Record Rainfall Causes Flash Floods in NY Suburbs

EXTREME WEATHER & CLIMATIC HAZARDS
EXTREME RAIN EVENTS
SEVERE FLOODING
SCENARIOS 888, 023
.

Up to 33cm of rain turns roads into rivers in New York Area

Record rainfall in parts of New York’s Long Island triggered severe flash floods turning roads into rivers during the morning rush hour on Wednesday.

Up to 33 cm of rain was recorded at MacArthur Airport in Islip over a 24-hour period, according to the National Weather Service (NWS) breaking the previous record of 29 cm that was set in August 2011 in the Hudson Valley during Tropical Storm Irene.

During a particularly intense two-hour period the area received “more than two months of rainfall in two hours,” said NWS.

The record rainfall contributed to at least one fatality.

Flooding shut down parts of major commuter routes and forced the closure of the Long Island Rail Road, the largest commuter railroad in the U.S.

Floodwaters reportedly destroyed a number of homes and caused sewage backup, forcing dozens of people to evacuate in southern New Jersey.

The same weather system was responsible for extreme rain events in Washington and Baltimore on Tuesday,  said NWS.

Earlier this week, at least one person died in Detroit floods after record rainfall.

No Money, No Water!

FAILING ECONOMIC, POLITICAL & SOCIAL  SYSTEMS
MUNICIPAL BANKRUPTCY
UNEMPLOYMENT
POVERTY
CRUMBLING INFRASTRUCTURE
COLLAPSE
SCENARIOS 244, 109, 049, 047, 031, 028, 02
.

Detroit Denying Water and Sewerage to ½ Million Citizens

Officials at the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) have cut off service to 7,556 customers in April and May and are now speeding up the service denial to as many as 3,000 delinquent accounts per week.

“That the water department’s shutoff policy is uncompromising, making no exceptions for households with infant children, elderly or disabled residents, said a report.

Detroit!

About 40% of Detroiters live in poverty. Some 83% of population are black, and the reported unemployment rate is edging close to 15%.

“Assisting low-income residents with paying their water bills would help avert a public health crisis,” U.S. Rep. John Conyers (D-Detroit), said in a letter to Obama Thursday, while asking Health and Human Services Secretary to declare a public health emergency, calling the shutoff campaign “draconian.” Said the report.

“Regardless of the rationale for these cutoffs, the human consequences are unacceptable and unsustainable,” said Conyers on Friday.

“Last week, the Detroit City Council approved an 8.7% increase in the water rate, contributing to a total increase of 119% over the last decade,” Conyers said.

“As roughly half the city is now eligible for shutoffs, we believe that immediate action is necessary to stem the consequences of this counterproductive and coldhearted policy,” he said.

“It is utterly unacceptable to put the most vulnerable members of our population through severe hardship, utilizing a method that clearly violates their basic human rights, as a collection practice.”

United Nations

Detroit: Disconnecting water from people who cannot pay – an affront to human rights, say UN experts

“Disconnection of water services because of failure to pay due to lack of means constitutes a violation of the human right to water and other international human rights.”

Related Links

• Purpose of Business to Enrich Lives? August 3, 2013
• Detroit’s long-term liabilities exceed $14 billion February 21, 2013
• Lawmakers consider dissolving Detroit as bankruptcy looms December 1, 2012

• Dissolving Detroit! December 1, 2012
• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities
• United States: The First Phase of Collapse Has Begun

 

Purpose of Business to Enrich Lives?

Buried Under 30 Feet of Oil Sands Waste

The Koch Brothers Have Buried an Area the Size of a City Block Under 30 Feet of Oil Sands Waste: Report

Photo credit: Ruth Germain/Petroleum Coke Awareness

Petcoke cloud from storm July 27, 2013

Storm sweeping through Detroit/ Windsor area spawns a huge cloud of petcoke dust along the Detroit riverfront over the city and to Windsor, Canada.

The petroleum coke waste has been described as “the dirtiest residue from the dirtiest oil on earth.”

Recent Links to Detroit Entries

• Motown Collapsing  July 19, 2013

Motown Collapsing

Detroit becomes largest U.S. city to file for bankruptcy 

The city of Detroit, a metonym for the American automobile industry, has become the largest city in U.S. history to file for bankruptcy, with debts of up to $20bn.

Since January 2010, at least eight cities, towns and counties have filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection in a federal court. The list includes Boise County (Idaho), Stockton, Mammoth Lake and San Bernardino (California), Jefferson County (Alabama), Harrisburg (Pennsylvania), Central Falls (Rhode Island) and Detroit (Michigan).

