Rhodes Island, U.S.A. — CVS Pharmacy is taking steps to prepare for Hurricane Isaac, which is expected to make landfall in the Gulf Coast area within 24 hours.

While complying with any mandatory evacuation order given by local officials, CVS/pharmacy is keeping its stores in affected areas open for as long as possible and stocking them with storm preparedness items such as water, batteries, flashlights and other products to help in an emergency. Any stores that close due to the storm will reopen as soon as safely possible. CVS Pharmacy is also preparing to assist with storm recovery efforts in its communities and is keeping in close contact with the American Red Cross to offer support in affected areas as needed once the storm passes.

Customers can access their prescription information at the recently-enhanced pharmacy section of CVS.com, with resources such as My Pharmacy, where patients can easily view all of their prescriptions and manage refills, and a Drug Information Center where they can ensure medications can be taken together and view descriptive images of each prescribed pill. Prescription management services are also available at their mobile website, m.cvs.com, and through CVS Pharmacy’s iPhone and Android mobile apps.

When preparing for a hurricane or other serious weather event, CVS offers customers the following tips:

• Create a plan for evacuating and finding a safe destination.
• Keep a written record of your current prescriptions with you at all times, or create an online record at CVS.com. This is especially important if you take multiple prescriptions.
• In the event of an emergency when you are away from home, find a pharmacy nearby to fill necessary prescriptions. CVS/pharmacy can fill its customers’ prescriptions at any of its 7,300 locations nationwide. To find a CVS near you, visit the store locator at www.cvs.com or m.cvs.com.
• Create an emergency kit and make sure you have all essentials in case of power outages. CVS/pharmacy has the necessities for a hurricane kit including bottled water, masking tape and batteries.

For a full list of tips on being prepared for a hurricane, visit the National Weather Service’s National Hurricane Center at http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/.

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Washington, U.S.A. — As Tropical Storm Isaac marches north, the American Red Cross opened shelters in Florida and is prepared for widespread flooding and sheltering a large number of people throughout the state.

“The Red Cross is helping people in Florida who are being affected by the storm, and we urge those throughout the state and the Gulf Coast region who are in Isaac’s projected path to take preparedness steps now,” said Charley Shimanski, senior vice president of disaster services. “The Red Cross is preparing for what could be a large disaster response across multiple states over the next several weeks.”

The Red Cross has deployed more than 1,000 disaster workers throughout Florida and has materials and supplies positioned for use, including pre-stocking 30,000 ready-to-eat meals in Florida and two mobile kitchens sent to the state.

With Isaac’s effects already being felt in parts of the state, people in Florida should stay informed on the storm’s progress from the National Weather Service. As the storm approaches, people should be prepared to evacuate if directed to do so by authorities.

As of noon August 27, the Red Cross has nearly 20 shelters already open in Florida and is poised to open more as necessary. If someone needs to find a Red Cross shelter, they can download the Red Cross Hurricane app, visit redcross.org, call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767), or check their local television, radio and newspaper.

It’s also important to stay in touch with family and friends, and the Red Cross Safe and Well website is a secure and easy-to-use online tool that helps families connect during emergencies. To register, visit www.redcross.org or call 1-800-RED-CROSS (1-800-733-2767). This site also connects with the Twitter and Facebook accounts of users.

Meanwhile, the Red Cross also is mobilizing disaster workers, emergency vehicles, mobile kitchens and relief supplies to Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi as Isaac is expected to move into that area in the next few days. The Red Cross is urging residents in areas that could be affected by the storm to be preparing now.

Isaac is expected to cause serious flooding throughout the region, and people can donate by visiting www.redcross.org, calling 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) or texting the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation.

Image Courtesy of   American Red Cross

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When most people think of summer, they think of hot days that are enjoyable to spend outside. Bathing suits, swimming pools, the ocean, flip-flops, gardening, and cook-outs all come to mind, basically anything outside for people to take advantage of the warm weather. However, this summer, particularly the past few days, have been unbearable for much of the eastern United States as record breaking temperatures are causing power outages and even deaths.

“Hot and hotter will continue to be the story from the Plains to the Atlantic Coast the next few days,” the National Weather Service said Monday. “The widespread excessive heat warnings and heat advisories have certainly decreased in coverage, but temperatures will remain well above average across a large portion of the U.S.”

