 David Tulis / AP Law enforcement personnel embrace early Sunday as others investigate the scene of an Atlanta Police Department helicopter crash that killed two officers aboard. By NBC News staff Federal aviation officials on Sunday were investigating what caused a police helicopter to crash on a street in northwest Atlanta, killing the two officers aboard. The officers were using the helicopter to search for a missing 9-year-old boy on Saturday night. Witnesses said the helicopter was flying low and clipped power lines as it crashed to the ground near the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. and Hamilton E. Holmes drives, WXIA-TV reported. The boy was found safe shortly after the crash. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash. No one on the ground was hurt. The names of the two officers were not immediately released. A witness, Ravien Walker, told Channel 2 Action News: "I noticed something falling out of the sky. It hit the power line and it hit the ground. I jumped out of my car and ran because I was really close to it. It could have fell right down on top of my car." Another witness, Darryl James, told The Associated Press, "For that time of night, there was nobody on the street for some odd reason. The helicopter hit in the middle of the street with no traffic." More content from NBCNews.com:
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11/04/2012
NTSB probes copter crash that killed 2 cops
Fuel shortage expected to last for days, Cuomo says
| 26 min.  The fuel shortage that has led to long lines and short tempers across much of the Northeast is likely to continue for at least several more days, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Sunday. He said Sunday that authorities aren't "100 percent sure" when the shortage will end but that it's a short-term problem. Cuomo says the fuel delivery and distribution problems from Superstorm Sandy are easing and that more gas is coming to the area and will be distributed. He urged people to not use their cars unnecessarily and not to hoard fuel. Drivers and pedestrians with bright red cannisters continued to endure long lines for gas throughout the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Other customers gave up after finding only closed stations or dry pumps marked with yellow tape or "No Gas" signs. "I drove around last night and couldn't find anything," said Kwabena Sintim-Misa as he finally prepared to fill up Friday in Fort Lee, N.J., near the George Washington Bridge, where the wait lasted three hours, according to NBCNewYork.com. In Cranford, N.J., Rick Stotz was happy to finally get a full tank of gas after waiting at a station where the line was 90 minutes long. He complained that federal authorities were not acting quickly enough to help storm victims. "I've got no power and no heat for almost five days," said Stotz, of Roselle, N.J. Most people in this line waited about an hour and a half to fill up their gas containers. A random survey of about twenty people in the line found at least half with generators to fill and the rest trying to get a few gallons for their vehicles, at least a couple were getting a gallon for their cars so they could drive it to the pumps. With the temperature expected to drop into the 20s by Monday, the search for fuel to run generators became increasingly desperate for the nearly 2 million people still without power. The promise of more fuel sat just offshore in New York Harbor, where eight fuel-carrying tankers were anchored, unable to move due to traffic restrictions still in place after Sandy pummeled the port and clogged it with debris, the Coast Guard said. Four of the tankers were carrying petroleum products and the other four had crude oil onboard. Some of the tankers were transferring fuel to light barges that can easily enter the port and deliver supplies to working terminals. Power has been restored to New Jersey refineries and pipelines and most filling stations, utility companies reported. The Associated Press, Reuters and John Makely of NBC News contributed to this report. |
Sandy-weary East Coast braces for cold, new storm
 Patrick Semansky / AP Chuck Clauser looks out from a hole Saturday where a wall once stood at his Cedar Bonnet Island, N.J., home that was damaged by a surge from Sandy By NBC News staff and news services Updated at 12:01 p.m. ET: East Coast residents struggling to pick up the pieces after superstorm Sandy confronted new challenges Sunday: plummeting temperatures and the looming threat of another significant storm. With the mercury dipping into the 30s overnight and about 700,000 homes and businesses in New York City, its northern suburbs and Long Island still without electricity six days after the storm, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said "it's going to become increasingly clear" that homes without heat will be uninhabitable as temperatures drop. That means that residents who have been reluctant to leave their homes will have to, and that they'll need housing. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the city expects that it will have to find housing for 30,000 to 40,000 people. An incoming storm could bring more cold temperatures, rain and coastal flooding to the already battered region. TODAY's Dylan Dreyer reports. The battered region, still beset with stubborn power outages and gasoline shortages, could be hit by a "significant" nor'easter by Thursday, the National Weather Service said Sunday. At the very least, the service's prediction center stated, there is "a very real possibility of heavy rain and strong winds along the coast from Virginia to Maine." Snow is likely in the interior and some models "do bring some snow all the way to the coast as far south as Virginia," it warned. Many who live in the blue-collar fishing town of Highlands, N.J. are still living in temporary shelters after Sandy's floodwaters forced them from their homes. NBC's Michelle Franzen reports. "Our suite of computer model