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EDM Monday Briefing: Mid-Atlantic and New England Braced for Nor’easter

Emergency and disaster management briefing for February 1, 2021: The Mid-Atlantic and New England are braced for a nor’easter that is set to dump heavy snow and cause blizzard conditions; an alert CSX engineer stopped his train in time to prevent hitting a homeless man who fell onto the tracks; a bomb scare shut down Terminal One in Oakland International Airport on Sunday; UK Research and Innovation disclosed a ransomware cyberattack that impacted at least two groups; Hawaii’s NWS issued a flood warning through Monday afternoon amid torrential rainfall on the Big Island; a winter storm that produced high winds knocked out power and set low temperature records in Bermuda; PG&E crews struggle to access some locations where infrastructure damage exists after last week’s winter storm; and green energy waste that includes life-limited solar panels and wind turbines, contain hazardous materials and pose huge environmental consequences.

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1. A nor’easter that is pushing towards the northeast is likely to dump heavy snow across the region. Winter storm warnings and watches are issued, and blizzard-like conditions with heavy whiteouts are also forecast from the Mid-Atlantic to New England through Tuesday. Forecasts are calling for anywhere from one to two feet or more of snow in some locations, with travel becoming nearly impossible at times.

2. An alert engineer conducting a CSX freight train saved a homeless man who fell on train tracks in Georgia. A homeless man suffered hypothermia after falling on the tracks near Marietta, preventing him from moving away from danger. The alert engineer spotted the man and was able to stop his mile-long freight train — which was running at full normal speed — in time to avoid injuring the individual.

3. Terminal One at Oakland International Airport in California was shut down for a bomb scare on Sunday. A man, angry with an international carrier, allegedly claimed that there was a bomb inside his luggage. The bomb squad was called, and the terminal was closed for several hours until the suspect’s luggage was found and searched.

4. A cyberattack that may have resulted in data theft was disclosed by United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI) last week. Two groups were impacted by the cyberattack, the Brussels-based UK Research Office (UKRO, and the BBSRC extranet, the latter of which is used by UKRI councils that manage research grant programs. The cybersecurity breech led to data encryption by a third party, which indicates the cyberattack included a form of ransomware.

5. A flood warning issued for the Big Island in Hawaii was extended through Monday afternoon. Originally issued as a flood advisory, the National Weather Service (NWS) in Hawaii upgraded the alert to a flood warning as heavy rainfall continues across the island. A portion of Highway 11 is also closed indefinitely due to the flooding, and there are no alternate routes available.

6. A fierce winter storm impacted Bermuda, dropping temperatures on Saturday to a new record low of 49.1 degrees Fahrenheit. Blustery conditions produced winds of 81 mph and wind gusts that exceeded 100 mph. The high winds knocked out power to thousands of residents across the island; however, power was largely restored by late Sunday.

7. Nearly 860,000 electric customers were impacted by the winter storm that blew through Northern and Central California last week. Although power has been restored to almost 95% of Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) customers, at least 10,000 remain without power due to infrastructure damages. Crews are struggling to access about 1,500 locations where damaged infrastructure, including 365 broken poles and over 1,400 spans of wire, need repairs or replacements.

8. Green energy is touted as being environmentally friendly because it reduces carbon emissions. Although that may be the case, disposal of life-limited solar panels and wind turbines pose huge environmental consequences, since they contain toxic metals, oil, fiberglass, and other materials. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a new briefing paper that indicates the amount of solar waste generated by the year 2050 will exceed 10 million tons in the United States alone, and the cost to recycle the items exceeds the net gain of materials. The large volume of materials also pose a contamination hazard to soil and groundwater and may result in another EPA superfund as clean energy operators walk away from the difficult-to-dispose of materials.

Kimberly Arsenault serves as an intern at the Cleveland/Bradley County Emergency Management Agency where she works on plan revisions and special projects. Previously, Kimberly spent 15 years in commercial and business aviation. Her positions included station manager at the former Midwest Express Airlines, as well as corporate flight attendant, inflight manager, and charter flight coordinator. Kimberly currently holds a master's degree in emergency and disaster management from American Public University.

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