Over the past weekend, emergencies were announced in several states including Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, and Washington D.C. as a result of the “hurricane-forced wind storms.” The storms have left severe damage, resulting in power outages and dangerous living conditions for those without power living in the sweltering heat.

According to the website Reuters, “The storms’ rampage came as sweltering temperatures topped 100 Fahrenheit (38 Celsius) in several southern cities, including Atlanta, where the mercury hit an all-time record of 106 degrees (41 C) on Saturday and reached 105 on Sunday. Over two-dozen cities across 10 states set or tied all-time record high temperatures on Friday and Saturday, including Columbia, South Carolina; Knoxville, Tennessee; and Raleigh, North Carolina.”

Thus far, the storms have killed 22 people and have resulted in power outages in over three million homes, and as the heat index increases more deaths are anticipated.

David Glenn of the National Weather Center said that a man was killed when his shed collapsed on him in North Carolina. Additionally, six people in Virginia have died as a result of the storms, two were killed in Maryland, a falling tree killed two young cousins in New Jersey and two brothers, ages 3 and 5, were killed from heat stroke in Tennessee, according to reports.

Two-thirds of the state of Ohio lost power last Friday and to revive power, Ohio’s Governor John Kasich received federal emergency assistance.

Pepco CEO Jim Rigby told CNN, “”We’ve restored about 45% of the customers (which are considered households), but obviously, we’re not satisfied,” Rigby said. “We have a lot of work to do, and we won’t be satisfied until we have everyone back.”

According to CNN, Rigby also said that, “he understands the frustration some people may be experiencing. Crews from as far away as Canada’s New Brunswick have arrived to help, with more expected Monday. Our foot is on the pedal.”

As electrical companies are working hard to get the power restored for their customers, they are hoping to have regained power for 90% of households by Friday. Rigby, after making significant progress overnight, said he believes “we should be able to beat that.”

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Officials in Madison County officials declared a major tornado emergency on Friday. The warning came after two large and destructive tornados were reported to have caused widespread damage in the city of Meridianville. A large super-cell of tornadoes hit northern Alabama early Friday, leaving at least four injured.

According to the National Weather Service, there has been extensive damage to a local high school, a prison and many other buildings. The state of emergency will continue through Friday evening but could possibly be called off by Saturday morning.

Alabama’s Emergency Management Agency said “We are aware of the damage in the Huntsville area and we have state resources ready to deploy.” The Madison County, Ala., EMA says there have been houses destroyed on Mt. Lebanon and Patterson Lane.

“The reason that it is so wide is because we’re not talking about one tornado, we’re talking about a very large super cell that spawned several smaller tornadoes and there’s possibly one very large one in there, too,” spoke Paige Colburn, emergency management officer at the Huntsville-Madison County Emergency Management Agency, Amy Maxwell, Hamilton County, Tennessee, emergency management spokeswoman spoke on the Tennessee storms, ”We obviously have lots of debris, homes with roof damage, streets that are impassable that we have crews cutting down trees with chainsaws in order to get emergency vehicles through and as of now our crews are just going door to door on foot.” She stated between six and eight people were critically injured, and 10 others had minor injuries.

Earlier on in the week severe tornadoes struck parts of the Mid-West and South on Wednesday, including Illinois, Missouri, Tennessee, Ohio and Lousiana. The Weather Channel reported that the greatest threat for tornadoes lies in an area from central Tennessee north through central Kentucky and into southern Indiana.

The National Weather Service gave warnings on Friday of moderate risk of severe thunderstorms and thunderstorms across much of the Ohio Valley southward into the central Gulf States. The Weather Channel alerts residents in these areas, stating they will need to prepare for more severe weather.

The death toll from the tornadoes currently stands at 13, after a 53-year old man died on Thursday. Six people died in Harrisburg, Illinois, after the small town was devastated by the “super-cell” storms. A local hospital was badly damaged,and buildings were completely destroyed as a result of the storms.

Due to the damage they inflicted, the tornado that hit Harrisburg, Illinois was classified by the National Weather Service as an EF4, the second-highest rating. The twister was 200 yards (183m) wide and generated wind speeds of up to 170mph (274km/h). Meteorologists have issued a warning that the next wave of thunderstorms could affect some of the areas damaged on Wednesday.

