Live Blog: Hurricane Sandy Slams Into Northeast U.S. 10/28/2012
Get the latest updates on the "Frankenstorm"
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Sandy’s Wrath Could Cause Temporary Gas Price Spike
The oil and gas industries, which support tens of thousands of jobs in the mid-Atlantic and northeast, have made preparations and are ready to take on “Frankenstorm,” an industry trade group said Monday.
“Hurricane procedures have been implemented and will remain in effect until the passing of the storm,” said Bob Greco, American Petroleum Institute director of downstream operations, in a release. “Onshore facilities have been secured for the storm. This includes pipelines, refineries and terminals.”
But with the storm beating down on areas of New Jersey and Pennsylvania that include major complexes of refineries, price spikes could be on the way for consumers as refineries shut down or sharply reduce production to minimize storm damage, according to a report from CBS.
How big the the price impact will be won't be clear immediately. A potential spike could be dulled by a lull in demand from business closings, flooded roads, and altered travel plans, Tom Kloza, chief analyst at the Oil Price Information Service, told CBS. But that’s only if there isn’t serious damage requiring massive repairs at the refineries that serve the area.
If the region’s refineries squeak by with minimal damage, the trend of falling gas prices will likely continue, Kloza says.
"We were on a steady road toward cheaper gasoline prices nationwide," he told CBS. "This wobble to the upside in the Northeast will interrupt that for a few days. But I suspect prices will resume a strong downward bias in November.” -
Remember - charge your cell phones now, chances of losing power will go up dramatically in the next 24 hours. #VASandy #rva #Hrva #SWVApostby VDEM via twitter 10/29/2012 7:11:53 PM -
RT @jimcantore: @KMacTWN: Scary pic of flooding in Ventnor Heighs New Jersey via Matt Brennan pbs.twimg.com #Sandy
by Hurricane Central via twitter 10/29/2012 7:26:16 PM -
Hurricane Sandy will likely be a multi-billion dollar storm and the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Administrator Craig Fugate told reporters Monday that the agency has enough money in the bank to cover the initial costs.
So far, FEMA and its partners have prepared for the storm by providing emergency centers with more than 600,000 liters of water, 490,000 meals, and hundreds of generators.
“We see no limiting factors for response activities,” Fugate says. “The concern will be in the impacts and rebuilding efforts. As it is right now ... we have enough funds [to respond] to this disaster.”
Thanks to the continuing resolution Congress passed last month, FEMA has about $6.4 billion in its coffers to spend on disaster assistance.
It’s possible FEMA will need more money to cover expenses if Sandy wreaks more havoc than predicted. In that case legislators would be forced to vote on an emergency appropriations bill during its lame duck session in November.
The good news is that Hurricane Sandy is among the first disasters to hit since Congress passed its continuing resolution to fund FEMA, and the number of disasters has remained low this year. -
All airlines serving Reagan and Dulles International Airports have canceled operations until further notice due to #Hurricane Sandy.by DMarcheseWTOP via twitter 10/29/2012 7:27:13 PM -
The Department of Defense has evacuated aircraft from bases in the path of the approaching hurricane, according to an AirForceTimes.com report.
Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey and Stewart Air National Base in New York are among the facilities that have moved some of their aircraft.
Commanders at Fort Meade, Md. and Dover AFB have also ordered “stop-movement orders.”
Only mission-essential personnel are working today at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Langley Air Force Base, Va. and Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md.
Facilities such as Patuxent River, a major Naval aviation testing center, are not participating in any statwide relief efforts, a spokesman tells US News. The bulk of their equipment is for testing and evaluation, not emergency response.
Dover will be used as a staging base for FEMA workers. -
Coast Guard Station Barnegat Light, N.J. and the surrounding region is flooded hours before Hurricane Sandy is expected to make landfall on the New Jersey coast. (Photo courtesy the Department of Defense)
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]VIDEO: U.S. Coast Guard members rescue 14 of 16 crew members of abandoned HMS Bounty.
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UPDATE: Two of the 16 crew members of the HMS Bounty, which sank off the coast of North Carolina, remain unaccounted for, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. The crew abandoned the three-masted ship early Monday morning after it began to take on water about 90 miles east of Cape Hatteras, N.C.
