The lead article in today’s New York Times, “Storm Cost Seen to Rank in Top 10 of U.S. Disasters,” describes an ongoing reevaluation of Hurricane Irene, initially seen as a fizzle with possible overreactions by the Mayor of New York City and the Governor of Connecticut.

The storm affected an unusually wide area of the East Coast on the weekend prior to Labor Day. It darkened Broadway shows, kept commuters at home, scooted vacationers off the beaches and caused massive flooding in its wake, with the full results of that yet to be seen.

The economic costs of all this area significant. And since most of the damage was caused by flooding instead of high winds, a lot of it won’t be covered by insurance. Fortunately, FEMA is much more professional today than it was under George W. Bush, and the federal government is ready to step into the breach.

Meanwhile, concern continues in southern Vermont, where authorities had to airlift food and water into a number of towns isolated by the flood waters. And many in Connecticut and elsewhere are still without power.

As the recovery efforts conclude, and rebuilding gets underway, the area will get a slight boost from the jobs created as a result. But that’s not much comfort to those whose homes or livelihoods were affected by this natural disaster.

The lead article in today’s New York Times, “Storm’s Push North Leaves Punishing Inland Flooding,” describes the way our attention had been diverted to the coastline during Hurricane Irene while we neglected areas that are really suffering now from inland flooding, primarily the mid-Hudson valley, upstate New York and Vermont.

In addition to that, millions, yes millions, remain without power including more than half of Connecticut — and I give a shoutout to my Pastor in Greenwich who at least last evening was one of them.

This seemingly delayed impact of the storm came as we looked for major damage in New York City, dramatic winds breaking windows in skyscrapers and other hurricane-related, category 1 effects throughout the region. We were aware of the possibility of flooding, but we were looking more at the ocean than inland rivers.

Meanwhile, the situation in New Jersey also remains dire in many regions with delayed flooding still expected on the Ramapo, Delaware and Passaic rivers according to Governor Christie.

So, briefly, Hurricane Irene continues to have a diverse impact throughout the tri-state area and in Vermont. It has claimed 40 lives as it barreled up the East Coast, and we may be experiencing its effects for weeks to come. Those of us in safe or unaffected areas need to help our neighbors as much as possible.

The lead article in today’s New York Times, “New York Spared Brunt of Storm; Suburbs Hit Hard,” shows how unpredictable the vagaries of nature can be. The city, which had undergone a much publicized evacuation of “Zone A” low-lying areas, shuttered Broadway, closed the mass transit system and forced everyone indoors found the precautions unnecessary at best. Westchester County, too, was relatively untouched with the force of Irene largely hitting Connecticut, where about half the state was without power.

Yes, a lot of trees fell down, but the storm was downgraded from a hurricane by the time it hit NYC around 9 AM, packing 65 mph winds nevertheless. Yet no subway tunnels were flooded, and the windows did not break in any skyscrapers.

As most of us dust ourselves off from the excitement, we can still feel thankful, though, for the precious gift of life, which fell beyond our control as we awaited a force of nature to strike. Perhaps, the experience can serve as an analogy for other times as well, when we must learn to put our faith in the Lord instead of our puny human efforts. If that occurs, then Irene will have served a useful purpose as we return to the routines of our everyday lives.

The lead article in today’s New York Times, “With Storm Near, 370,000 in City Get Evacuation Order,” describes a mounting crisis as a hurricane moves inexorably toward the Big Apple, and government officials scramble to get adequately prepared.

Mayor Bloomberg’s decision to order a mandatory evacuation for low-lying areas in “Zone A” seemed inevitable for any responsible government official, but he deserves commendation for his action in a difficult situation. Whether or not Hurricane Irene lives up to its advance billing, in the words of the old saying, “it’s better safe than sorry.”

Meanwhile, TV stations ramped up wall-to-wall coverage, and people engaged in controlled panic. Water, batteries and flashlights flew off shopping shelves, and homeowners took precautionary actions as well such as taking in outdoor furniture and, for those near the ocean, protecting windows with plywood.

And, in one of the most unprecedented steps, the New York City transit system was ordered to shut down at noon, including subways, buses and commuter trains. The action was taken due to concern over the effect of high winds on the cars.

President Obama declared a federal emergency, freeing up additional assistance for the region, and now, all we can really do is wait and pray. One hopes that any loss of life is minimized by all these precautionary activities.

The lead article in today’s New York Times, “In Japan Reactor Failings, Danger Signs for the U.S.,” provides one more instance of the nuclear industry lying to the general public about the nature of risks involved in the operation of its plants.

Apparently, the venting system used in the stricken Japanese plants is the most up-to-date version, the same used in many plants in the United States, and it has multiple design and operational flaws that require expensive retrofitting or redesign.

The flaws include the inability of venting systems, critical to avoiding the hydrogen explosions experienced at three reactors in Japan, to work without electricity. And that was exactly what happened with the failure of the backup generators in the Japanese plants.

In addition, a fail-safe system to open the vents by allowing manual access to the valves was ineffective due to damage from the earthquake as well as an inability to approach the valves due to prior release of large amounts of radioactivity.

General Electric had claimed that the Japanese plants were using a less advanced type of venting system than in the United States, and that we were perfectly safe here. They did not offer any comment to The New York Times story.