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Meteorologists testing the Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System, version 2 (AWIPS2), at the NWS Weather Forecast Office in Omaha Nebraska experienced potentially life threatening technical issues and missed critical information as they disseminated warnings. The problems highlight catastrophic infrastructure issues within the NWS as the agency tries to manage multiple technical problems with their already delayed AWIPS2 roll out.

Meanwhile, the NWS plans on removing the Information Technology Officers from all weather forecast offices nationwide as part of the Presidents FY13 budget request, the very same people the agency would count on to fix these technical problems.

The National Weather Service houses an AWIPS at each of the 122 weather forecast offices across the country. AWIPS is the cornerstone for all of the forecasting and warning programs. The agency is in the process of upgrading to a faster, more efficient system, AWIPS 2, but is experiencing technical problems as the implementation takes place.

Currently, the weather forecast office in Omaha, Nebraska is the only office to fully implement AWIPS2; Boulder, Colorado and Houston, Texas are in the process of implementing the system. In Omaha, the forecasters did not even know they were in a Tornado Watch as the typical alerting systems and notifications failed to operate correctly. Additionally, products that warn citizens of potential dangers also alerted areas that were not of concern. Finally, forecasters were not able to see portions of neighboring radars that might have had a better coverage of the storm.

“The National Weather Service is making rash decisions that could have catastrophic consequences,” said Dan Sobien, president of the National Weather Service Employees Organization. “It makes no sense to implement AWIPS2 before the program is ready and then fire all the IT guys who are responsible for fixing the problems.”

AWIPS2 is scheduled to be implemented in the Oklahoma City area (Norman, OK) in about two weeks and unlike Omaha, Norman will not have a backup AWIPS1 system. “They clearly have not worked all of the bugs out of the system, and now they are going to place this machine in the heart of Tornado Alley, right at the beginning of the tornado season, they are going to kill somebody,” Sobien stated.

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Countries across the world are currently experiencing extreme weather and droughts. The largest freshwater lake in China is at its lowest water levels for years thanks to a drought, according to state officials and media. The shrinking lake does not bode well for fishermen who rely on it for their livelihoods and for the local ecology.

The Xinhua news agency stated that Poyang Lake, located in East China’s Jiangxi province, is shrinking quickly and has experienced over a decade-long dry spell. This is due to the Gan River, which is connected to the lake, not receiving enough rain and causing the water levels to hit record lows. “This year’s level is very low,” an anonymous official declared, affirming that the rainfall for the area was 65 percent less than average for December.

Texas is also experiencing its worst drought on record. The year 2011 was the driest ever for the state, says the National Weather Service, and it was the second hottest. Meteorologists do not believe this will improve for the year 2012 and the result will be further restrictions on water and the death of millions of trees. Lake Lavon has shrunk by 12 feet due to North Texas’ lack of rain and record-setting heat. “It is a challenging time, especially to bring awareness to our consumers and businesses how critical our drought has impacted our reservoirs,” stated Denise Hickey, spokesperson for the North Texas Municipal Water District. “As we’re planning to move through this drought period, we’re also planning and initiating additional strategies to bring additional sources online.” The Texas Forest Service believes that so far, the severe drought has killed 500 million trees.

In Latin America, nations have also been dealing with a plethora of problems stemming from the extreme weather, including wildfires, droughts, and floods. Many have wondered if climate change and global warming are responsible for the unusual weather and according to experts, this is most likely the case. Chile experienced an uncharacteristic heat wave, which resulted in rampant burning wildfires, while Northern Mexico has been dealing with its worst drought in 70 years.

On the other hand, Colombia has had two seasons of heavy rain, which has killed 182 people and resulted in about $2 billion in damage. A rose farm in a Colombian town named Chia sustained an estimated $6 million dollars in damages from the April and December floods. Javier Castellanos, the rose farm manager, stated, “Never in the history of this farm- and it’s a business with 30 years in the market- have we ever had any such problem.” Researchers assert that Latin America is at more risk to the extreme weather changes worsening in the future than any other region in the world because of deforestation and its sprawling construction. These elements cause it to be more vulnerable to landslides and flooding.

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