Life Realities

The tallest building in the world now has a restaurant to match the building's lofty stature.

The Burj Khalifa's new restaurant, Atmosphere, is on the 122nd floor. Access to what the designer calls a "luxury yacht in the sky" is from a private elevator.

Leather booths await customers hungry for both food and the view. Mahogany panelling adorns the rooms of the 1,350-foot-high restaurant. Food prices match the height of the place, with appetizers going for $50 and entrees for nearly $100.

That the restaurant is open at all is proof, many say, that Dubai might be starting to emerge from the 2008 global financial crisis, which hit the emirate quite hard. Many construction projects slowed or stopped altogether, but the Burj Khalifa opened last year to great fanfare and more than a little bit of fireworks.

Source: socialstudiesforkids.com

Tan Ee Lyn – One of the most aggressive forms of breast cancer may originate in the cells lining the mammary ducts, which can be targeted in the fight against the disease, experts in Australia say.

Basal breast cancers account for 20 percent of all breast cancers and are among the most aggressive. They occur in women carrying mutations of the tumour-suppressing gene BRCA1 and have long been thought to originate in breast stem cells.

However, a research team led by Jane Visvader and Geoff Lindeman from The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Australia has found that the real culprits may instead be pre-cancerous cells lining the mammary ducts.

The finding opens the way for developing new drugs or therapies to treat this form of breast cancer, Lindeman said. “BRCA1 women have approximately a 65 percent lifetime chance of developing breast cancer. Following surgery, treatment options available to these women are often limited to chemotherapy and radiotherapy, so identifying new treatment and prevention strategies is a priority for us,” he said in a statement.

Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer among women and one of the leading causes of their premature death. In the study, the researchers compared normal, non-cancerous breast tissues taken from BRCA1 mutation carriers, women not carrying the mutant gene, and women without the mutant gene but who had a positive family history of the disease.

Tissues from women with the mutant gene had high numbers of pre-cancerous cells lining the mammary ducts, they found. These pre-cancerous cells were also genetically more similar to basal breast tumour cells, they wrote in their paper, which was published in Nature Medicine.

“They are clearly abnormal cells as they have aberrant growth properties and the population is enlarged in BRCA1 mutation carriers,” said Visvader in an email to Reuters.

One way to prevent this cancer was to target these pre-cancerous mammary duct cells, she added. “Our gene profiling studies have revealed genes that could serve as possible tumour markers that can be used in breast cancer diagnosis — and has helped to identify possible therapeutic targets to treat (and possibly prevent) basal breast tumours,” Visvader said. Future work in this area is likely to help the next generation of women.”

Mayon is an active stratovolcano. The current cone was formed through pyroclastic and lava flows from past eruptions. Mayon is the most active of the active volcanos in the Philippines, having erupted over 49 times in the past 400 years.

It is located on the eastern side of Luzon, beside the Philippine Trench which is the convergent boundary where the Philippine Sea Plate is driven under the Philippine Mobile Belt. Where a continental plate or belt of continental fragments meets an oceanic plate, the lighter continental material overrides the oceanic plate, forcing it down into the earth’s mantle. Magma, formed where the rock melts, may be forced through weaknesses in the continental crust caused by the collision of the tectonic plates. One such exit point is Mayon.

Like other volcanoes located around the rim of the Pacific Ocean, Mayon is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire.

Mayon has had forty-nine eruptions in recorded history. The first recorded eruption was in 1616, the last major eruption ceased on 1 October 2006, although a devastating lahar followed on 30 November 2006. A further summit eruption occurred on 10 August 2008. Mayon Volcano on September 23, 1984

The most destructive eruption of Mayon occurred on February 1, 1814. Lava flowed but not as much compared to the 1766 eruption. Instead, the volcano was belching dark ash and eventually bombarding the town with tephra that buried the town of Cagsawa—only the bell tower of the town’s church remained above the new surface. Trees were burned; rivers were certainly damaged. Proximate areas were also devastated by the eruption with ash accumulating to 9 m (30 ft) in depth. 2,200 Albay locals perished in what is considered to be the most lethal eruption in Mayon’s history.

