Puerto Rico back in darkness after island-wide blackout, as hurricane season looms – “If we get hit again, it’ll be a disaster. Total chaos.”

By Arelis R. Hernández 18 April 2018 (The Washington Post) – An island-wide blackout struck Puerto Rico on Wednesday, plunging the U.S. territory of more than 3 million citizens back into darkness more than seven months after Hurricane Maria demolished its fragile power grid.The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority said the blackout, which began about […]

What gave the U.S. West its soggiest winter-type atmosphere on record?

By Bob Henson  9 April 2018 (Weather Underground) – If you love atmospheric extremes, but you hate to see people in harm’s way, you couldn’t ask for a more pleasing event than the phenomenal infusion of moisture into the western U.S. from Friday into Saturday. No deaths or serious injuries were reported from the weekend […]

Human role in global warming censored from official National Park Service science report – “Censorship of this kind is something you’d see in Russia or some totalitarian regime. It has no place in America.”

By Elizabeth Shogren 2 April 2018 (Reveal) – National Park Service officials have deleted every mention of humans’ role in causing climate change in drafts of a long-awaited report on sea level rise and storm surge, contradicting Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s vow to Congress that his department is not censoring science. The research for the […]

The looming epidemic threat – “We are not ready for a serious epidemic, an epidemic that would be more infectious and would spread faster than Ebola did”

Dr Jonathan D Quick 18 March 2018 (The Guardian) – Somewhere out there a dangerous virus is boiling up in the bloodstream of a bird, bat, monkey or pig, preparing to jump to a human being. It’s hard to comprehend the scope of such a threat, for it has the potential to wipe out millions […]

How Trump favored Texas over Puerto Rico – “It was an absolute mess. No communication, no coordination, no chain of command, and certainly no reasonable plans given the magnitude of the problem.”

By Danny Vinik 27 March 2018 SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (Politico) – As Hurricane Maria unleashed its fury on Puerto Rico in mid-September, knocking out the island’s electrical system and damaging hundreds of thousands of homes, disaster recovery experts expected that only one man could handle the enormity of the task ahead: Mike Byrne. But […]

Blackout in Puerto Rico is now the second largest on record worldwide

12 April 2018 (Rhodium Group) – Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico more than six months ago, devastating the island’s economy and the electrical grid. Efforts to restore full electricity service continue. As of the beginning of this week, more than 100,000 Puerto Ricans were still without power. What was already the largest blackout […]

Another power outage hits Puerto Rico, leaving about 840,000 in the dark, officials say

By Marwa Eltagouri 12 April 2018 (The Washington Post) – About 840,000 people across Puerto Rico were without power Thursday as the U.S. territory continues to struggle after the damage caused by Hurricane Maria last fall, according to island’s Electric Power Authority.The power company, in tweets Thursday, said that a tree had fallen onto the […]

When nature says “Enough!”: the river that appeared overnight in Argentina – “The roar was terrifying”

By Uki Goñi 1 April 2018Villa Mercedes, Argentina (The Guardian) – After a night of heavy rainfall, Ana Risatti woke to an ominous roar outside her home. Mistaking the noise for a continuation of the night’s downpour, she stepped outside to look. “I nearly fainted when I saw what it really was,” said Risatti, 71. […]

Nor’easter closes schools, delays flights as record spring snow likely in U.S. Northeast

By Nicole Chavez and Judson Jones 21 March 2018 (CNN) – The fourth nor’easter in three weeks already is closing schools and canceling thousands of flights Wednesday as it may dump record springtime snow in the Northeast. A day after the official beginning of spring, the storm will bring heavy snow, strong winds, and even […]

FEMA strips mention of “climate change” from its strategic plan

By Christopher Flavelle 15 March 2018 (Bloomberg News) – The Federal Emergency Management Agency, responsible for dealing with the effects of disasters like hurricanes and floods, has stripped the words “climate change” from the document meant to guide its actions over the next four years.FEMA on Thursday released its strategic plan for 2018-2022. It replaces […]

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