Superstorm Sandy

More than $2 billion in disaster loans was approved by the U.S. Small Business Administration to those affected by Superstorm Sandy , the agency said Friday. About 32,500 residents and businesses benefited from loans in what the agency called the third-largest natural disaster in the U.S. that it has responded to. The tropical cyclone struck in late October. “Since Hurricane Sandy struck the East Coast in October, SBA has worked diligently to approve loan applications and get money into the hands of storm victims as quickly as possible,” SBA leader Karen G. Mills said.

NEW YORK - It has been six months since Donna Graziano packed a barbecue into her car, drove 15 miles from her Brooklyn home to Staten Island, and began cooking for residents of a neighborhood ravaged by Superstorm Sandy. Her one-woman effort in a seaside park expanded into an aid hub that has drawn donations of food, generators, clothes, diapers and household goods, and has become the go-to center for locals seeking advice on everything from emergency aid to mold removal. Now, the city's parks department says it is time for Graziano's Cedar Grove Community Hub to dismantle its five tents so that the park and nearby beach can welcome summer visitors and begin a major dune reinforcement project.

A pair of otherworldly photos from Superstorm Sandy will be forever etched in my memory of the historic hurricane. The first photo showed up in much of the mainstream media coverage and became a symbol of the storm: A seemingly intact roller coaster poking out of the Atlantic Ocean off the Jersey Shore like the skeleton of a sea serpent. The second image ricocheted around the Internet via social media sites and became a symbol of vulnerability and resilience following the storm: An undamaged carousel inside an eerily lit enclosure completely surrounded by water that looked like a glowing jewelry box floating off the New York City coast.

If the highest goal of fiscal reform is to reduce spending and better the lives of Americans, here's an idea that fits the bill: Improve the way the federal government responds to the growing number of natural disasters. Natural disasters have become increasingly costly to the United States, both in terms of the toll they take on American communities and in the direct costs of mounting a federal response. The federal government spent about $150 billion on relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina, and has so far committed about $60 billion for Superstorm Sandy.

On a busy day for earnings reports, several major companies released results before the start of the trading day. Some were hit hard by Superstorm Sandy that struck the East Coast in the fourth quarter. On the plus side, at least in comparison to analysts' forecasts, was chemical maker DuPont Co., whose profit for the last three months of the year was $111 million, or 12 cents a share, down from $373 million, or 40 cents a share, a year earlier. Analysts on average had forecast only 7 cents a share for the latest period.

WASHINGTON - The nation's manufacturing engine lost steam in November, contracting for the first time in three months and falling to its lowest level since 2009, according to a leading private barometer released Monday. The Institute for Supply Management's purchasing manager's index decreased to 49.5 last month from 51.7 in October. A figure below 50 indicates economic activity is contracting. The manufacturing sector had expanded modestly in August and September after three months of slight contraction.

More than 17,000 people have converged on the Qatari capital for the latest U.N. climate talks, but the most influential presence may be Sandy. The superstorm that ravaged the U.S. Northeast a month ago seared into the American consciousness an apocalyptic vision of what climate change could look like. On the heels of devastating wildfires, droughts and floods this year, Sandy's destructive power snapped Americans to the reality that rising temperatures are a risk to their own well-being, not just a concern for distant lowlands.

The world's airline industry lost an estimated $500 million in revenue because of the closure of several East Coast airports during the onslaught of Superstorm Sandy, according to an airline trade group. The analysis of the storm's effect on the industry came from reports issued Wednesday and Thursday by the International Air Transport Assn., a trade group for the world's largest airlines. The trade group estimated that the industry suffered most of its revenue losses from Oct. 28 to Nov. 3. At the peak of the storm Oct. 29, about 9% of global airline capacity was grounded, the trade group said.

A massive designer sample sale, scheduled for Saturday and Sunday in downtown Los Angeles, is being staged for the benefit of East Coast communities affected by Superstorm Sandy. Just in time for some fashion-forward holiday shopping, a charitable organization called Fashion Girls for Humanity has organized the two-day sale at the Cooper Design Center, with 100% of proceeds -- that's the admission fee as well as all funds generated from the sale of items -- going to two nonprofit groups working to rebuild the affected areas; Architecture for Humanity and Waves for Water . We're told more than 100 designers' wares will be on offer, and judging by the impressive roster of luxury brands on the list, the event could raise some serious dough.

