1. SNOW TSUNAMI SPARES NORTHEASTERN USA (The People Did Their Part and Devine Providence Did all the Rest) JANUARY 26-27, 2015
lecture by Walter Hays Uploading date: January 28, 2015
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Walter Hays, Global Alliance for Disaster Reduction, Vienna, Virginia, USA 

2. NATURAL HAZARDS THAT HAVE CAUSED DISASTERS IN NORTHEASTERN USA
FLOODS
AT RISK: MILLIONS OF PEOPLE/COMMUNITIES
HURRICANES
LOW PROBABILITY OF OCCURRENCE--HIGH PROBABILITY OF A DISASTER
EARTHQUAKES
NOR’EASTERS
WINTER STORMS
GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE

3. NOR’EASTER WINTER STORM: JAN. 26, 2015

4. MONDAY: THE EXPECTATION
All of the SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACTS
associated with a record storm with heavy snow, intense winds, cold, and coastal flooding

5. WHAT THE PEOPLE DID
On Monday (Jan 26th), life abruptly stopped across the Northeastern USA region as state officials declared a state of emergency and ordered workers to go home early, banned travel, closed bridges and tunnels, mass transit, schools, and assembled their biggest snow plowing crews.

6. WHAT THE PEOPLE DID
Coastal residents braced for a powerful storm surge and the possibility of damaging flooding and beach erosion, particularly on Cape Cod.

7. WHAT THE PEOPLE DID
Power companies activated inter-state agreements and prepared for the possibility of widespread power outages.

8. WHAT THE PEOPLE DID
Airlines cancelled nearly 8,000 flights and prepared contingency plans.

9. WHAT THE PEOPLE DID
Schools and businesses let out early. Government offices closed.
Shoppers stocking up on food jammed supermarkets and competing with one another for what was left.
Broadway stages went dark.

10. TUESDAY MORNING: WHAT HAPPENED
The huge storm moved up the Atlantic coast as predicted,
but its impacts were off by 100 miles: not as bad as predicted in New York, and as bad as predicted in Boston.

11. The National Weather Service blamed the 166 km (100 mile) error on too much reliance on one of the four forecasting models

12. TUESDAY MORNING IN NEW YORK
The city had an almost eerie quietness with almost no one on the streets and only a few municipal trucks rumbling down empty streets.
No airplanes were in the sky.
Wind was more of a problem than the light snow that fell steadily early Tuesday in midtown Manhattan.

13. NEW YORK Travel bans were lifted before midmorning in New York.
New York City buses, subways and trains were expected to restart later in the morning and a return to a full schedule was expected Wednesday.

14. NEW YORK THRUWAY
A 60-mile stretch of the New York Thruway, located in sections of New York that were forecast to see from 10 to 20 inches of snow, was reopened after being shut down for about nine hours.

15. NEW YORK WALL STREET
On Wall Street, the New York Stock Exchange said it would operate normally Tuesday.

16. NEW YORK UTILITIES
Through midmorning, utility companies across the region reported minimal power outages.

17. LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK
Long Island was hit the hardest, with snow falling 2 inches per hour creating hazardous conditions.
Islip had 14.7 inches of snow by early Tuesday.

18. The Philadelphia-to-Boston corridor of more than 35 million people did the right thing by preparing for a paralyzing blzzard on Monday evening and into Tuesday after being warned by forecasters of a storm of potentially historic proportions.

19. MASSACHUSETTS: STILL EXPECTING RECORD SNOW
Early Tuesday, Massachusetts was still being pounded by snow and lashed by strong winds after bands of heavy snow left some towns including Sandwich on Cape Cod and Oxford in central Massachusetts reporting more than 18 inches (45 cm) of snow.
At least 60 cm of snow is still expected.

20. SNOW IN BOSTON

21. MASSACHUSETS: HIGH WINDS
The National Weather Service says a wind gust of 130 kph (78 mph) was reported on Nantucket, and a 120 kph (72 mph) gust was reported in Aquinnah on Martha's Vineyard.

22. MASSACHUSETTS: POWER OUTAGES
At least 30,000 homes and businesses were without power in the Boston-Cape Cod area, including the entire island of Nantucket.

