The Waffle House Index

FEMA clearly learned some valuable lessons after Hurricane Katrina:
           

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Fire and Water

The rumors about impending nuclear disaster and a government-ordered news blackout at the Fort Calhoun nuclear power plant in Nebraska have turned out to be bullshit. Fortunately, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission did its job a couple years ago and ordered some flooding protection measures.

"Bottom line: The floods appear more annoying than destroying for Nebraska's nuclear plants," says nuclear engineer David Lochbaum of the Union of Concerned Scientists, a nuclear industry critic. "If the NRC had not found the flooding protection shortcomings (at Fort Calhoun) last year and compelled the owner to fix them, chances increase considerably that the floodwater would have gotten into places that disabled equipment."

On the other hand, the wildfire that threatens to overtake the Los Alamos National Laboratory could be cause for serious concern. Let's hope that the radioactive waste onsite is indeed stored in fireproof vaults.

Tornadoes in Massachusetts

While not nearly as powerful nor as deadly as the Joplin storm, the tornado that struck Springfield (MA) today is noteworthy because New England is well outside Tornado Alley.

This is the first tornado in Hampden County since 2008 and the most powerful in over 40 years.

The tornado crossed the Connecticut River and caused at least one death.

This has been a bad Spring for tornadoes in the United States.  It seems that it will not be limited to the South and the Midwest. 

Today also marks the first day of the 2011 hurricane season. It's going to be a busy year for insurance claims adjusters.

Guatemala Hit By Double Whammy

A few days ago, Guatemala's capital was coated in ash from a volcanic eruption that disrupted flights and forced hundreds of people to evacuate.

That disaster was eclipsed by Tropical Storm Agatha, the first eastern Pacific tropical storm of the season, which struck over the weekend, killing at least a dozen Guatemalans and forcing tens of thousands to evacuate.

No doubt Pat Robertson will have an explanation for Guatemala's divine punishment.

Hollywood Names to Help With Oil Clean-up

BP can't manage to shut off its gushing undersea well.  The federal government seems impotent. Don't worry -- Hollywood is here to help.

James Cameron is offering his submersibles to assist with the clean-up effort.  Even more surprisingly, it seems that after completing Waterworld in 1995, star Kevin Costner invested in centrifugal oil separator technology that was used on the Exxon Valdez spill.  It has been fine-tuned over the past 15 years since he bought it and is about to be tried in the Gulf.

Stephen Baldwin is making a documentary about it.  It could turn-out to be very exciting film-making --  disasters have a way of finding Kevin Costner.