As shown in the below video, Coast Guard helicopters rescued all but two of the crew, who were in 25-foot life rafts. The Coast Guard is continuing its search for the missing two crew members, who may have been swept into open water while trying to board one of the life rafts, the Washington Post reports. -
RT @alanauglis: Garrett County seeing #snow accumulating now. Just the beginning! #blizzard #Sandy pbs.twimg.com
by Capital Weather Gang via twitter 10/29/2012 7:30:39 PM -
Hurricane Sandy vital statistics, via National Hurricane Center 3 p.m. EDT update:
Category 1 hurricane
Maximum sustained wind speed: 90 mph
Location: 85 miles SE of Atlantic City, NJ
Wind gusts: 115 mph
Movement: NW at 27 mph -
RT @TxStormChasers: White Horse Parkway going into Atlantic City. #sandy twitpic.com
by Hurricane Central via twitter 10/29/2012 7:32:32 PM -
If the Waffle House Closes, You're Really in Trouble
According to one indicator, Sandy isn’t looking so bad (yet).
“Right now all our restaurants are open,” says Pat Warner, vice president of culture at Waffle House.
The so-called “Waffle House Index” has become an unofficial indicator of sorts, telling how disastrous a natural disaster is. The restaurant has gained a reputation for being open when other businesses aren’t.
The head of FEMA has helped to popularize the idea of the Waffle House as a disaster measure.
“If you get there and the Waffle House is closed?" FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate has said, as quoted in the Wall Street Journal after Hurricane Irene last year. "That's really bad. That's where you go to work."
The company is working hard right now to keep restaurants in Sandy’s path in business. Currently, it is trucking supplies to what Warner calls a “staging area” in Richmond, Va. That city he says, will be a good central location to get supplies to restaurants in Virginia, as well as Maryland and Delaware.
“We have a trailer full of waffle irons [and] small generators that can run refrigeration of a restaurant,” he says, adding that the company also plans to truck in bigger generators that can power an entire restaurant.
He adds that not only are all restaurants currently open, they are all still on full menus. Losing power can mean a reduced menu.
Of course, Sandy could still pack a few surprises, so the company is remaining flexible. After meeting in Richmond tonight, says Warner, “we’ll reassess where we need to be.” -
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Federal government offices in Washington CLOSED on Tuesday because of #Sandy, OPM says.by Ed O'Keefe via twitter 10/29/2012 7:55:01 PM -
470,000 without power in 13 states and DCby Weather Underground via twitter 10/29/2012 8:01:08 PM -
A flooded street between two casinos along the Atlantic City boardwalk before the arrival of Hurricane Sandy (Photo credit: Stan HondaAFP/Getty Images).
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This is the LAST warning to evacuate before coastal surge -- Gov #sandyby Andrew Cuomo via twitter 10/29/2012 8:07:29 PM -
FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate hasn’t ruled out the possibility that Hurricane Sandy could have a major impact on the presidential elections.
“We are anticipating that, based on the storm, there could be impacts that would linger into next week and have impacts on the federal election,” Fugate said Monday during a conference call with the media.
It is still too early to predict how long Sandy’s effects will linger. However, it is possible that power outages could stretch well into next week causing major headaches for election officials. While federal laws dictate that presidential elections must happen the Tuesday following the first Monday of November, some state election officials have the power to make other arrangements.
In Virginia, for example, the governor can hold the elections up to 14 days after Election Day. -
The Labor Department is now saying that this week's jobs report will come, rain or shine, and ADP is saying the same of its report. The payroll processing firm releases its own private-sector jobs estimate shortly in advance of each month’s government report.
Michael Schneider, a spokesman for ADP, says that the company still plans to release its October jobs figure on November 1 at 8:15 AM. -
Hurricane Sandy as seen from the International Space Station. Image courtesy of NASA.