The lead article in today’s New York Times, “After Storms Kill Hundreds, South Tries to Regroup,” describes a devastating series of tornadoes that hit the region, killing hundreds of people. Entire neighborhoods were obliterated, and relief is just now starting to pour into the region. Alabama was the worst hit, but a whole series of states suffered widespread destruction.

This whole season has featured many strong tornados, but Wednesday night’s events surpassed them all and are being described as Katrina-esque. Personally, I can’t help but wonder about the role of global warming in these weather changes.

The National Guard has been called out in Alabama, and the President will be touring the region. I expect FEMA to play a major role in helping the region to recover as well.

I guess this natural disaster helps us to bond together as a nation at a time when so many other things are polarizing us and driving us apart. As fellow humans, we still remain humbled by the weather, one of the few forces we are unable to control. The proverbial Act of God can come and undo a lifetime of savings, building a home and filling it with materials, when it is really only our lives themselves that are the most precious.

The lead article in today’s New York Times, “Anxiety Up as Tokyo Issues Warning on Its Tap Water,” shows that the problems with the Fukushima nuclear plants are much greater than the Tokyo Electric Power Company has acknowledged. A high level of radioactive iodine in the tap water led Japanese officials to suggest withholding the tap water from infants in the Tokyo area.

The warning, of course, led to a run on bottled water in all the stores, with people buying 20-to-30 bottles at a time. So the Japanese government had to promise to distribute bottled water to families with infants, approximately 80,000 in all. Meanwhile, other countries, the United States included, started to prohibit imports of Japanese food products.

Radioactive iodine is particularly harmful to children because they are growing more rapidly, and their thyroid glands are much more active. It is estimated that the tolerable dose for infants is 16 times lower than adults. The use of potassium iodide as medicine helps to flood the thyroid gland and reduces the absorption of the radioactive version.

Meanwhile, the nuclear plants continue to spew radiation into the environment with smoke emitted from reactor #3 yesterday, leading to another temporary evacuation of workers trying to make repairs. And Tokyo Electric Power is still not out of the woods. Experts estimate another 10 days before the situation is finally brought under control.

The lead article in today’s New York Times, “U.S. Sees Extremely High Radiation Level at Plant, Focusing on Spent Fuel’s Impact,” depicts a fundamental dichotomy regarding the analysis of the crisis at the Fukushima nuclear plants between Japan and the United States. The U.S. is recommending that its citizens evacuate an area of 50 miles around the plants compared to the actual Japanese evacuation of a 12-mile radius.

U.S. analysts are particularly worried about releases of radioactivity from spent fuel rod pools because they are not sheltered by any sort of containment structure in comparison to the recently active nuclear reactors. Japanese officials in desperation tried to dump water from helicopters onto the spent fuel rods today.

The crisis is compounded by a weakness in the Japanese culture which involves slowly building towards a consensus when, in this case, rapid reaction is the most critical. The public is confronted by a dizzying array of individual crisises among six different reactor sites; each day seems to bring a different concern, if not an explosion, fire or other incident.

Meanwhile, the “faceless 50,” the remaining workers trying to salvage the situation, are trying to restore power to the plant in the hope that the cooling systems can be restarted. The whole thing is just one big mess, and that doesn’t even include the victims of the earthquake and tsunami.

The lead article in today’s New York Times, “Workers Brave Radiation Risk at Failing Japan Reactors,” describes an increasingly worsening situation at the Fukushima nuclear power stations and shows how “the best-laid plans of mice and men” often come to nought.

Radiation carries such long-term effects, with some of the compounds from nuclear reactions having half-lifes of tens or even hundreds of years, that nuclear power is a very dangerous option and a poor alternative to oil-based economies. In Japan, we now have 50 people risking their lives to prevent a broader catastrophe with implications for thousands of people.

Tokyo Electric Power has now removed up to 700 emergency workers from the nuclear power stations due to the level of radiation increasing by the day. The attempt to cool the reactors with sea water is having a minimal effect at best as with each passing day we hear about new explosions and other negative developments. Fortunately, the winds have been blowing out towards the Pacific Ocean instead of south towards Tokyo, but weather prognosticators are predicting a change within just a few days.

Even U.S. troops, arriving for humanitarian reasons to help victims of the earthquake and tsunami, are reporting low-level contamination of their personnel. The nuclear catastrophe, meanwhile, is eclipsing the great suffering from the earthquake and tsunmai, where food and water remain scarce, and a search and rescue effort continues.

The lead article in today’s New York Times, “Nuclear Crisis Grows for a Stricken Japan After Radiation Spews from a Reactor Fire,” describes a situation at Fukushima power stations rapidly spiraling out of control. A fire at reactor #4, a new development, sent large amounts of radiation into the atmosphere even though it came from spent fuel rods that were not in danger of melting down. But the event had additional implications because it meant the area was becoming dangerous for plant workers as well, and if they have to leave, there is a possibility of three separate meltdowns at the other plants.

Barely mentioned in the article is the fact that the prevailing winds, so far, have been blowing out over the Pacific. But apparently, there is a real danger that could change, and they could turn south towards Tokyo or west towards Korea.

Japanese officials have pleaded, now, for American help, but it could be too little, too late. The implications of all these events for the nuclear power industry in the United States are enormous. Even though the nuclear crisis in Japan is a low-probabilty occurrence, the impact of contamination by radioactive compounds with a half life of decades, such as cesium, represents a tremendous risk. Even if the situation is eventually brought under control, there is a warning here that the United States would be well advised to heed.