Disasters

"More than a foot of rain hit parts of New York's Long Island on Wednesday, enough to set a preliminary state record, triggering flash floods and swamping cars on major roads that were turned into rivers during the morning rush hour."

"Metro Detroit communities were struggling to cope with massive flooding, backed-up sewers, closed roads and stranded motorists following a storm that dumped nearly 5 inches of rain over several hours Monday afternoon and evening."

"Oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico may be contributing to a dramatic dive in the region's oyster harvest. Prices are up and the harvest is down, ever since the 2010 BP oil spill, but the exact cause remains unclear.""

The protest by an 83-year-old nun is the least of the problems at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Unsafe, obsolete, and insecure, it is a nuclear disaster waiting to happen. The Y-12 Security Complex is the poster child for much of what ails the decaying weapons complex across the U.S. Although Y-12 has not produced weapons for some 25 years, its annual budgets have increased by nearly 50 percent since 1997, to more than $1 billion a year.

"WASHINGTON -- Two loaded and two empty crude oil trains operate daily over Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor in Maryland and Delaware, according a document submitted by the passenger railroad in response to a Freedom of Information Act request."

"CHARLESTON, West Virginia — When coal-cleaning chemicals seeped into West Virginia's biggest water supply in January, the city of Cincinnati had a decision to make 200 miles downstream."

"Tropical Storm Iselle battered Hawaii with driving winds and rising surf on Friday, knocking down trees and causing power outages, the first of two major storms due to hit the archipelago as the more powerful Hurricane Julio gathered steam behind it."

"BAGHDAD — The crisis gripping Iraq escalated rapidly on Thursday with a re-energized Islamic State in Iraq and Syria storming new towns in the north and seizing a strategic dam as Iraq’s most formidable military force, the Kurdish pesh merga, was routed in the face of the onslaught."

"Carriers with the U.S. Postal Service this week were delivering a last bit of expected bad news from the Army Corps of Engineers to 565,000 individuals and businesses who filed claims for trillions of dollars of damages caused by failures of New Orleans area levee systems during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005."

"Wildfires are ravaging the West Coast, burning homes and prompting evacuations. Responding to wildfires has proven costly and now the Obama administration is reevaluating how it pays to fight them.""