guidance continues to advertise a significant East Coast storm that will impact the coastal areas with strong winds and heavy rainfall late Wednesday through Friday," said Tom Niziol of The Weather Channel. "Steps should begin now to prepare for these impacts." The storm would not be anywhere as destructive as Sandy, but could cause some new erosion and hinder recovery efforts, officials said. FEMA and Red Cross officials have ordered more resources ahead of the storm. As of Sunday morning, more than 2 million residents and businesses remained without power in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, West Virginia and Ohio, according to figures tallied by NBC News. In hard-hit New jersey, PSE&G said another 600 workers will be joining the more than 3,000 linemen and tree contractors already working in blacked-out areas. "Our biggest challenge is in Hoboken, where our stations were submersed in more than 3 feet of water. It took several days for this water to recede. Much of the equipment was corroded by salt water and needs extensive work," the utility said in a statement. Gov. Chris Christie and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano were to visit a relief center in Hoboken on Sunday. In flood-ravaged Belmar, N.J., where the floodwaters had receded but the streets were slippery with foul-smelling mud, hundreds of parishioners in parkas, scarves and boots packed the pews and stood in the aisles for Mass at a chilly Church of St. Rose. Firefighters and police officers sat in the front rows and drew applause. Roman Catholic Bishop David O'Connell of the Trenton Diocese said he had no good answer for why God would allow the destruction that Sandy caused. But he assured parishioners: "There's more good, and there's more joy, and there's more happiness in life than there is the opposite. And it will be back. And we will be back." Meanwhile, fuel supplies continued to rumble toward disaster zones and electricity was slowly returning to darkened neighborhoods. Officials were urging drivers and powerless residents desperate for gas not to panic, saying relief is on the way. But frustration was evident, as drivers waited in line for hours for a chance at a fill-up, snapping at each other and honking their horns. At a gas station in Mount Vernon, N.Y., north of New York City, 62 cars were lined up around the block Sunday morning even though it was closed and had no fuel. "I heard they might be getting a delivery. So I came here and I'm waiting," said the first driver in line, Earl Tuck. He had been there at least two hours by 9 a.m., and there was no delivery truck in sight. But he said he would stick it out. Bloomberg said that resolving the gas shortages could take days. Across northern New Jersey, Christie imposed odd-even gas rationing that recalled the gasoline crisis of the 1970s. With Sunday's running of the New York City Marathon canceled, some of those who were planning to run the 26.2-mile race through the city streets instead headed to hard-hit Staten Island to help storm victims. Some would-be marathon runners are lending their energy to help those devastated by Sandy. "With our somewhat freakish skill of being able to run 26 miles at once, hopefully we'll be able to get this aid into places that are tougher to get to," a runner said. TODAY's Jenna Wolfe reports. Thousands of other runners from such countries as Italy, Germany and Spain poured into Central Park to hold impromptu races of their own. A little more than four laps through the park amounted to a marathon. "A lot of people just want to finish what they've started," said Lance Svendsen, organizer of a group called Run Anyway. Cuomo on Sunday announced that more than 850 soldiers and 250 vehicles from Army National Guard units in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Massachusetts will begin arriving in New York to assist in Sandy response efforts. He also announced that the state will release $22.8 million to New York City that could be used for repairs to wastewater treatment facilities damaged during the storm. Though New York and New Jersey bore the brunt of the destruction, at its peak, the storm reached 1,000 miles across, killed more than 100 people in 10 states, knocked out power to 8.5 million homes and businesses and canceled nearly 20,000 flights. Damage has been estimated $50 billion, making Sandy the second most expensive storm in U.S. history, behind Hurricane Katrina.  Lucas Jackson / Reuters Superstorm Sandy made landfall Monday evening on a destructive and deadly path across the Northeast. Officials have also expressed concern about getting voters displaced by Sandy to polling stations for Tuesday's election. Scores of voting centers were rendered useless by the record surge of seawater in New York and New Jersey. New Jersey is allowing voters displaced by Sandy to vote by email. Some voters in New York could be casting their ballots in tents. Christie ordered county clerks to open on Saturday and Sunday to accommodate early voters and ensure a "full, fair and transparent open voting process." New Jersey authorities also took the uncommon step of declaring that any voter displaced from their home by Sandy would be designated an overseas voter, which allows them to submit an absentee vote by fax or email. The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this story. More content from NBCNews.com:
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Ship sinks in Mediterranean killing 10
