused by Superstorm Sandy. Though the flow of debris has slowed a little, the cleanup job is far from over. New York City officials have determined that around 350 homes in the city are beyond salvation, including 80 in Breezy Point alone, said Fred Strickland, the resident engineer from the Army Corps of Engineers, which is helping the New York Department of Sanitation with the cleanup. If all goes according to plan, the city will condemn the houses and demolish them, and Strickland's team will help haul away the rubble. Twisted steel, waterlogged wood, broken furniture and countless mattresses already fill the parking lot that normally serves one of New York's most popular ocean beaches. Hundreds of trucks come and go around the clock bringing material collected from the streets of the Far Rockaways and Breezy Point, where water from Sandy's storm surge tore apart homes and buildings. Residents are still digging out. The temporary garbage dump at Jacob Riis Park in Queens is one of several sites around the city being used this way. The size of the dump reflects the enormity of the damage caused by the storm. The debris just keeps coming. - NBC.

In this Oct. 31, 2012 photo, a tree in Jersey City, N.J., lies tangled in power lines after being brought
down by high winds from Superstorm Sandy.
Sandy Uprooted Trees By The Thousands In New York And New Jersey.
They fell by the thousands, like soldiers in some vast battle of giants, dropping to the earth in submission to a greater force. The winds of Superstorm Sandy took out more trees in the neighborhoods, parks and forests of New York and New Jersey than any previous storm on record, experts say. Nearly 10,000 were lost in New York City alone, and "thousands upon thousands" went down on Long Island, a state parks spokesman said. New Jersey utilities reported more than 113,000 destroyed or damaged trees. "These are perfectly healthy trees, some more than 120 years old, that have survived hurricanes, ice storms, nor'easters, anything Mother Nature could throw their way," said Todd Forrest, a vice president at the New York Botanical Garden. "Sandy was just too much." As oaks, spruces and sycamores buckled, many became Sandy's agents, contributing to the destruction by crashing through houses or tearing through electric wires. They caused several deaths, including those of two boys playing in a suburban family room. They left hundreds of thousands of people without power for more than a week. - The Weather Channel.

Some New Yorkers May Not Have Electricity Until Christmas.
In the following excerpt taken from the transcript of an interview between CNN's Anderson Cooper and New York City Councilman James Sanders, it is revealed that many citizens in New York will not have their power restored until Christmas.
COOPER: With us now is New York City councilman and senator-elect James Sanders. He calls the power failure, the LIPA failure, in his words a powder keg. Councilman, you met with LIPA officials today. They said some people here on Long Island may not have power until Christmas? Is that true?

JAMES SANDERS, NEW YORK CITY COUNCILMAN: When I raised the question to the man and said, how soon will everyone have power, they wouldn't give me an answer, and I said, well, can we say November? Can we say December? How about Christmas? At that point they said, it is possible.

COOPER: What do you make of this? I mean, I know you called for the president of LIPA to resign if power isn't restored by Monday. But you also said the buck stops with Governor Cuomo since he appoints LIPA board members. Who do you call responsible in here?

SANDERS: Well, the first people held accountable of course has to be the LIPA. LIPA has the responsibility of making sure that this area is powered. And that responsibility is a dismal failure. What hasn't been mentioned is some people are freezing out here, and we are absolutely -- there are people who are dying thanks to this cold. And we can't -- as an elected official, I can't sit by quietly. LIPA must go, and the person who has the power to make this happen is our good governor.

COOPER: And you know, it's not the first time that LIPA has come under fire. It's had a bad reputation when it comes to getting power restored after storms, right?

SANDERS: LIPA is historically one of the worst-performing authorities that New York State has, and why we allow this to continue, I don't know. At a minimum, the captain needs to go down with the ship. The ship went down 12 days ago, and yet the captain is still skating away. The captain needs to go down with the ship.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

EXTREME WEATHER: 643,000 Households Outraged – Residents Angry at Windstorm's Mass Outages in Southern California!

The power is back on but the outrage remains. More than a week after a ferocious windstorm cut power throughout the region, Southern California Edison said Thursday it had finally restored power to the last customers left in the dark and cold, some for nearly a week.