“The fiscal realities confronting Detroit have been ignored for too long. I’m making this tough decision so the people of Detroit will have the basic services they deserve and so we can start to put Detroit on a solid financial footing that will allow it to grow and prosper in the future,” said Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder. “This is a difficult step, but the only viable option to address a problem that has been six decades in the making.”

“It is clear that the financial emergency in Detroit cannot be successfully addressed outside of such a filing, and it is the only reasonable alternative that is available,” Snyder said in the letter authorizing Detroit’s emergency manager to seek federal bankruptcy protection for the City. “In other words, the City’s financial emergency cannot be satisfactorily rectified in a reasonable period of time absent this filing.”

Detroit population has shrunk from over 2 million in the 1950s to about 713,000 in 2011. The city reported  the highest violent crime rate among all major US cities, with more than 15,000 reported crimes in 2011.

The public services are in a state of near collapse. About 80,000 properties are abandoned or condemned, with only 53% of owners paying their 2011 property taxes.

After 60 years of decline, large parts of the City can only improve by being razed to the ground.

Related Links

• San Bernardino. The city of San Bernardino became the third California city in two weeks to file bankruptcy protection in the face of a $45-million budget shortfall, reports said.
• Atwater. The small Central California city of Atwater (Pop: ~28,000) has declared A fiscal emergency, which could translate to the state’s fourth municipal bankruptcy this year, said a report.
• North Las Vegas, Nevada. The Nevada city of North Las Vegas, described as “ground zero for foreclosures” was officially declared as a disaster area on June 23.

• Court Rules Stockton, Calif., to Enter Bankruptcy April 2, 2013
• Dissolving Detroit! December 1, 2012

• Detroit’s long-term liabilities exceed $14 billion February 21, 2013
• Lawmakers consider dissolving Detroit as bankruptcy looms December 1, 2012
• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities
• United States: The First Phase of Collapse Has Begun

States of Emergency Declared in U.S.

Kansas Governor Declares State Of Emergency

Kansas Governor signed an emergency declaration for all 105 Kansans counties, shutting down all state offices in the Executive Branch amid “massive snowfall” forecast.

“Every indication is that our state is going to receive a tremendous amount of snow in the next 24 hours. I want to urge Kansans to heed the winter weather warnings and avoid traveling tomorrow,” Gov. Brownback said in a statement.

Nebraska

The mayor of Lincoln, Nebraska’s capital city, has declared a snow emergency ahead of a powerful winter storm which is expected to hit the southwest and south-central parts of the state.

The city of Grand Island has also declared a snow emergency beginning on Wednesday into Friday, in anticipation of large snowfall.

Heavy snowstorm forecast prompts the city of Omaha to declare a state of emergency.

The City of Kearney has declared a snow emergency.

• A Winter Storm Warning is now in effect for the Omaha metro area, NWS reported.

Iowa

The city of Council Bluffs has declared a snow emergency.

US weather hazards Map. Source: NWS

Missouri

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has declared 14 counties in Missouri as primary and contiguous disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by the recent drought.

Texas

USDA has designated 8 counties in Texas as drought disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by the recent drought. The designation includes both primary and contiguous areas.

Michigan

Detroit’s long-term liabilities exceed $14 billion. A second state-appointed review team has declared a financial emergency in Detroit with no plan in place to resolved it.

Michigan State Treasurer Andy Dillon has alerted the public that the city is in a financial quagmire and “that there is no plan in place to correct…”

The declaration was sent to Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, who in turn declared a “financial emergency” for the city, according to MSNBC

• “As of June 30, 2012, the City’s long-term liabilities, including accrued pension liabilities and other post-employment benefits, exceeded $14 billion,” said a report.

• The city’s budget deficit climbed to $327million in June last year.

Related Links

• Lawmakers consider dissolving Detroit as bankruptcy looms

.

February 21, 2013 – DISASTER CALENDAR SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,115 Days Left 

Mass die-offs resulting from human impact and the planetary response to the anthropogenic assault could occur by early 2016.

• SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,115 Days Left to ‘Worst Day’ in the brief Human  History
• The countdown began on May 15, 2011 …

GLOBAL WARNINGS

• WARNING: Human impact 2.85 x Earth’s diminishing carrying capacity
• WARNING: RAPID PLANETARY DECLINE IN PROGRESS!
• Europe: The First Phase of Collapse Has Started 
• United States: The First Phase of Collapse Has Begun

Global Disasters: Links, Forecasts and Background

• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities
• Back to the Primordial Future
• The Fate of Energy Dinosaurs
• Mass Die-offs

Dissolving Detroit!

DISASTER CALENDAR SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,197 Days Left 

[December 1, 2012] Mass die-offs resulting from human impact and the planetary response to the anthropogenic assault could occur by early 2016.

• SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,197 Days Left to the most Fateful Day in Human History
• Symbolic countdown to the ‘worst day’ in human history began on May 15, 2011 ...

