Northern Massachusetts, Southern New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine were hit by a terrible ice storm Thursday night/Friday morning. Trees, overburdened by heavy ice, crashed through power lines and buildings in the affected area. An federal emergency disaster declaration has been declared in nine Massachusetts counties, and FEMA has been authorized to release emergency assistance. The affected MA counties are: Berkshire, Bristol, Essex, Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire, Middlesex, Suffolk, and Worcester. The devastation is especially bad in the Worcester and Fitchburg area and across the Merrimack Valley to Lawrence and into Northern Essex county.

I live in Northern Middlesex county. The aftermath of this ice storm resembles the aftermath of a tornado more than anything else.  There were trees down all around where I live. Some were thin, shallow-rooted trees like birch and "junk" maples. Those are relatively easy to clear out or move aside so work crews can collect them later. There were also a lot of big thick pine and oak and other trees that crashed down as well. Many of these trees dropped onto power lines, went through windows or roofs of houses or landed on car tops. Getting these trees or branches removed is a lot harder to do. The cleanup from this storm is going to last a long, long time.

My house was without power from early Friday morning through mid-afternoon Monday. Like so many others in New England, my family dealt with the storm by piling up logs for the wood stove and fireplace, wrapping pipes in the basement and praying that the insulation would keep out the freezing cold. My husband and I surveyed the damage on our lot and gathered information for the insurance adjusters. Our neighbors managed to get through the storm with the same minor damage we did. We were all fairly lucky.  There were many more in Massachusetts who were not so lucky and will be cleaning up from this storm for a long while.

The Lawrence Eagle Tribune has a webpage up simply called Ice Monster. There are pictures there that detail the almost unimaginable destruction the ice storm left behind. It mirrors scenes I saw in my town; roads made nearly impassable by tree branches, huge piles of wood and debris pushed into the side of the road, homes and businesses trying to operate on generators. The DPW workers have been working around the clock to try and clear the worst of the hazards and get schools up and running and roads cleared.  They have done incredible, exhausting work and deserve a lot of thanks and praise for their dedication.

For a lot of people who are already dealing with the effects of the bad economy, this is one more costly blow to absorb. I talked to families who had managed to put some money away for the Holidays who now have to redirect that cash to deal with the affects of the storm. The need is going to be even greater this year at local food pantries and assistance centers as people try to figure out how they are going to recover from the cost of this storm amid other financial hardships. I hope the spirit of generosity, patience and humor that I saw displayed in so many folks this past weekend will extend over the winter.  It will be sorely needed

The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) sent out these tips for dealing with the effects of this storm.  Share these with friends and neighbors who are still coping with storm-related problems.

Post-Storm Tips

MEMA offers safety tips to those who continue to be impacted by the recent Ice Storm.

• During the outage, do not open your refrigerator or freezer door. Food can stay cold in a full refrigerator for up to 24 hours, and in a well-packed freezer for 48 hours (24 hours if it is half-packed). After that time frame, you must consider disposing of this food.
• If you have medication that requires refrigeration, check with your pharmacist for guidance on proper storage during an extended outage.
• To keep pipes from freezing, wrap them in insulation or layers of newspapers, covering the newspapers with plastic to keep out moisture.
• Let faucets drip a trickle of water from the faucet farthest from your water meter to help keep pipes from freezing.
• If pipes freeze, remove insulation, completely open all faucets and pour hot water over the pipes, starting where they are most exposed to the cold. A hand-held hair dryer, used with caution, also works well.
• In order to protect against possible voltage irregularities that can occur when power is restored, you should unplug all sensitive electronic equipment, including your TVs, stereo, VCR, microwave oven, computer, cordless telephone, answering machine and garage door opener.
• Be extra cautious around downed or hanging electrical wires. Expect all wires to be live wires. Never attempt to touch or move downed lines. Do not touch anything power lines are touching, such as tree branches or fences.
• Do not become a 'spectator'. Continue to stay off streets in the affected areas, letting the crews do their jobs.
• Call 2-1-1 for non-emergency storm-related questions.