(CNN) -- At least 10 people drowned in the Mediterranean when a ship sank between Libya and the Italian island of Lampedusa Sunday, according to Italy's official news agency. Seventy people, including 62 men and eight women, were rescued, ANSA reported. One of the women is pregnant, it said. The search by Italy's Navy and Coast Guard is underway for any other survivors, but the report did not say how many people were still missing. The report referred to the ship's passengers as migrants, suggesting they are from North Africa. A boat carrying about 100 migrants from Tunisia ran into trouble in the same area two months ago, triggering a rescue effort by the Italians and NATO ships. Lampedusa, the closest Italian island to Africa, has become a destination for tens of thousands of refugees seeking to enter European Union countries. Boats carrying migrants often are in peril at sea. Amnesty International reported at least 1,500 deaths last year of people attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea. The human rights monitoring group said some of the deaths could have been prevented. "The desire of some European countries to prevent irregular migration (people who do not have permission to live and work in these countries) has undermined safe and timely rescue at sea," Amnesty International said.  |
Obama, Romney teams project confidence amid tight poll numbers
| By Michael O'Brien, NBC News Surrogates for President Barack Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney projected outward confidence on Sunday in each candidate's ability to win on Election Day. As the final NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll showed a close race nationally between the two candidates, their top supporters squabbled over who held the upper hand in critical battleground states. "I'm very confident that, two days out from Election Day, the president's going to be re-elected on Tuesday night," said David Plouffe, a White House adviser who managed the president's 2008 campaign, on "Meet the Press." There are seven states, worth 89 electoral votes, considered true "toss-up" states on NBC News' battleground map: Colorado, Iowa, Wisconsin, Ohio, Virginia, Florida and New Hampshire. Other competitive states include Nevada, which has leaned slightly for Obama in recent polls, and North Carolina, which has tended toward Romney in many recent polls. "All these states right now, we think the president's in a good position to win," Plouffe said. Both Obama and Romney spent Saturday barnstorming these battleground states in hope of shoring up their base and shaking loose prized undecided voters in the final hours of the campaign. But their professed confidence belied a much more competitive battle for the 270 electoral votes needed to secure the presidency, especially as an uncertain finale loomed over the 2012 campaign. The Romney campaign said its Sunday schedule — which took the former Massachusetts governor to Pennsylvania and Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan to Minnesota — both states which Republicans have only contested as of late — was a sign of surging national momentum. But Democrats castigated those trips as a sign of desperation, as Romney scrambled for new pathways to 270. One of the most hotly contested battleground states includes Virginia, which Obama has put into play in 2008 and again in 2012. It also has one of the earliest poll closing times in the nation on Tuesday, and could offer political observers an early indicator of the trend lines in the election. "We're going to win this state, and I think we're going to win it a lot bigger than people are predicting," said House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, the No. 2 House Republican who represents a Richmond-area district. He added: "I see here on the ground, there is a lot of enthusiasm for Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan." But political bravado is a well-worn tradition for the closing days of the elections, and Plouffe was quick to seize upon Romney's plans to spend some of his final campaign stops in Virginia and Florida, two states he might not be able to afford losing come Tuesday night. "We think Gov. Romney's playing defense," the White House aide said of Virginia and Florida. "I'd rather be the president today than Gov. Romney in terms of those two states." Plouffe also characterized the Obama campaign's position in Iowa and Ohio — two footholds of the president's Midwestern "firewall" — as "commanding," though he cautioned the campaign must execute its get-out-the-vote efforts on Tuesday if it is to secure those states. Follow the final weekend of the campaign with NBC Politics:
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'Significant' nor'easter likely in areas hit by Sandy, weather service warns
 Justin Lane / EPA Collins Wimbish and Margaret Girgaud turned a barrel into a barbecue in order to cook food in the Rockaways neighborhood of Queens, New York, on Saturday. The Rockaways will dip to around 28 degrees overnight. By NBC News staff and wire reports Updated at 9:45 am ET: A "significant" nor'easter is likely to hit Sandy-battered areas of the Northeast by Thursday, the National Weather Service said in an update Sunday. FEMA and Red Cross officials have ordered more resources ahead of the storm, while New York City is dealing with a shortage of fuel oil and steam to heat buildings as temperatures began dipping into the 20s and power remained out for hundreds of thousands. At the very least, the service's prediction center stated, there is "a very real possibility of heavy rain and strong winds along the coast from Virginia to Maine." Snow is likely in the interior and some models "do bring some snow all the way to the coast as far south as Virginia," it warned. Power was restored to nearly all of lower Manhattan on Saturday, but it was still lights out for 2.3 million homes in other parts of New York City and the rest of the Northeast, especially Long Island and the New Jersey shore. In addition, "tens of thousands are without steam power and therefore heat," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Saturday. "We want to get as many people into shelters as we can," he said, given the cold and the potential for a new storm that computer models now show being even stronger than forecast on Friday. Bloomberg also blasted the Long Island Power Authority, saying the utility "has not acted aggressively enough" to restore power, especially in the Rockaways. Overnight