Mayon Volcano’s longest uninterrupted eruption occurred on June 23, 1897 which lasted for seven days of raining fire. Lava once again flowed down to civilization. Seven miles eastward, the village of Bacacay was buried 15 m (49 ft) beneath the lava. In Libog, 100 people were declared dead—incinerated by steam and falling debris or hot rocks. Other villages like San Roque, Misericordia and Santo Niño became deathtraps. Ash was carried in black clouds as far as 160 km (100 mi) from the catastrophic event. More than 400 persons were killed.

The story of Robert Fulton inventing the steamboat and sailing the Clermont down the river for all to see is so familiar to any student of American history that it must be true. Right?

Wrong.

The steamboat was invented by John Fitch in the early 1790s. But like so many other sad stories of the history of invention, Fitch didn't have the money to turn a profit on his invention.

Fulton got into the act at the urging of his friend Robert Livingston, who was the American ambassador to France in the early 1800s. Fulton was living in Paris at the time and designed an experimental submarine. Livingston, who knew about Fitch's troubles, invited Fulton back to the U.S. to try to make the steamboat idea go.

Fulton, himself having a good bit of money and also having rich friends like Livingston, gets the credit but what he really did was make steamboat travel profitable.

Even Fulton didn't get it right the first time. The first voyage of the Clermont, in 1807, failed. After a good bit of tinkering, Fulton got the boat up and running, and the little steam-powered floater made it from new York to Albany in 32 hours (at a speed of five miles an hour).

By the way, the ship wasn't named Clermont at first. Fulton called it the North River Steamboat. When he decided to redesign the boat to accommodate passengers, he did the work at Clermont, Livingston's estate near Hudson. The redesigned boat's name was North River Steamboat of Clermont. Through the years, it has been shortened to Clermont.By: socialstudiesforkids.com/funfacts

Political analysts will be poring over the manner in which vice presidential frontrunner Manuel Roxas II knocked Loren Legarda out of the race, only to end up running neck and neck against Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay in what has turned out to be an unprecedented cliffhanger of a contest.

Less of a cliffhanger was the aftermath of the elections when, in the reporting of results, Binay emerged leading Roxas. The lead remains reflected in the official canvassing of votes by Congress. However, Roxas has not conceded the election, basically on two grounds.

The first is that as far as the official canvass is concerned, there remains about a million votes still to be officially counted, which exceed the current lead of Binay over Roxas. The second is the issue of “null-votes,” that is, what the machines recorded as either no votes cast (the ovals left blank), overvotes (two or more ovals shaded for the vice president slot), or improperly shaded ovals.

Obviously uncontroversial are ballots in which voters, like Joseph Estrada, declined to vote for any vice presidential candidate, or where voters voided the ballot they cast by overvoting. This still leaves the question of whether voter intent—voters making a mark for the vice presidency, but the PCOS machines not accepting those votes—justifies going back to the ballots and re-checking the improperly shaded ovals.

The real question, however, is this. In an unquestionably close election, to what extent, and where, should Roxas and his party-mates pursue their insistence on every vote being counted?

Procedurally, it seems clear that Congress, in joint session assembled as the National Board of Canvassers, is not the proper venue. Congress’ role is ministerial, virtually ritualistic: it is mandated to officially tabulate results submitted by the Comelec, inquiring only into the completeness and authenticity of the documents submitted by the electoral commission. The venue for questioning the official results is the Supreme Court.

But this presumes that everyone trusts the documents and the agency that produced them.

There is another danger and that is: in pursuing its objections, the Liberals might severely erode not only the credibility of the mandate of whoever would be proclaimed vice president (including Roxas), but also that of the winner of the presidential race. The LP has carefully pointed out that the null votes for the presidency amount to about 1.5 million, while 2.6 null votes are involved in the vice presidential race.

