Any elephant......

[AiA in Atlanta]

Scientists say Hurricane Sandy likely linked to record Arctic Sea loss this year but fuck them they're just scientists what does the bible say? - Bill Mahr

[IQS.RLOW]

I'd be interested to know if the 'devastation' and destruction is actually as devestating and destructive as the news reports make out.

Excuse my cynisim, but we have had a few 'warnings' and 'reports' when large storm fronts have come through with the associated media beat up ...which turned into a fizzer and turned into another govt 'it wasn't as bad as what it could have been because we protected you'

Look at Anna Bligh in QLD with her quivering bottom lip milking a $6bn tragedy for her own political capital

Considering the political clock in the US, I could imagine a scenario where this could be taken advantage of by the incumbent...and the opposition should the incumbent right royally fuck it up.

From what I've read, the damage looks to be in the vicinity of $3bn...which pales in comparison to QLD considering the population and infrastructure

Are we being sold a pup, or is it really bad?

[annielaurie]

I'd be interested to know if the 'devastation' and destruction is actually as devestating and destructive as the news reports make out.

Excuse my cynisim, but we have had a few 'warnings' and 'reports' when large storm fronts have come through with the associated media beat up ..

Are we being sold a pup, or is it really bad?

Yes, it turned out to be as bad as they thought. New York City is shut down and flooded up to the second storey of buildings on many streets, and Wall Street is closed.

The storm has passed now, but the damage is extensive and at least 26 people were killed. If I can find more information today I will post it here.

I am on the west coast of the USA, three thousand miles away from there. We do get the news however, and it has not been a hype, it was for real.

[annielaurie]

Okay IQ and you others who are not sure if Hurricane Sandy was as bad as they said it would be. In fact, it was much worse, and the death toll has risen as of today,

12:30 PM ET
Superstorm Sandy's wrath: Deaths, flooding, outages - and no end in sight

Editor's Note: Superstorm Sandy smashed ashore last night, triggering floods, fires and devastation. Twenty-six people are known to have died in the U.S. and one in Canada, adding to the storm’s earlier toll of 67. Millions are without power. Floods have hit homes and the New York subway system. Here is the full story and below is the latest news as we learn it.

Are you there? Send your stories and photos to CNN iReport but stay safe.

[Update 12:30 p.m.] About 60 people are stranded on New York's Fire Island with contaminated water and no electricity after they did not obey mandatory evacuation orders over the weekend, officials say.

"We were able on Monday morning to rescue about 14 people" from the island, said Vanessa Baird-Streeter, director of communications for Suffolk County.

Now, officials are working to make sure those left on the island are safe. The Coast Guard is flying over the area.

Long Island Power Authority had "de-energized" the area after the mandatory evacuation, Baird-Streeter said.

[Update 12:20 p.m.] New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority says it will resume limited bus service today at 5 p.m. Fares will be waived for the time being, the MTA said on Twitter.

[Update 12:16 p.m. ET] About 300 blood drives across the country had to be canceled because of the superstorm, leaving a shortfall of almost 9,000 units, the Red Cross says.

One way to help people: donate blood, the organization tweeted.

For other ways to help, visit CNN.com/Impact.

[Update 12:07 p.m. ET] Want to help New Yorkers? The mayor's office says this is one way to do it.

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/30/su ... ?hpt=hp_t1

And,

Tuesday:

Total deaths: 94
In the U.S.: 26

– 15 in New York
– 2 in Maryland
– 2 in Connecticut
– 3 in New Jersey
– 2 in Pennsylvania
– 1 West Virginia
– 1 HMS Bounty replica deckhand who was found unresponsive and later declared dead at hospital

Outside the U.S.:

– 1 in Canada.
Earlier: 67 in the Caribbean, including 51 in Haiti.

[Update 11:58 a.m. ET] Even though the superstorm has moved inland, don't even think of taking a boat out on the water, the U.S. Coast Guard says.

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/30/su ... dys-wrath/

Try going to some sourses outside Australia for news, there is a lot of accurate reporting out there to be read, such as found on CNN,

http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/

[annielaurie]

Here is more on Sandy,

(CNN) -- Airlines around the world canceled flights to and from the northeast United States as a massive storm slammed into the coast of New Jersey and New York.

Hurricane Sandy, now rated as a "post-tropical" superstorm, forced the closure of New York's JFK and LaGuardia airports and Newark in New Jersey "until further notice" as rising flood waters washed across parts of the city, while domestic and international flights were canceled at other major airports in the region.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/29/travel/hu ... ?hpt=wo_t5

Watch the video on this CNN page, to get the idea of the extent of the devastation.

[AiA in Atlanta]

The hurricane has caused the weather down here in Georgia to go from pleasant late Summer/early Autumn to frigid winter (well, frigid for Georgia) overnight. What the hell happened?

[Super Nova]

Thanks Annie...

Shit this has turn bad.

The National Weather Service (NWS) has issued blizzard warnings for high-elevation areas of the central Appalachians, and a swath of lower elevation areas from western Maryland southwest into eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina are under winter storm warnings and advisories. Sandy's remnants could drop up to 3 feet (0.9 meters) of snow in parts of West Virginia and up to 2 feet (0.6 m) in southwestern Virginia and eastern Kentucky before moving into Canada on Wednesday, according to the NWS.

The transformation of Sandy from rainstorm to snowstorm is a consequence of a blast of Arctic air that has fed the storm even as it has moved out of tropical waters. Normally, a tropical storm like Sandy would weaken as it moves northward into cooler waters. But a dip in the polar jet stream has fueled the storm, prompting some to call it a "nor'eastercane," a combination of hurricane and nor'easter. Nor'easters are storms driven by frigid polar air. (The moniker "Frankenstorm" also stems from this weather mash-up.)

This polar air on Sandy's western side is turning rain to snow — a situation that's not entirely unprecedented.

According to the Washington Post's Capital Weather Gang, a "snowicane" hit upstate New York and New England in 1804, and 1962's Hurricane Ginny dumped snow in Maine. In 2005, the Category 5 storm Wilma fed into a nor'easter that dropped up to 20 inches (50 cm) of snow in West Virginia and New England.

[Neferti]

It definitely was reported here and the Sydney Morning Herald has a heap of pictures.

http://www.smh.com.au/photogallery/envi ... 28g5z.html

I saw, somewhere, some comparisons between Katrina, and a couple of other recent hurricanes (can't recall names) and it would seem that Katrina in 2005? was by far the worst as far as loss of life, etc.

Anyway, I've been in touch with all my Yank contacts and so far all are OK.

[Aussie]

None were mine.

[Neferti]

None were mine.

So? What are you on about now? You seem to have learned how to post a picture. Well done! You need an elephant stamp.