NEW YORK - It has been six months since Donna Graziano packed a barbecue into her car, drove 15 miles from her Brooklyn home to Staten Island, and began cooking for residents of a neighborhood ravaged by Superstorm Sandy. Her one-woman effort in a seaside park expanded into an aid hub that has drawn donations of food, generators, clothes, diapers and household goods, and has become the go-to center for locals seeking advice on everything from emergency aid to mold removal. Now, the city's parks department says it is time for Graziano's Cedar Grove Community Hub to dismantle its five tents so that the park and nearby beach can welcome summer visitors and begin a major dune reinforcement project.

More than $2 billion in disaster loans was approved by the U.S. Small Business Administration to those affected by Superstorm Sandy , the agency said Friday. About 32,500 residents and businesses benefited from loans in what the agency called the third-largest natural disaster in the U.S. that it has responded to. The tropical cyclone struck in late October. “Since Hurricane Sandy struck the East Coast in October, SBA has worked diligently to approve loan applications and get money into the hands of storm victims as quickly as possible,” SBA leader Karen G. Mills said.

NEW YORK -- The Statue of Liberty, whose feet remained dry but whose home was badly damaged by Superstorm Sandy, will reopen July 4 after extensive work to repair the infrastructure on her perch in New York Harbor is completed, officials announced Tuesday. "What a fitting day for Lady Liberty's return," Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said. From Washington, he joined Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and the National Park Service's northeast regional director, Dennis R. Reidenbach, in making the announcement during a conference call with reporters.

For the first time since Superstorm Sandy devastated New Jersey's shoreline and a gunman opened fire inside Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., firefighter Bill Lavin feels OK. For a while, the president of a 5,550-member New Jersey firefighters union said he felt “demoralized and crushed and depressed.” But now he has new focus: building 26 playgrounds. The effort led by the Firefighters' Mutual Benevolent Assn. is a response to both tragedies. The playgrounds, one for each of the 20 children and six school employees who died in Newtown in December, will be built in states hit hardest by the storm - New Jersey, New York and Connecticut.

Superstorm Sandy earned its name, the National Hurricane Center reported on Tuesday, in a report that says the storm was the deadliest to hit the region in 40 years and the second costliest in the nation's history. The report summarizes last fall's traumatic weather event, whose effects are still being felt. During the recent blizzard, one of the concerns was whether there would be more flooding to regions still recovering from Sandy's visit. Politically, reconstruction will likely take years and some needed infrastructure improvements to low-lying areas may take longer.

Fresh from being the big man on late night television, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Tuesday focused his ire on the National Flood Insurance Program and its slow rate of resolving claims from Superstorm Sandy. Christie, a potential GOP presidential candidate in 2016, has taken a hard line in trying to secure federal aid for his state in the wake of the storm that hit the Northeast in October. At a meeting in Union Beach, N.J., Christie criticized the federal program that he said has been too slow and plagued by excessive paperwork and bureaucratic delays.

Re "Patt Morrison Asks: Richard M. Walden, charity case," Opinion, Jan. 30 Richard M. Walden raises several points about the American Red Cross that I'd like to address. When a donor designates his contribution to be spent on an event such as the Japan earthquake and tsunami, the Haiti earthquake or Superstorm Sandy, that is exactly where the money goes; it is not put into a general account. The Red Cross spends 91 cents of every dollar donated directly on programs and services.

Two nurses examined an earthquake victim writhing in pain inside a yellow triage tent recently on the lawn of Redlands Community Hospital. They suspected the woman had head trauma, a broken leg and internal bleeding as part of a disaster drill that morning for a magnitude 7.9 earthquake. The 229-bed facility was running on two generators after losing power, and the nurses needed to get her inside the hospital and into intensive care. Trouble was the hospital gurneys were too heavy for the damp grass and they couldn't roll them to the triage tent.

WILDWOOD, N.J. - This boardwalk beach town, packed in summer and ghostly in winter, has become the last refuge for several hundred homeless survivors of Superstorm Sandy. Many place their hope in Lisa Brocco-Collia. At 41, she seems as much a force of nature as the storm itself. Her home was partially condemned after floodwater surged through the first floor. But she's been far too busy as a volunteer relief coordinator to move - setting up a donation center at the VFW post, arranging free dinners at a downtown restaurant, visiting families with her clipboard, keeping tabs on state and federal agencies, pestering politicians.

The U.S. share of insurance losses from worldwide catastrophes more than doubled in 2012 as Superstorm Sandy lashed the Northeast and the nation suffered its worst drought since the 1930s. The U.S. accounted for about 90%, or $65 billion, of $72 billion in global losses, according to the Impact Forecasting unit of Aon, the London insurance broker. That compares with 40% in 2011, when Japan had higher-than-usual costs because of an earthquake and tsunami. The location and climate of the U.S. make the country more vulnerable than most developed nations to hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires and drought.