Clearly even if all the null votes in the presidential contest weren’t for the frontrunner, this couldn’t alter the results. So logically null votes and the presidential mandate are a non-issue. But in politics as in other human activities, logic doesn’t necessarily hold sway. The 2.6 million null votes in a tight vice presidential contest clearly require some sort of resolution; but how, and without tainting separate contests by association?

The LP pointed out that the results in a precinct in Datu Odin Sinsuat town in Maguindanao, and in Tabuan-Lasa in Basilan showed Binay getting 99 and 98 percent of all votes, respectively, suggesting a statistically improbable result from the party’s point of view. But these arguments are a double-edged sword.

One source from the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao pointed out that Binay got 100 percent of the votes in one clustered precinct (CP8 0014A). Total votes: 63. However, according to the same source, in another clustered precinct (CP17 0026A) in the same town of Bumbaran, Roxas’ running mate, Noynoy Aquino, also got 100 percent of the votes. Total votes: 32.

To give a concrete example of the nuances involved, consider the following information from our source. In one Moro barangay, Kadingilan in Midsayap, a town in North Cotabato, the Midsayap-wide poll results showed that Estrada got 62.97 percent of the votes. Yet in Clustered Precinct 46, Estrada received only 00.76 percent while Aquino garnered 68.06 percent.

In the end this is about trust: not only in Congress, but in electoral protests filed before the Supreme Court. Roxas faces the dilemma of legitimately fighting not only for himself but also for his voters, or of doing an Al Gore and throwing in the towel for the sake of peace and stability for his running mate, Aquino. Having already sacrificed his ambition for Aquino, he must consider whether he is required to do so again, in order to avoid an acrimonious start for the Aquino presidency. By: opinion.inquirer.net

A dead Portuguese man-of-war floats on rust-colored oil off the Louisiana coast on Tuesday.
Photograph by Eric Gay, AP

Other than a few orange tubes encircling a sandbar southwest of Louisiana's Chandeleur Islands, there's no sign anything's amiss.

Dozens of chattering shorebirds—punctuated by the odd pelican—are relaxing on this shallow strip of land in Breton National Wildlife Refuge, known as one of the most important bird breeding grounds in the world. (See pictures of places that could be America's next national parks.)

After heavy rains, experts from a handful of conservation groups traveled by boat Monday to see if oil from the ongoing Gulf of Mexico spill had yet reached the birds at this remote spot. (See a map of Louisiana's barrier islands.)

So far, nothing.

But a heavy band of oil has been spotted at the refuge's back door—"and time is either a friend or an enemy," Larry Schweiger, president of the National Wildlife Federation, said over the avian cacophony.

Even if oil never washes up in the refuge, the region's birds may be silenced if the crude lingers deep in the Gulf of Mexico, experts say.

That's because 5,000 barrels of oil (210,000 gallons, or 794,937 liters) a day are thought to be bleeding from a damaged wellhead at the nearby site of the Deepwater Horizon rig disaster. All that oil is poisoning the less photogenic creatures—plankton, sand crabs, and fish larvae, among others—at the base of the region's food web, Schweiger noted.

If the oil spill can't be contained, the Gulf of Mexico could have another "dead zone in the making," according to Sylvia Earle, a marine biologist and National Geographic explorer-in-residence. (National Geographic News is owned by the National Geographic Society.)

Often caused by algal blooms, dead zones are swaths of ocean devoid of life, save for hardy bacteria.


Oil Spill Making Toxic "Chocolate Mousse"

Oil bubbling up from the Gulf of Mexico wellhead, which sits more than 5,000 feet (about 1,500 meters) below the water's surface, is coming from even deeper inside the Earth.