.

Global Disasters/ Significant Events

Lawmakers consider dissolving Detroit as bankruptcy looms

With the city of 700,000 residents set to go bankrupt by mid-December, several lawmakers have suggested dissolving Michigan’s largest city and merge it with neighboring Wayne County, said a report.

• “If we have to, that is one idea we have to look at,” State Senator Rick Jones has told a CBS News affiliate. “We really have to look at everything that is on the table. Again, if this goes to federal bankruptcy, every employee down there will suffer, the city will suffer and the vultures will come in and take the jewels of Detroit and they will be gone.”

• Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder has said he wouldn’t count any option out.

Great Lakes: Lake Michigan water nearing record low

The ongoing drought has reduced the water level in Lake Michigan to less than two inches of its December record low set about half a century ago [576.18 feet set in 1964,] said a  the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

• “There is a good chance of setting record lows. We’ve been falling below average for over a decade due to lean winter snowfalls.”  Chief Hydrologist for the Corps said.
  • “The water level of Lake Michigan‐Huron is forecasted to be near December’s record low water level of 576.2 feet, set in 1964, and then set new record lows for the months of January through March,” said a report by the Corps.

• “Water levels naturally fluctuate and have been at low levels for 10 years. But this year of extreme high water temperatures increased evaporation rapidly and that helped draw down water levels,” said a researcher at NOAA.

• Great Lakes, the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth, comprise a collection of 5 freshwater lakes—Michigan, Huron, Erie, Superior and Ontario—contain 23% of the world’s surface fresh water and 84 percent of the supply in North America. [Great lakes have a total volume of  about 22,700 km³  of water with a combined surface area of about 244,100 km^{2  measured at low-water datum}.]

Global Disasters: Links, Forecasts and Background

• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities
• Back to the Primordial Future
• The Fate of Energy Dinosaurs
• Mass Die-offs

• 2010 Disasters [Links to 2010 Disaster Calendar]
• Mega Disasters
• 2011 Disaster Calendar
• 2012 Disaster Calendar

GLOBAL WARNING

• WARNING: Human impact 2.85 x Earth’s diminishing carrying capacity
• WARNING: RAPID DECLINE IN PROGRESS!
• Europe: The First Phase of Collapse Has Started 
• United States: The First Phase of Collapse Has Begun

Project Vulcan

Vulcan’s list of top U.S. polluters by county (million tons of CO2 per year)

[Note; most of the data presented by Vulcan is about 6 years old.]

1. Harris, Houston, Texas, 18.625
2. Los Angeles, L.A., Ca., 18.595
3. Cook, Chicago, Ill., 13.209
4. Cuyahoga, Cleveland, Ohio, 11.144 [Hope T.S., the dishonest attorney, chokes!]
5. Wayne, Detroit, Mich. , 8.270
6. San Juan, Farmington, N.M., 8.245
7. Santa Clara, San Jose, Ca., 7.995
8. Jefferson, Birmingham, Ala., 7.951
9. Wilcox, Camden, Ala., 7.615
10. East Baton Rouge, Baton Rouge, La., 7.322
11. Titus, Mt. Pleasant (!), Texas, 7.244
12. Carbon, Jim Thorpe, Pa., 6.534
13. Porter, Valparaiso, Ind., 6.331
14. Jefferson, Steubenville, Ohio, 6.278
15. Indiana, Indiana, Pa., 6.224
16. Middlesex, Boston metro area, Mass., 6.198
17. Bexar, San Antonio, Texas, 6.141
18. Hillsborough, Tampa, Fla., 6.037
19. Suffolk, New York metro area, N.Y., 6.030
20. Clark, Las Vegas, Nev., 5.955

CO2 maps zoom in on greenhouse gas sources

New analysis by Purdue researchers of greenhouse gases shows that the emissions are greater in the southeastern United States than was previously thought. In this image, the amount of red represents the increased amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from previous estimates, and the blue represents a reduction in atmospheric CO2. Purdue assistant professor Kevin Gurney says the difference appears greatest in winter months when there are more emissions and less vertical air movement. (Purdue University image/Kevin Gurney)

About Project Vulcan

The Vulcan Project is a NASA/DOE funded effort under the North American Carbon Program (NACP)to quantify North American fossil fuel carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions at space and time scales much finer than has been achieved in the past. The purpose is to aid in quantification of the North American carbon budget, to support inverse estimation of carbon sources and sinks, and to support the demands posed by the launch of the Orbital Carbon Observatory (OCO)scheduled for 2008/2009. The detail and scope of the Vulcan CO2 inventory has also made it a valuable tool for policymakers, demographers and social scientists.

Related Links:

• Pittsburgh, Los Angeles have worst U.S. air pollution