New figures indicated that a total of 643,000 households and businesses in the region had lost power during the storm on Nov. 30 that unleashed winds approaching 100 mph. Edison had 434,000 customers without power, while other utilities reported more than 200,000 of their customers also lost electricity. The state Public Utilities Commission said it would investigate the cause of the outages and the length of time Edison took to respond to safety-related calls. Edison could face fines or penalties. The company said it would cooperate fully with investigators, and its president issued an apology to customers. Residents and government officials have sharply criticized all the utility companies involved in outages. In Pasadena, one of the hardest hit areas, residents of one neighborhood called, emailed and went to City Hall to complain. Karl Maier called for the resignation of the general manager of the city's Water and Power Department. Maier said he moved to Pasadena from Long Island, N.Y., where hurricanes, blizzards and ice storms never left residents without power for such a long time. Power to his home was restored Wednesday, a week after the storm hit.

"It came back on after I and a bunch of neighbors kicked and screamed and hollered," he said, adding that it was 49 degrees in his home every morning. "I would say six and a half days is completely unacceptable. The question is what kind of worst case planning have they done." Headaches continued, even for those who had their power restored days earlier. Temple City resident Diane Johnson said she finally got most of the debris cleaned up after a giant city tree fell in front of her home, trapping her inside and crushing the family's three cars. Johnson, who is on disability, has been taking the bus to doctor's appointments, and her son has been using public transportation to get to school. "The power is restored, but the cars are still there and I don't think the city is going to pay," she said. "The city is saying the same thing to everyone — that it was an act of nature." A preliminary estimate of damage and cleanup costs approached $20 million in Pasadena alone, said Lisa Derderian, the city's emergency management coordinator. A dozen buildings were red-tagged as uninhabitable, including a 41-unit apartment complex smashed by a 70-foot tree that also hit a main water line, flooding nearly every unit.

The San Gabriel Valley city of Monterey Park estimated its damage and cleanup costs at $500,000, while the foothill community of Glendora estimated cleanup costs alone at about $300,000. In areas serviced by the county Department of Public Works a preliminary estimate put damage and cleanup costs at $3.8 million. Some political officials questioned whether the delays showed local utility companies were unprepared for a major earthquake. Edison initially promised to restore power within 48 hours after the storm. As outages dragged on for several days, however, company employees began refusing to tell residents when it might be back. Company officials say an estimated 276 restoration crews and 1,000 support crews came from other parts of the state to help out, but on Wednesday, a week after the storm, more than 500 customers were still without power. In Pasadena, about 75 customers remained without power on Thursday. Edison, which has more than 14 million customers, blamed the delays on unprecedented damage that included thousands of downed power lines and toppled trees that blocked roads. - MSNBC.

Friday, September 16, 2011

EARTH CHANGES: Hot Weather Forces Blackouts in South Korea!


South Koreans found themselves sweltering in the heat, stuck in elevators and even without cell phone service Thursday as power outages affected hundreds of thousands of people across the country.

Traffic lights are out as traffic crawls through Seoul.
The South Korean Ministry of Knowledge Economy said high demand for air conditioning during a heat wave, together with reduced supplies as power plants were shut down for maintenance, likely led to the blackouts, the country's Yonhap news agency reported. The country's sole electric service provider, Korea Electric Power Corp., said it was forced to cut off power to hundreds of thousands of customers to prevent the electrical grid from falling below reserve levels that could lead to a nationwide blackout that could take days or weeks to recover from, according to the Yonhap report. The power company instituted rolling blackouts that lasted about four hours, ending at about 8 p.m. local time. The power cuts led to 100 reports of people trapped in elevators and shut down banks and schools, The Korea Herald reported. No injuries were reported. Temperatures went as high as 86 degrees Fahrenheit (30 Celsius) in Seoul on Thursday, about 10 degrees higher than average. "There were many power plants that began their annual maintenance as the hot season passed. Demand was unusually high today while they were preparing for the cold season," a ministry official told Yonhap. Temperatures in the 80s are expected to continue through Saturday. - CNN.