That means the oil is heavier and thicker than the crude spilled in past, tanker-based disasters, noted Ron Kendall, chair of the Department of Environmental Toxicology at Texas Tech University in Lubbock.

When there's turbulent weather—as the Gulf of Mexico has experienced over the past few days—the dense oil mixes with water to form an emulsion, a sort of gooey, chocolate mousse-like substance, Kendall said.

This concoction presents a greater dilemma than the "physical problems of just sticking to a feather," he said. The emulsion is toxic to birds, baby sea turtles, fish embryos, crabs, and shrimp larvae, not to mention sea grasses and marshlands.

What's more, the catastrophe is hitting the Gulf at its most sensitive time of the year—when sea turtles and commercially important species of fish and shrimp are spawning, he noted. (See pictures of how the Gulf oil spill is affecting wildlife.)

"Impacts to the birds will be the thing that is most visible to the public, but it is not just their deaths that we should be concerned about," said John "Wes" Tunnell, associate director of the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A&M University in Corpus Christi.

Infauna, or small organisms such as clams and tubeworms that live in ocean sediments, are vital food sources for shorebirds and other coastal animals.

After the 1979 Ixtoc oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the area's infauna were reduced by up to 90 percent, Tunnell said—a potential reason many bird species left the area in the wake of the nine-month-long spill.

However, there may be a bright side: Organisms at the bottom of the food chain reproduce more rapidly than bigger animals, Tunnell pointed out by email. After the Ixtoc spill, infauna returned to pre-spill levels within about a year.

Gulf of Mexico's Deadly Experiment

Some scientists also worry about one of the joint federal-industry response team's methods for controlling the oil: dumping chemical dispersants into the Gulf of Mexico.

These chemicals merely break up the oil into smaller droplets, making it less likely to spread—but more likely to drift down and choke life on the seafloor.

"We're wiping out critical elements of the base of the food chain of the Gulf," Texas Tech's Kendall said. "This is an ecotoxological experiment underway in one of the world’s most productive and fragile ecosystems."

As oil droplets spread through the water column, the crude can be fatal to plankton, the tiny, open-ocean creatures that many larger animals depend on, according to marine biologist Earle.

Rescue workers can clean and treat oiled birds and other relatively large animals that come ashore. But "how do you deal with deoiling plankton?" Earle said.

In addition to feeding marine species, plankton suck up carbon dioxide, a vital job in a warming world and one that climate engineers are trying to emulate, Earle noted. (See pictures of seven emergency climate fixes.)

"What we do to the ocean, we're doing to our life-support system—we’re doing it to ourselves," Earle said.

Oil Always Wins

Standing in the warm, calf-deep water of the bird refuge, the National Wildlife Federation's Schweiger pointed out that the marshes of the Gulf Coast replenish the entire ecosystem, for instance by protecting shorelines from eroding.

If exposed to oil, these Louisiana wetlands—which human development has already diminished by 40 percent—may wither away, leaving just the open ocean.

And that means the noisy shorebirds nesting just a few hundred feet behind him would have to find another place to go.

"When oil collides with wildlife," Schweiger said, "oil always wins."

Many Britons are seeing red about British Telecom's decision to destroy the red telephone-box structures that dot the landscape all over the country.
The sentiment seems to be one of nostalgia more than practicality, since the U.K. boasts one of the highest rates of mobile phone ownership in the world. For many people, utility is not the point of the exercise. They just don't want to see the red boxes pulled down.

Even though the telephone boxes seems like they've been around forever, they have been parts of communities only since the late 1930s. Painted the same color as post boxes, the telephone boxes have provided many an opportunity for generations of people to make a quick phone call while on the go.

An exhaustive count of the countryside in 2002 revealed the existence of about 17,000 red telephone boxes all around Britain. That's a lot of real estate to maintain at 800 pounds (British money) a year, which is what it costs British Telecom to maintain each phone box. More than half no longer pay for themselves, and a recent study found that a full 10 percent of phone boxes were used no more than once a month.

