SUMMARY: Superstorm Sandy flooded coastline communities and led to billions of dollars in damage. Five years on, the city of New York has tried to mitigate the impact of a future disaster, from raising houses to building seawalls. But turning ideas into reality has been slow and complicated. Science correspondent Miles O'Brien reports on how the city is building resiliency and the hurdles that remain.
JUDY WOODRUFF (Newshour): The devastating typhoon that struck the Philippines illustrated the vulnerability of island nations to extreme weather and added a spark to the international debate already under way over who bears the costs from climate change.
MARCIN KOROLEC, Environment Minister of Poland: Climate is a global issue, global problem, and a global opportunity at the same time.
JUDY WOODRUFF: The United Nations' 12-day conference on climate change began earlier this month with an audacious goal: a new agreement to cut climate-altering greenhouse gas emissions.
They met with renewed purpose. Typhoon Haiyan had just slammed into the Philippines with 195-mile-per-hour winds. Among the strongest storms ever recorded, it caused massive flooding, widespread destruction and took at least 5,200 lives.
Although scientists have not pointed to global warming as the direct cause for massive superstorms, they caution that greenhouse gas-fueled climate change could bring about extreme weather. A delegate from the Philippines went on hunger strike to demand an ambitious deal.
NADEREV YEB SANO, Philippines Climate Change Commissioner: We stand together on this urgent call for climate action and solidarity among the most vulnerable peoples on Earth.
JOHN IRVINE, Independent Television News: It's the last place outsiders have reached, the town of Guiuan, the eastern edge of this country, where the Philippines meet the Pacific.
We headed into what's left. The soldier with us was a guide, not a guard. The people here could not have been more welcoming as they showed us the horrendous destruction.
Guiuan's location, normally a blessing, was on Friday a terrible curse. There's nothing to the east of this town other than thousands of miles of Pacific Ocean, and it was from there that the typhoon came. The most powerful storm ever recorded by man first encountered mankind right here and dealt a terrible blow.
Several people were killed here in a sports center designated as a shelter, a refuge that became a death trap as the typhoon blew the roof in. The monster storm killed at least 85 people. And the survivors still can't quite believe that they lived through it.
SUMMARY: Relief supplies have been slow to reach typhoon victims due to physical obstacles slowing down delivery. The lack of aid and growing desperation have led to a "breakdown of peace and order" in the hardest hit regions. Gwen Ifill talks to Richard Gordon of the Philippine Red Cross about the challenges.
GWEN IFILL (Newshour): This week marks a year since superstorm Sandy struck. More than 70 people were killed along the Eastern Seaboard. Damage totaled more than $65 billion, and it pounded New Jersey and New York City hard. It also prompted a reexamination -- a reexamination about how to prepare for future disasters.
The NewsHour’s science correspondent, Miles O'Brien, has the first of two reports for us, this on changes in New York.
MILES O’BRIEN (Newshour): Hurricane Sandy brought mighty Gotham to its knees. And one year later, the people who keep this city running are scrambling to figure out how to keep it dry as storms worsen and the sea level rises.
The Consolidated Edison power substation that sits at the end of 14th street right next to the East River is about six feet above sea level.
ROBERT SCHIMMENTI, Consolidated Edison: The water and electricity doesn't mix, obviously.
MILES O’BRIEN: Most of the electricity for Lower Manhattan flows through these transformers and relays, as long as they're not underwater. For over 50 years, the 11-foot-high flood walls worked just fine, until Sandy's storm surge pushed 14 feet of water over the banks of the East River.
SUMMARY: As thousands of residents continue to clean up from Hurricane Sandy, many are anticipating future disasters and considering how New York will cope with rising seas and potentially more devastating flooding. Hari Sreenivasan reports on options like barriers that could protect the region from future storm surges.
I am Retired U.S. Navy (22yrs) and a Vietnam Veteran. After my Navy retirement I was in the computer related industry, now retired. In 2000 I was a registered Republican and voted for George W. Bush. Six months of having Bush in the Whitehouse forced me to re-evaluate my political stance. I had always thought of myself as a Moderate Republican, but was a Republican by "default" NOT because of close examination of the GOP. Due to what has happened in America since 2000, I now consider myself a progressive, and registered as a Non-Affiliated voter.
*Anti-First Amendment policies that attempt to turn America into a theocracy by enshrining ANY religious belief as law.
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