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What if your home could protect itself from dangerous weather  by retreating underground automatically long before it hits? If you think about it, a house -or entire neighborhood/town- that could withstand higher winds than boxy, frail wood structures -and actually hide underground if necessary- could have one heck of a lot of applications: not just in tornado alley, but avoiding fires in California, tsunamis in Japan, or of course hurricane season in the Carolinas. Why build an expensive underground shelter only to watch your house and belongings be scraped from the face of the Earth, washed-away, or turned to...

And now we have our first named storm of the season, Andrea... TS Andrea gained strength over the course of the day, becoming more organized; however the computer models form a consensus that the storm is not likely to reach Category 1 strength prior to landfall. Andrea is projected to make landfall along the Florida coast between Crystal River to Apalachicola, with the Big Bend area most likely target. Gulf Coast Florida is currently under a Tropical Storm Warning until 8PM Friday, from Boca Grande to Ochlocknee river. The southeast US coast is under a Tropical Storm Watch during the...

Tropical Storm Andrea becomes the first storm of the 2013 Atlantic season. Located in the Gulf of Mexico, Andrea is expected to dump significant rain across the Florida peninsula, and up through the Eastern states.

Just wondering. It ought to be something. What did Rahm Emmanuel say?

Stung by being called an “idiot” by Senator David Vitter (R-Louisiana) for his claim that victims of 2012′s Hurricane Sandy suffered more than victims of 2005′s Hurricane Katrina, Senator Harry Reid (D-Nev) attempted to explain his way out the scathing characterization. “My colleague’s focus on quantitative data overlooks qualitative differences between the two events,” Reid argued. “First, New Jersey and New York are states where many important people live. Many of the homes that were destroyed were million dollar properties. The same could be said for the businesses.” “Most of the properties destroyed by Katrina were more like broken down...

The House has approved $9.7 billion in new aid for victims of Hurricane Sandy, a face-saving quick move taken three days after House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) earned scathing criticism from New York and New Jersey Republicans for canceling a late-night vote on the funds. The bill, which will allow the Federal Emergency Management Agency to pay out claims to those who held federal flood insurance, was approved on a 354 to 67 vote. The Senate is expected to adopt it later Friday on a unanimous voice vote. Boehner seems to have had reason to be concerned about bringing...

On Wednesday I joined a Facebook conversation among my New Jersey relatives and friends voicing their outrage over the delay in the $60 billion Sandy relief package. Hoping to make people think, I wrote, "I want our roller coaster up and running by this summer, and I don't care if we have to borrow from the Chinese to do it." I was referring here to the Seaside Heights roller coaster that somehow managed to slide off its crumbling pier and land standing upright in the ocean. In the process, it became something of a symbol of Sandy's wrath. My irony,...

<p>A top House Republican lashed out at party leaders Wednesday over a decision to end the session without a vote on aid for Superstorm Sandy victims, going so far as to urge constituents to stop donating to congressional Republicans.</p> <p>"I'm saying anyone from New York and New Jersey who contributes one penny to congressional Republicans is out of their minds," Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., told Fox News. "What they did last night was put a knife in the back of New Yorkers and New Jerseyans."</p>

The Senate on Friday approved an amendment to a Hurricane Sandy disaster relief bill that would prohibit dead people and anyone with "serious delinquent tax debts" from receiving the funds. The Senate approved the amendment from Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) in a voice vote, along with several other amendments to the bill. The Democratic legislation would provide $60 billion in spending for Sandy cleanup, but Coburn and Republicans have said for the last several weeks that the bill is much bigger than it needs to be. Many GOP senators put forward amendments aimed at reducing the size of the bill,...

Mary Katharine Ham wrote last week about the porkfest in the Senate bill authorizing emergency relief spending for Hurricane Sandy, but the Senate hasn’t gotten the message yet. David Francis reports on more aspects of the larded-up bill for The Fiscal Times, while noting that this has become business as usual on Capitol Hill — especially while the normal budgeting process has been derailed: The Sandy emergency spending package also contains provisions that had previously been rejected or had not yet been considered by Congress. This includes a measure that alters how the federal government manages areas prone to flooding,...