In recent years, people have warmed to British Telecom's "Adopt a Kiosk" program, which allows local government organizations to buy their phone box for one pound, with the understanding that the phone inside will no longer work.

That suits many people just fine, since it's the box – not the telephone inside – that evokes nostalgia. Many boxes have been transformed to suit other purposes, including gardens, bulletin boards, and even a library. One phone box in Somerset contains a mannequin created by the primary school nearby.

The big picture for nostalgic Britons and photo opportunity-seeking tourists is that the phone boxes will remain, even if they no longer serve their primary function. By: socialstudiesforkids.com

It happens once every three years, but the participants number in the millions.

It is Kumbh Mela, or "Pitcher Festival," one of the biggest celebrations of all for Hindus in India. A full 10 million people bathed on one day, in the river Ganges, to mark the 104-day event. As of that "main royal bathing day," April 14, the number of people who have bathed in the Ganges specifically in conjunction with Kumbh Mela exceeds 40 million. The most people ever at a religious gathering was 60 million, at another Kumbh Mela, in 2001, in Allahabad.

Such staggering numbers of people would create population numbers for most cities, but Haridwar, a city in the north of India, had made extensive preparations. (After all, this is the kind of festival that does get repeated often enough and at the same places.) Massive temporary encampments stretching across 50 square miles house the pilgrims (in many cases whole extended families) who have come from miles and miles away, in many cases to stay for the three-month period. Police are ever-present, numbering in the tens of thousands themselves, trying to keep order among the throngs. Some reports told of a stampede that resulted in the deaths of a number of people.

Driving the process are a group of high-ranking holy men known as the naga sadhus. They have declared when and where are the best times to bathe in the Ganges, and the throngs have followed their example by stripping off their outer layers of clothes to take a quick dip in the cold water. (Chains are available for people who want to stand in waist-deep water and pray, so that they don't get swept away by the fast-moving river.) And, even though the Ganges is known to be one of the world's most-polluted waterways, Hindus by the millions continue to bathe and even drink from the sacred river. Many people have filled plastic bottles from the river to drink from on their way home.

The festival continues for another two weeks. It's not just one day that people bathe, either. Certain days are deemed "auspicious," meaning that people are expected to bathe in the Ganges on those days; but the bathing is so much a ritual of faith that it's a habit more than an exception to daily routine.

Haridwar is one of four cities that play host to the festival. The others are Allahabad, Nasik and Ujjain. At each site, Hindu mythology says, a pitcher spilled drops of nectar of immortality during a titanic struggle between the forces of good and evil. By: socialstudiesforkids.com

Dakar was a city on the edge.

The capital of Senegal was the scene of a gathering of many heads of state, to attend the unveiling of a giant statue to honor the 50th anniversary of the country's independence from France. The city was also a hotbed of protest, as thousands of people marched in protest to the statue and to its sponsorship by President Abdoulaye Wade.

The leaders of nine other African nations attended the ceremony, as did a delegation of African-Americans, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson. On the streets, the protesters marched and called for Wade to step down. Riot police were brought in to keep things under control.

The sculpture, at 50 meters tall, stretches higher into the sky than the Statue of Liberty (if the base isn't counted.) The name of the sculpture is African Renaissance. It has three figures: A man holds onto a woman while holding a child in an outstretched arm.

Wade hopes that people will come from all around in order to get an up-close glimpse of the statue.

The protesters were angry at the government's policies and at the statue itself, which they say represents money that could have been spent on other things in the country, including local wages. (The statue was built by North Koreans.) By: socialstudiesforkids.com

The pilot considered a hero for landing a plane in the Hudson River and saving everyone onboard is retiring. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger will fly his final route on March 10.

The 59-year-old pilot will end a 30-year career in flying with a private ceremony put on by US Airways, his employer. He plans to spend more time with his wife and two daughters.

