Irene - How you can help

[Joseph Backes]

Hello,

As many of you know Hurricane Irene caused a lot of damage in the Northeast of the U.S. You probably saw that it knocked down an oak tree near JFK's grave at Arlington National Cemetery that was over 200 years old. It caused a lot of damage in many rural counties in New York, Massachusetts, and Vermont. Some sections of Vermont are hilly and mountainous. So, when the rainfall is said to be 5 inches of rain it can quickly become 20 inches of rain or more as the rainfall gets funneled through narrow creeks and valleys.

My local paper ran a story on how people can help. Now a lot of that information is geared to my local area. They were looking for people to not only donate money but to donate their own personal time and labor to help sweep out mud and help clean up. These areas near me have been going through economic hard times for decades, long before the recent down turn in the economy, and now this hurricane came along.

This hurricane was a lot of wind and rain. It washed away a lot of houses, roads, bridges, crops, farms, and farm animals. Fortunately, there were not a lot of deaths. There are hundreds still who have no electrical power. In some cases repair crews can't get there because the roads are gone.

I would like to make folks aware of how they can help. I have some info on my blog. Thank you.

See - http://justiceforkennedy.blogspot.com/2011/09/how-to-help-those-suffering-from.html

Joe

Edited September 5, 2011 by Joseph Backes

[Joseph Backes]

Hello again,

And the news just keeps getting better. According to my local NBC affiliate, Channel 13, there was a tornado today near Amsterdam, NY. We had a lot of rain today, with more rain coming.

There's more info on how to help on the Channel 13 site. See - http://wnyt.com/index.shtml

Video of the tornado - http://amsterdam.wnyt.com/news/weather/78788-video-shows-thruway-tornado

It's an impressive video that captures how loud thunder can be. You will see the tornado at about 5:50 into this 7 minute video.

"This video of the storm that blew through the Capital Region late this afternoon was shot by Lindsay Pillips of the Albany Weather Examiner and was posted on our Facebook page at Facebook.com/NewsChannel13. Meteorologist Tim Drawbridge tells us the National Weather Service now confirms that toward the end of the video -- shot from the Thruway rest stop near Amsterdam -- it shows a tornado crossing Interstate 90."

Joe

Edited September 5, 2011 by Joseph Backes