Subject: C5c) Why don't we try to destroy tropical cyclones by nuking them? Contributed by Chris Landsea During each hurricane season, there always appear suggestions that one should simply use nuclear weapons to try and destroy the storms. Apart from the fact that this might not even alter the storm, this approach neglects the problem that the released radioactive fallout would fairly quickly move with the tradewinds to affect land areas and cause devastating environmental problems. Needless to say, this is not a good idea. Now for a more rigorous scientific explanation of why this would not be an effective...

The argument from those stuffing this thing like a Christmas goose is that we should pay no attention to the fact that they’re up to their elbows because the suffering of those in the wake of Superstorm Sandy is far too great to expend time or energy on passing a clean bill—WHY DO YOU HATE STORM VICTIMS?! It’s hard to think of another situation in which spending far more than one should on things that have nothing to do with helping people in the course of allegedly helping people is considered compassionate while questioning such spending is considered stone-hearted. How’d...

The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, Paul McCartney, Bon Jovi, The Who, Roger Waters, Billy Joel, Eric Clapton, Kanye West and many other artists will perform at the benefit to the Robin Hood Relief Fund and victims of Hurricane Sandy. The broadcast will be accessible by an estimated 2 billion people worldwide, according to the concert's website http://www.121212concert.org. U.S. television viewers will have a difficult time missing the event. The broadcast will be carried on 34 channels, from AMC to VH1 Classic. Even pay channels HBO and Showtime 2 and the newsy Bloomberg will carry the...

In the first congressional hearing on Hurricane Sandy Thursday, lawmakers from storm-hit states made appeals for billions of dollars in additional aid and said massive, destructive storms are "the new normal." Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., testified at a hearing of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee that "the path towards enlightened protection and preparation" must include infrastructure improvements such as flood gate repairs in Stamford, steps to stop flooding along the Housatonic River, and the establishment of microgrids for electricity and increased use of generators, especially at facilities for the elderly. "The sweep and depth of destruction in human...

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo made headlines and raised eyebrows Monday when he said that while Hurricane Katrina was deadlier than Hurricane Sandy, the latter storm was “more impactful” over all and “affected many, many more people and places than Katrina.” Mr. Cuomo added that Hurricane Sandy had a greater economic impact, destroyed or damaged more units of housing, affected more businesses and caused more customers to lose power. For our part, City Room decided to undertake a little truth-squadding. While apples-to-apples numbers for the two storms are very difficult to come by, especially given that Hurricane Sandy’s costs are still...

LIPA customers who spent weeks without power got zapped with their normal electric bills — as if the outages never happened. The clueless utility charged Sandy-soaked Long Island residents an estimated rate that covered the entire billing cycle, and the statements made no mention of potential refunds to account for the prolonged blackouts. Jonathan Saporta was slapped with a double whammy by the Long Island Power Authority — a $649 bill for the Long Beach home he left in October and a $281 bill for his new Great Neck pad.

I keep thinking, "Christie can't possibly come back from this." And then I think, "Wait, did we actually just nominate John McCain and the guy responsible for RomneyCare?"Never underestimate the Republican capacity to forgive, my friends. But behind the scenes, the intensity of the reaction from those in Mr. ChristieÂ’s party caught him by surprise, interviews show, requiring a rising Republican star to try to contain a tempest that left him feeling deeply misunderstood and wounded... The tensions followed Mr. Christie to the annual meeting of the Republican Governors Association in Las Vegas last week. At a gathering where he...

I'm all for people pitching in to rebuild after a hurricane. But should the taxpayer be subsidizing the rebuilding, especially when an area has proven to be disaster-prone? New York Times: ******** DAUPHIN ISLAND, Ala. - Even in the off season, the pastel beach houses lining a skinny strip of sand here are a testament to the good life. They are also a monument to the generosity of the federal government. The western end of this Gulf Coast island has proved to be one of the most hazardous places in the country for waterfront property. Since 1979, nearly a dozen...

DAUPHIN ISLAND, Ala. — Even in the off season, the pastel beach houses lining a skinny strip of sand here are a testament to the good life. They are also a monument to the generosity of the federal government. The western end of this Gulf Coast island has proved to be one of the most hazardous places in the country for waterfront property. Since 1979, nearly a dozen hurricanes and large storms have rolled in and knocked down houses, chewed up sewers and water pipes and hurled sand onto the roads. Yet time and again, checks from Washington have allowed...

I (Reginald Kaigler) speak with financial expert Warren Pollock on his experience in the New York City area dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.