Sullenberger is best known for being the pilot aboard Flight 1549 on Jan. 15, 2009. The plane had taken off from New York's LaGuardia Airport and was bound for Charlotte, N.C.

The plane hit a flock of birds shortly after takeoff, and the collision disabled both engines. The cabin crew discussed returning to LaGuardia or landing at a nearby New Jersey airport. However, Sullenberger rejected both options and decided to try to land the plane in the Hudson River below. After a bumpy descent, the plane landed upright atop the river. All 155 people onboard survived.

It was about 3:30 in the afternoon, so the nearby freeways were jammed with cars. Thousands of onlookers watched in wonder as an airplane landed in the water intentionally. Help was not far away. Soon after the landing, the passengers and cabin crew climbed out onto the wings and waited to be rescued.

"Sully" will also continue to speak out about the need to lower the maximum number of hours that pilots are required to work in a single day. He will continue in his role as a member of US Airways' flight operations safety management team.

Accompanying Sullenberger on his final flight will be First Officer Jeff Skiles, who was in the cockpit for Flight 1549.

Sullenberger grew up in Texas. A very smart youngster, he joined Mensa International at the age of 12. He learned to fly when he was 16 and enrolled at the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1969, when he was 18. After graduating from college, he became a fighter pilot, flight leader, and training officer. He was also on the aircraft accident investigation board.

In 1980, he left the Air Force to become a commercial airline pilot, signing on with Pacific Southwest Airlines, which later became US Airways. He has been flying commercially since, totaling more than 27,000 hours of flying experience. In 2007, he began his own air safety consulting business, which works with the National Transportation Safety Board. By: socialstudiesforkids.com

More than 350 aftershocks rattled the Mexico/California border Monday after a major Baja California earthquake killed at least two people and injured hundreds of others when it struck at 3:40 PM (PDT) Sunday.

The 7.2 magnitude earthquake was one of the strongest to hit the region in decades. It was centered 39 miles south-southeast of Calexico, CA, and shook about 20 million people.

"With the number of aftershocks we've had, the likelihood of another 6 or 7 magnitude earthquake is very real," Erik Pounders, a geologist at the U.S. Geological Survey, told Reuters Monday

The temblor cracked the main aqueduct that provides water from the Colorado River in the Mexicali Valley to Tijuana, limiting the amount of water available in that major city

Suzi Woodruff of the Salvation Army del Mar Division, said the Salvation Army in San Diego has sent two emergency mobile feeding units (canteens) to the El Centro and Calexico area. The canteens are handing out water, snacks and meals to first responders that are doing damage assessments and cleanup, as well as those affected by the earthquake.

Woodruff also said at least 11 families displaced by the quake are being housed at The Salvation Army El Centro Corps Community Center shelter, which is already housing 30 survivors.

There have not been any serious injuries reported in Calexico, the U.S. city that was hit hardest by the quake, but damages are severe.

Nearly 80 percent of historic downtown Calexico is badly damaged. Twelve blocks of the area has been closed off until further notice, this includes vehicular and foot traffic.

“Although the streets are closed off, there is so much policing and lighting in the area, that the fear of looting is non existent," said City Manager of Calexico, Victor Carrillo. "You aren’t getting into that area, unless you’re a store owner or government employee. Other than the media, it is like a ghost town.”

Carrillo said roofs are caved in, windows are smashed, and three large water tanks that hold the city’s water supply, are damaged. Residents have been asked to use water very sparingly and only when necessary.

The earthquake downed three power lines in Calexico, causing power outages for hours, and a gas leak resulted in a brief evacuation of about 30 homes.

About 20 buildings collapsed and store windows are shattered due to intense shaking. Images show residents camping outside, damaged roadways, and various stores in disarray with the merchandise on the floor.

