THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

If Hurricane Sandy put Obama over the top, perhaps God is trying to tell Pat Robertson and his ilk that she doesn't hate gays.

IRONY AND STUPIDITY ABOUND

Do you remember Michael ("Brownie, you're doing a heckuva job") Brown, infamous director of FEMA during its catastrophic failure after Katrina and the federal flood?  The FEMA that wasn't there for days as nearly 1000 people drowned in New Orleans? 

That same Michael Brown...wait!...is now criticizing Obama for his too-rapid response to Hurricane Sandy.

“One thing he’s gonna be asked is, why did he jump on [the hurricane] so quickly and go back to D.C. so quickly when in…Benghazi, he went to Las Vegas?” Brown says. “Why was this so quick?… At some point, somebody’s going to ask that question…. This is like the inverse of Benghazi.”

See?  Hurricane Sandy is just like the Benghazi attack, only turned upside down.  Amazingly brilliant analogy, no?  Brownie's a heckuva guy with a mind like a steel trap...not!  Brownie, who knows not the meaning of quick response, is just the person to connect the dots and come up with a really, really stupid comment.

H/T to Charles Pierce.

PICTURES OF HAVOC WREAKED BY SANDY IN AND AROUND NYC

LaGuardia Airport

New York subway

FDR Drive under water.

Entrance to the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel

George Takei

A double rainbow touching down in Manhattan symbolizes the end of the storm and the beginning of the recovery.

My title for the rainbow picture is "Hope". NYC, one of my favorite cities, will recover.

The other pictures are from the Facebook pages of my friends Dan and Doug.

UPDATE: More pictures at Doug's blog Counterlight's Peculiars.

CAN'T GET NUTHIN' DONE

Can't get going on much of anything today thinking about the people in the Northeast who are and will be affected by the storm.

From Dr Jeff Masters at Weather Underground:  

Sandy already producing a record storm surge 

The National Weather Service in Atlantic City, NJ said that isolated record storm surge flooding already occurred along portions of the New Jersey coast with this morning's 7:30 am EDT high tide cycle. As the tide goes out late this morning and this afternoon, water levels will fall, since the difference in water levels between low tide and high tide is about 5'. However, this evening, as the core of Sandy moves ashore, the storm will carry with it a gigantic bulge of water that will raise waters levels to the highest storm tides ever seen in over a century of record keeping, along much of the coastline of New Jersey and New York. The peak danger will be between 7 pm - 10 pm, when storm surge rides in on top of the high tide. The full moon is today, which means astronomical high tide will be about 5% higher than the average high tide for the month, adding another 2 - 3" to water levels. This morning's 9:30 am EDT H*Wind analysis from NOAA's Hurricane Research Division put the destructive potential of Sandy's winds at a modest 2.9 on a scale of 0 to 6. However, the destructive potential of the storm surge was record high: 5.8 on a scale of 0 to 6. This is a higher destructive potential than any hurricane observed since 1969, including Category 5 storms like Katrina, Rita, Wilma, Camille, and Andrew. The previous highest destructive potential for storm surge was 5.6 on a scale of 0 to 6, set during Hurricane Isabel of 2003. Sandy's storm surge will be capable of overtopping the flood walls in Manhattan, which are only five feet above mean sea level. On August 28, 2011, Tropical Storm Irene brought a storm surge of 4.13' and a storm tide of 9.5' above MLLW to Battery Park on the south side of Manhattan. The waters poured over the flood walls into Lower Manhattan, but came 8 - 12" shy of being able to flood the New York City subway system. According to the latest storm surge forecast for NYC from NHC, Sandy's storm surge is expected to be 10 - 12' above MLLW. Since a storm tide of 10.5' is needed to flood the subway system, it appears likely that portions of the NYC subway system will flood. The record highest storm tide at The Battery was 10.5', set on September 15, 1960, during Hurricane Donna.

AI-YAI-YAI!  I've been reading Dr Jeff's Wunderblog for years as I watched and waited for hurricanes here in south Louisiana.  His information is always spot on.

Sandy's winds are still intensifying, and the storm carries heavy rainfall along with it.  Take care, my friends in the Northeast.  I pray for little or no loss of life.

PRAYER FOR ALL IN THE WAKE AND PATH OF HURRICANE SANDY

 

Gracious God, you are our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble.
In the wake and in the path of Hurricane Sandy,
reveal your presence so that all may know your healing, hope, and love.
As one community on earth bound together by your grace,
inspire us to pray, serve, and help all those who suffer.

Lord in your mercy,

Hear our prayer.

ELCA Prayer and Worship Resources for Natural Disasters.

UPDATE: Check out my favorite source for weather information, Weather Underground.