23. AT PRESENT, One death in New York City, two in Long Island

24. REMEMBERING A NOTABLE NATURAL DISASTER IN THE NORTHEASTERN USA IN 2012 SUPER STORM SANDY

25. SANDY FROM AN ORDINARY TROPICAL STORM TO A HISTORIC “SUPER STORM” IN EIGHT DAYS

26. AT 8:00 PM ON OCTOBER 29, SANDY BECAME THE MOST DEVASTATING CAT 1 HURRICANE TO HIT THE EASTERN USA IN RECORDED HISTORY (PRESSURE– 940 Mb)

27. CAT 1 HURRICANE SANDY MADE LANDFALL AT 8:00 PM ON MONDAY NIGHT, OCT
CAT 1 HURRICANE SANDY MADE LANDFALL AT 8:00 PM ON MONDAY NIGHT, OCT. 29TH
Sandy made landfall south of Atlantic City, New Jersey, merging with a winter storm system to become a unique, once-in-a-century, “Super Storm” caused by nature’s natural cycles, NOT global warming

28. FIFTY DEATHS ALONG EASTERN SEABOARD (as of Oct. 30)
Preliminary Loss Estimate:
$50 Billion

29. AN ORDINARY TROPICAL STORM ON OCTOBER 22

30. ENROUTE TO A SUPER STORM IN NEW JERSEY: 8:00 PM, OCT. 29

31. SUPER STORM SANDY: OCT. 29-30, 2012

32. FLOODING IN BROOKLYN

33. FLOODING, POWER OUTAGES, AND AN EMERGENCY EVACUATION LIMIT SERVICES
NY HOSPITALS IMPACTED
FLOODING, POWER OUTAGES, AND AN EMERGENCY EVACUATION LIMIT SERVICES

34. NEW YORK CITY ON LOCK DOWN
ROADS CLOSED
TUNNELS CLOSED
SUBWAY, TRAINS, AND AIRPORTS CLOSED
WIDE-SPREAD POWER OUTAGES
HIGH VOLUME OF 911 CALLS THAT CAN’T BE ANSWERED EFFICIENTLY
STOCK EXCHANGES CLOSED
SCHOOLS CLOSED

35. WATER AND FIRE SIMULTANEOUSLY IN QUEENS, NY
Fire fighters unable to cope with flooding and fire as 80 houses burn to ground

36. OCT. 29: FLOODED STREETS IN QUEENS

37. OCT. 29: FIRE IN QUEENS

38. NEW JERSEY: ATLANTIC CITY UNDER WATER

39. NEW JERSEY: OCEAN FRONT FLOODING

40. NEW JERSEY: STREET FLOODING

41. LESSONS LEARNED

42. Disasters are caused by single- or multiple-event natural hazards that, (for various reasons), cause extreme levels of mortality, morbidity, homelessness, joblessness, economic losses, or environmental impacts.

43. THE REASONS ARE . . .
When it does happen, the functions of the community’s buildings and infrastructure will be LOST because they are UNPROTECTED with the appropriate codes and standards.

44. THE REASONS ARE . . .
The community is UN-PREPARED for what will likely happen, not to mention the low-probability of occurrence—high-probability of adverse consequences event.

45. THE REASONS ARE . . .
The community has NO DISASTER PLANNING SCENARIO or WARNING SYSTEM in place as a strategic framework for early threat identification and coordinated local, national, regional, and international countermeasures.

46. THE REASONS ARE . . .
The community LACKS THE CAPACITY TO RESPOND in a timely and effective manner to the full spectrum of expected and unexpected emergency situations.

47. THE REASONS ARE . . .
The community is INEFFICIENT during recovery and reconstruction because it HAS NOT LEARNED from either the current experience or the cumulative prior experiences.

48. THE KEYS TO RESILIENCE: 1) KNOW THE HISTORY OF PAST DISASTERS 2) BE PREPARED 3) HAVE A ACCURATE WARNING SYSTEM, AND 4) EVACUATE 5) LEARN FROM THE EXPERIENCE