DC Emerges from Frankenstorm

In Washington, it’s time to mop up after Hurricane Sandy with some local links:

“Spared brunt of the storm, D.C. region starts to return to normal,” Debbi Wilgoren, Fredrick Kunkle and Jeremy Borden, Washington Post

“DC Misses the Worst of Sandy,” Tom Bridge, WeLoveDC.com

“Area begins cleanup after Sandy,” WTOP News

“Metro announces limited restoration of rail, bus service,” WMATA press release

The storm did not pass without important  civic consequences, however:

“It’s Final: High Heel Race Pushed Off Until Thursday,” Martin Austermuhle, DCist

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Image (“DC Emerges from Frankenstorm, after John Constable”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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Hurricane Sandy Goes to Washington

Hurricane Sandy is storming her way into the Nation’s Capital. Emergency shelters are open, the subway is closed, and taxicab fares have an extra $15 storm surcharge.

The Federal and DC governments, Metro, and area schools were closed Monday and will remain closed Tuesday, but at least some folks in this town have a work ethic and sense of duty. There are still sentinels at the Tomb of the Unknowns, and the Annual High Heel Drag Race will clatter down 17th Street on Tuesday as scheduled. Is this a great country, or what?

Update:

“It’s Final: High Heel Race Pushed Off Until Thursday,” Martin Austermuhle, DCist

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Image (“Hurricane Sandy, after Gustave Courbet”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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Sandy: What’s the Worst That Could Happen?

In 1938 a surprise category 3 hurricane killed 600 people in New England and 60 more in New York City. It looked a lot like Hurricane Sandy.

“The Great New England Hurricane of 1938 [aka the Yankee Clipper and Long Island Express] was the most destructive storm to strike the region in the 20th century.”
— “Sep 21, 1938:The Great New England Hurricane,” History.com

“Where will Hurricane Sandy rank in the history of New York storms?” Oren Yaniv, New York Daily News

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Washington Prepares for Frankenstorm

DC households were alerted to the impending danger of Hurricane Sandy’s imminent arrival by robocalls from Pepco, telling us to buy our own generators, stockpile batteries, and to pray. The District Government had already declared a State of Emergency, so Washingtonians reacted with their customary calm, racing to stores to buy out stocks of toilet paper, batteries, canned goods, flashlights and bottled water before their neighbors could. Here on Capitol Hill, of course, emergency rations must meet more exacting standards (see photo, above).

But what else should we do before the Frankenstorm? Florida is constantly storm-pummeled, so we consulted the Miami Herald‘s hurricane preparedness checklist:

• Remove coconuts and other yard debris.
• Make arrangements to move your boat to safe harbor or secure it.

Um, okay … got it.

Other checklists (from the Red Cross, the Weather Channel, NOAA, The Washington Post, SBA, DC Homeland Security, PEPCO, National Geographic, FEMA) omit these vital pointers:

What Caused Snowmageddon?

What dumped 54.9 inches of snow on DC last winter? NASA scientists Siegfried Schubert, Yehui Chang and Max Suarez have an idea: a warm Pacific means a stormy Atlantic. They made some models at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt to confirm it:

“Deconstructing a Mystery: What Caused Snowmaggedon?” Christina Coleman, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

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Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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DC: Souvenir of Hurricane Irene

On Capitol Hill, damage from Hurricane Irene is due to rain, not wind. Mature older trees shade the streets, but many have rotted root systems, so the storm’s two days of heavy rain loosened their foundations, causing the trunks to come crashing down, either in the street or on nearby houses. The photo above shows the results on the 1200 block of C Street SE. Here’s what the roots look like:

All Hurricane, All the Time

The Eastern Seaboard of the United States is currently experiencing the ravages of Hurricane Irene, and local television stations are desperately trying to justify their 21st-century existence by keeping staff meteorologists up ’round the clock and sending hapless reporters to the beach. As far as we’re concerned, reporters assigned to the Delaware Shore when steamed crabs and frozen custard are unavailable deserve hardship pay.

Local TV news coverage of hurricanes chiefly consists of shaky, intermittent video, and lots of wind noise. Live remote broadcasts show reporters invading evacuated coastal resort towns, driving through standing water, walking on the beach, and doing all the things citizens are cautioned against by emergency officials.