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Sandy From Space
The folks over at NASA have pointed their satellites at Hurricane Sandy over the past few days, and from several miles up the view is almost serene. -
Metro service information for Tuesday, October 30 www.wmata.comby Metro via twitter 10/29/2012 8:25:05 PM -
Here is the latest Radar of #Sandy with the Eye of the storm 55 miles SE of Cape May NJ. 2 hrs till Landfall #NBC4 pbs.twimg.com
by ChuckBell4 via twitter 10/29/2012 8:26:11 PM -
For all the kids at home, there is no reason to be scared. The adults are taking care of business. #Sandyby Governor Christie via twitter 10/29/2012 8:33:53 PM -
This is going to be a long haul. This is not a time to be stupid. This is a time to save yourself and your family. #Sandyby Governor Christie via twitter 10/29/2012 8:37:33 PM
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The search continues for two missing crewmembers of the HMS Bounty, a replica three-mast ship that sunk off the coast of Hatteras, N.C. This is the U.S. Coast Guard’s first official search and rescue operation associated with Hurricane Sandy, according to a USCG blog post.
The 180-foot ship was a recreation of the original British vessel, built for the 1962 film “Mutiny on the Bounty,” starring Marlon Brando. Its owner contacted Coast Guard Sector North Carolina after losing contact with the crew late Sunday. The command center for the 5th Coast Guard District in Portsmouth, Va., picked up on an emergency distress signal from a radio beacon registered to the Bounty.
The ship sank in 18-foot seas with 40 mph winds roughly 90 miles off the coast. Coast Guard helicopters out of Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C., arrived on the scene at roughly 6:30 a.m. Monday. The 16 people on board had reportedly donned cold weather survival suits and divided into two lifeboats designed to carry 25 men.
Two Coast Guard cutters, Elm and Gallatin, are en route to the area to assist helicopters with the search for the crew members still missing. -
A Coast Guard rescue team returns HMS Bounty crew members to shore at Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C., after their ship sank. (Photo courtesy of coastguard.dodlive.mil)
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Defense Secretary Leon Panetta joked about the incoming hurricane on Monday, while speaking at the unveiling of a portrait of his predecessor, Robert Gates.
"It's not every day you have to brave a hurricane in order to come to a portrait unveiling," he said. "But then again, for those of us who've been in this job, it's like dealing with a hurricane every day, so we're used to it." -
Hurricane Sandy vital statistics, via National Hurricane Center 4 p.m. EDT update:
Category 1 hurricane
Maximum sustained wind speed: 90 mph
Location: 55 miles SE of Cape May, NJ
Wind gusts: 115 mph
Movement: NW at 27 mph
Forecast: The center of Sandy is expected to reach the coast of extreme southern New Jersey or Central Delaware within the next three to five hours. -
Over 900,000 customers now without power due to #Sandy. More than half that total comes from NY and NJ.by Hurricane Central via twitter 10/29/2012 8:49:25 PM
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High winds take down a tree in a Washington, D.C. neighborhood.
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A construction crane atop a high-rise building dangles precariously over the streets of New York after collapsing in high winds from Hurricane Sandy (John Minchillo/AP).
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Roughly 1,900 National Guard troops are deployed as of 1 p.m. Monday to assist East Coast governors with state relief efforts. About 1,500 troops had been deployed by Sunday evening.
These troops are working with the governors of Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Virginia.
U.S. Northern Command has also stepped up its efforts to help mitigate the hurricane’s destruction, placing on 24-hour “prepare to deploy” status helicopters, pararescue teams and information awareness and assessment aircraft. -
Speaking of Atlantic City...MT @MikeStacks609: Atlantic City is under water. The boardwalk is in the street. #Sandy instagr.am
by Hurricane Central via twitter 10/29/2012 9:10:30 PM -
Hurricane Sandy vital statistics, via National Hurricane Center 5 p.m. EDT update:
Category 1 hurricane
Maximum sustained wind speed: 90 mph
Location: 30 miles ESE of Cape May, NJ
Wind gusts: 115 mph
Movement: NW at 27 mph
Forecast: Sandy moving quickly toward southern New Jersey and Delaware. Landfall expected early this evening accompanied by life-threatening storm surge and hurricane-force winds. -
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My 5:30PM press briefing will be live online. Watch on my Livestream channel: www.livestream.comby Governor Christie via twitter 10/29/2012 9:20:33 PM
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Image of wind speeds caused by Hurricane Sandy, provided by NOAA. The dark red represents hurricane-force winds.
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The National Zoo will remain closed to the public tomorrow.by National Zoo via twitter 10/29/2012 9:27:33 PM -
We have a new top gust on land from #Sandy: 88 mph at Tuckerton, NJ at 4:30pm EDT. #njwxby Hurricane Central via twitter 10/29/2012 9:27:41 PM