The Commission on the Prevention of WMD Proliferation and Terrorism releases a new report today on the urgency of dealing with nuclear and biological weapons proliferation.  The Boston Globe, in an article by Brian Bender, notes that President-Elect Obama already has plans to appoint a high-level White House official to oversee the effort to stop these deadly weapons from falling into the hands of terrorist groups.  Bender writes:

President-elect Barack Obama plans to appoint a new White House official to coordinate efforts to prevent terrorists from obtaining nuclear or biological weapons, advisers say, giving the highest priority to thwarting a catastrophic attack that a bipartisan panel warns could come in the next five years.

Naming a top deputy whose sole mission is to oversee the government's wide-ranging programs to stop such an attack would mark a significant break with the Bush administration, which in resisting such a post has maintained that US efforts to reduce nuclear stockpiles and safeguard deadly pathogens are adequate.

In the 2004 Presidential debates, both Senator Kerry and President Bush both agreed that the single most serious threat to the US and the world was nuclear proliferation. However, as noted in the Globe story, the Bush Administration has not increased efforts to combat this growing threat.

 Senator Kerry wrote an OpEd earlier this year that laid out a list of four things that the US could do to reduce the risk of nuclear proliferation.  

First, engage the American people in this cause. Within the first 100 days, the next president should give a policy address demonstrating his commitment to a nuclear-weapons-free world. Generations have grown up never knowing anything but the old order of mutually assured destruction, but the stage is already set for a big policy shift. In fact, 17 of the 24 former secretaries of state and defence and national security advisers support moving towards a nuclear-free world. This bipartisan council of elders includes cold-eyed realists such as Henry Kissinger and George Schultz and defence hawks such as Sam Nunn and Bill Perry. The new president should bring this august group to the White House Rose Garden so Americans can see at first hand the face of a new consensus.

Second, create a new position: a deputy national security adviser to the president, whose sole responsibility is to prevent nuclear terrorism.

Third, empower this individual to lead an accelerated effort - a Manhattan Project in reverse: instead of racing to assemble a bomb, make sure nobody else can. We should aim to secure all "loose" nuclear material worldwide by the end of the next president's first term and establish a global gold standard for their safe custody.

Fourth, the new president should ensure that our nuclear policy reflects the cold war's conclusion almost two decades ago. The US and Russia no longer need a combined stockpile of more than 20,000 warheads, many of them on "hair trigger" alert. We can and should work to extend the 1991 strategic arms reduction treaty, reach a new agreement reducing strategic nuclear forces resulting in no greater than 1,000 deployed warheads, and increase warning times prior to launch.

The points raised by Sen. Kerry are in line with the recommendations contained in the report being released today.  The Boston Globe summarized those recommendations as follows:

Report Recommendations

• Stop nuclear weapons programs in Iran and North Korea, using diplomacy backed by credible threat of force.
• Work with Pakistan and other countries to eliminate terrorist safe havens and secure nuclear and biological materials in that country.
• Do comprehensive review of global nuclear security and restructure relationship with Russia.
• Work with Russia to jointly reduce dangers, including extending provisions expiring in 2009 in strategic arms treaty, upgrading security at sites in Russia, and encouraging China, India, and Pakistan to stop producing fissile material.
• Review and tighten measures to secure dangerous pathogens, including high-risk biolabs; improve rapid response to prevent mass casualties from biological attacks.
• Press for international conference on biosecurity, strengthen global disease surveillance networks.
• Impose penalties for violating nuclear nonproliferation treaty, strengthen International Atomic Energy Agency, ensure access to nuclear fuel for countries without nuclear weapons.
• Designate a principal White House adviser on nuclear and biological weapons and terrorism, restructure National Security Council and Homeland Security Council.
• Reform congressional oversight of nonproliferation and terrorism.
• Accelerate integration of counterproliferation, counterterrorism, and law enforcement agencies.
• More effectively counter the ideology fueling terrorists who might use nuclear or biological weapons.
• Within six months of new administration, develop a checklist of actions for which citizens can hold government accountable.

SOURCE: Commission on the Prevention of WMD Proliferation and Terrorism

What a difference an election can make.  It is encouraging to see this issue being given the prominence it deserves. The Commission report encourages the Congress and President to work together to oversee efforts to contain the spread of nuclear and biological material that could wind up in terrorist hands.This is a very welcome development and heralds a new seriousness on the part of the US to deal with this extremely important issue.