lows were around 28 degrees F in the Rockaways, 38 in New York City and 33 on parts of Long Island, NBCNewYork.com reported. Even in areas with temps above 30, 15-20 mph winds will make it feel like it's in the 20s. View more videos at: http://nbcnewyork.com. Temperatures Sunday and Monday were expected to be even colder just as critical heating oil supplies dwindle. "There's no heating oil around," said Vincent Savino, the president of Statewide Oil and Heating, which usually supplies some 2,000 buildings across New York City. "I don't know how much fuel we have left: maybe a day or two." Expected to be felt in the Northeast on Wednesday and Thursday, the storm would not be anywhere as destructive as Superstorm Sandy, but could cause some new erosion and hinder recovery efforts. Moreover, computer models are tending "toward a more powerful storm system for the East Coast Wednesday through Thursday," said weather.com expert Tom Niziol. Potential impacts, he said, include:
He expected 1-2 inches of rain in coastal areas and 25-30 mph gusts on Wednesday, adding that the forecast could change. FEMA and Red Cross officials said Saturday they were mobilizing even more resources to prepare for the storm. The Home Depot has sent 5,000 truckloads of supplies into the East Coast since last Tuesday. Getting essentials to stores in ravaged communities takes a team of people working in what they call a "War Room." NBC's Gabe Gutierrez reports. In New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie on Saturday visited crews repairing the berm in Little Ferry, saying a push was being made to seal it up before the new storm. Sandy tore up the berm, causing widespread flooding there. The U.S. death toll reached 111 on Saturday, officials said, after Sandy killed 69 people as a hurricane in the Caribbean. It struck the New Jersey coast on Monday as a rare hybrid after the hurricane merged with a powerful storm system in the north Atlantic. Consolidated Edison, a utility battling what it called the worst natural disaster in its history, restored electricity to New York City neighborhoods such as Wall Street, Chinatown and Greenwich Village in the pre-dawn hours. But some 11,000 customers in Manhattan were still without power. "There's enough light and activity to get a lot of people on the street and get rid of that movie-set look as if we're in some kind of ghost town or horror movie," Con Ed spokesman Bob McGee told NY1 television. With collapsed roads and destroyed homes along the New York area shore, the changes have altered the coastline and accelerated beach erosion. NBC's Kerry Sanders reports. In New Jersey, the utility PSE&G said 612,000 customers were still without lights after power to 1 million had been restored. Con Ed said it had restored power to 70 percent of the 916,000 customers in the New York City area who were cut off. The company was still busy assisting tens of thousands more without power in New York City's outer boroughs, where some people complained of being ignored. Read more Sandy coverage on NBCNews.com "We have nobody down here with video coverage," said Grace Lane, a grandmother who defied evacuation orders and rode out the storm in her second-story bedroom as water rushed through the first floor of her house in Broad Channel, a community in Queens. Eight people -- Lane, her husband, their two daughters, their husbands and her two grandchildren -- were sleeping on air mattresses on the floor of the upstairs bedroom, the last usable room in the house. "At least my children are OK," she said. In a city devastated by Sandy, holding a race through five battered boroughs just seemed like the wrong idea, according to officials. "I think there's a thin line between demonstrating resilience and being insensitive," one runner said. NBC's Stephanie Gosk reports. Many houses were gutted by 5 feet of floodwater that raced through Broad Channel, where residents hauled broken furniture and soggy belongings out of their homes on Friday. In a sign of security worries in the neighborhood, one garage full of debris stood open with a sign next to it reading: "LOOTERS WILL BE CRUCIFIED - GOD HELP YOU." Moving to ease fuel shortages, the Obama administration directed the purchase of up to 12 million gallons of unleaded fuel and 10 million gallons of diesel, to be trucked to New York and New Jersey for distribution. With hundreds displaced by the storm, crucial necessities are being supplied to those hit hardest by Sandy by FEMA, the Red Cross and the National Guard. NBC's Michelle Franzen reports. The government announced it would tap strategic reserves for diesel for emergency responders and waived rules that barred foreign-flagged ships from taking gas, diesel and other products from the Gulf of Mexico to Northeast ports. The moves could help to quell anger triggered by growing lines -- some of them miles long -- at gas stations. Less than half of the stations in New York City, Long Island and New Jersey were operating on Friday. New Jersey Gov. Christie ordered gas rationing in 12 counties to begin on Saturday under an "odd-even" system in which motorists with license plates ending in odd numbers would be able to buy gas on odd-numbered days. Experts say flooding in the Big Apple can be prevented in the future by building seawalls, levees or gigantic surge barriers. NBC's Richard Engel reports. Disaster modeling company Eqecat estimated Sandy caused up to $20 billion in insured losses and $50 billion in economic losses. At the high end of the range, it would rank as the fourth costliest U.S. catastrophe, behind Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the September 11, 2001, attacks and Hurricane Andrew in 1992, according to the Insurance Information Institute. Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.  Superstorm Sandy made landfall Monday evening on a destructive and deadly path across the Northeast. More content from NBCNews.com:
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