Sandy in NEPA

When disasters strike the region, we often run roundup posts that collect posts from bloggers throughout NEPA presenting the disaster from numerous points of view.  We'll probably be doing that with Sandy, once the storm-within-a-storm has had its way with us. But in the meantime, we'll be using this post as a way of communicating critical information about the storm and its aftermath, and providing links to resources for preparing for the storm and dealing with its consequences.

Before the storm:

http://ready.gov/ - The Federal Emergency Management Agency website for disaster preparedness. Lots of useful information and good advice, and links to plenty of other government sites.

National Hurricane Center page for Sandy - This is one peculiar storm, a hurricane wrapped in a Nor'easter, something never seen before - at least, never seen to hit land. The predicted path of this storm is equally peculiar. The National Hurricane Center page provides twelve different ways of looking at the storm and its effects. You can check it frequently for frequently-updated predictions of the storm's path.

NOAA Storm Central - "Your one-stop source for Sandy news and information. Tracking Sandy? Be prepared: Get the latest forecast, advisories, radar images, fact sheets, links to preparedness resources and more on our comprehensive webpage." Tons of information, links, and resources.

Facebook Groups:

Wyoming Valley PA Alert Network - This was the old Wyoming Valley Flood of 2011 group, reactivated when it became clear that these "once in a lifetime" disasters might be happening on a fairly regular basis. The mission now is a to be "a permanent page to be used year round to share any type of serious community alerts and messages." Resources, news, and first-hand accounts.

NEPA Flood of 2011 - A site with a similar mission and similar name-change issue. Another great source for resources, news, and first-hand accounts.

NEPA Hurricane Sandy Watch - Set up by Penn State Meteorology students to track Sandy as it passes through NEPA. They've already thought about the future by spinning off a NEPA Severe Weather Watch page.

Information:

UGI Outage Center (http://www.ugi.com/portal/page/portal/UGI/Outage_Center)

PPL Consumer Outage Center (https://www.pplelectric.com/my-account/outage-center.aspx)

Susquehanna River Flood Forecasting (http://www.susquehannafloodforecasting.org/)

Susquehanna River Level at Wilkes-Barre (includes predictions for upcoming dates)

More to come...