Governors in states affected by Hurricane Irene – two Democrats and two Republicans – are urging Congress to restore FEMA funding for disaster relief without delay. Govs. Chris Christie (R-NJ), Tom Corbett (R-PA), Bev Perdue (D-NC) and Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) made the statement:

“Federal assistance for the victims of storms and floods should be beyond politics,” the governors wrote Friday. “Our states’ governments and our citizens are doing their part to restore and rebuild. The federal government must also do its part.”

All eyes are on the House to see what they’ll do. Eric Cantor has been hammered in recent weeks for his comments about disaster relief funding needing offsets. Democrats in Congress and the White House are clearly determined to call his bluff. Cantor has moderated his tone on this of late, no doubt in part because of the multiple House Republican freshmen whose districts where affected by Hurricane Irene. Let’s see if they allow a clean bill to come to the House floor.

The White House estimates that Hurricane Irene caused $1.5 billion in damages, virtually assuring that they will have to ask for a disaster relief supplemental sometime in the next couple months.

Spent fuel storage casks move in an earthquake. Hurricane Irene scrams a Maryland reactor and floods a backup generator. Radioactive sludge is rapidly accumulating at Japanese sewage plants. And yet, US nuclear regulators still see no need for quick action to improve safety regimes.

The White House has requested $5.2 billion in disaster relief funds, a number that does not include damages caused by Hurricane Irene last week. Because of a provision tucked into the debt limit deal, Congress can go beyond the self-imposed spending cap by up to $11 billion for disaster relief, without offsets. So far, they have requested the $5.2 billion.

That’s also true of the unexpected DC earthquake last week. The picture of the overturned lawn chair is funny and all, but because the region doesn’t get a lot of earthquakes, some of the infrastructure was unprepared. And while disaster has hopefully been avoided, this should raise caution, especially with respect to one nuclear plant in Virginia, North Anna Nuclear Generating Station.

The hurricane which became tropical storm Irene ended up doing more damage with its precipitation than it did with its winds. In parts of the East Coast, August was already the rainiest month on record prior to the storm. So the waterways were swelled and more prone to flooding. Apparently Vermont got some of the worst of it, with much of the state flooded. And the storm knocked out power to millions of residents as well. The death toll is at least at 24, and that could rise.

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Living in tornado alley, we out here in Heat Dome Spectacular are always a bit ahead of what we can have thrown at us. While I’m sure hopeful you have some of the necessaries like a few days’ stocks of water and non-perishable food, when all of the emergency services start suggesting we get a fresh battery for the flashlight, it’s time to check on the kit and on the gas in the car. Incidentally, it’s not all about bottled water, you can fill the bathtub and/or a many gallon container for all purposes. Sanitation is a very nice thing.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has ordered the city’s first hurricane evacuations in history in advance of Hurricane Irene, expected to hit the area over the weekend.