“You have to remember that a lot of these buildings downtown were built in the early 1900’s, so they are not up to the astringent building codes we have today. They’ve been plastered over and changed identities many times… they’re very old. Luckily a lot of the structures are single or two stories, so damage was limited from shaking and things like that,” said Carrillo.

Most of the stores damaged in the downtown area were discount shops and other small retailers. Carrillo said that the only people allowed in the stores right now are the managers and one another person who can assist them. If a store has been red tagged, a structural engineer needs to accompany the store owner and tell then what they need to do to bring their stores into building codes and compliance.

Chuck Erickson, Vice President of the Southern California VOAD says that damage in the U.S. seems to be more commercial: “Not too many houses were damaged, it was mostly commercial buildings. Many stores have been affected.”

The quake could be devastating for the economy of Imperial County, which already has the highest unemployment rate in the state, said Hildy Carrillo, executive director of the Calexico Chamber of Commerce. "It will be months before downtown is back. It's a mess," she said.

The damage in the U.S seems to primarily affected California's southeastern Imperial Valley, however; shaking was felt as far away as Los Angeles, California, and Phoenix Arizona. Minor damage to buildings was reported in San Diego.

Erickson said in San Diego, he felt tremors from the aftershocks. “We had about 40 seconds of rolling shocks here yesterday and I haven’t felt much since that time, but there could be a few more coming.”

Closer to the quake, Carrillo’s experience was more intense: “I had my family and grandchildren there and everybody crowded in the hallway. There were a lot of things falling off shelves; wine bottles, pictures, two of my TV’s were broken. I’ve been living in Calexico since 1950, and this was the most I’ve ever experienced. A lot of the homes are young in that they’ve been built over the last 20-30 years, so in residential areas, damage was minimal and mostly limited to things falling inside of homes due to shaking… which is fortunate.”

Carrillo said that the town hopes to have damage assessments done by Wednesday. “We want store owners can be in there cleaning up Thursday and Friday, and by Sunday we hope to have reopened stores that aren’t red tagged and return to as much normalcy as possible.”

According to a spokesman for the U.S. Geological Survey, the earthquake was similar in size and power to the one that hit Haiti in January. It is the third major earthquake to hit Western Hemisphere during the past three months. By: SANDIE GARCIA

More than 11,000 residents of Rhode Island and Massachusetts have already applied for aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) following historic flooding that has hit the region.

While some survivors will spend the weekend digging through water-logged possessions, others are still unable to return home until nearby rivers crest early next week. Emergency officials in Rhode Island, hard-hit by flooding this week, were particularly concerned about the number of businesses impacted by the disaster. The state’s unemployment rate was already one of the highest in the nation.

According to the National Weather Service, Massachusetts, New Jersey and parts of New York City set March rainfall records. And by Tuesday afternoon, Rhode Island joined them, with more than 15 inches of rain recorded.

National Guard troops have been deployed in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut. Bridges and highways were washed out from Maine to Connecticut and sewage systems were overwhelmed to the point that families were asked to stop flushing toilets.

Rhode Island fared the worst in the northeast flooding, with nine inches of rain in East Providence, eight inches in downtown Providence and five inches in Cranston.

“None of us alive have seen the flooding that we are experiencing now or going to experience,” Rhode Island Gov. Don Carcieri said. “This is unprecedented in our state's history."

“The Rhode Island National Guard has just been unbelievable. They reacted the minute the rains started, because we all knew what was coming. They have been working around the clock. They’re helping towns with sandbags, they are people available for rescue missions, and they’ve provided equipment to everybody,” said Steve Kass, Communications Manager for the Emergency Management Agency of Rhode Island

Although many parts of the state appeared unaffected, roads in other areas were washed out, ball fields were underwater, and homes and businesses were flooded. “People all over the state have got flooding issues in the basements and in their homes because the ground continues to be so saturated,” Carcieri said. “Unfortunately, that is going to continue for a little longer.”

“There is hundreds of millions of dollars in damage. All the rivers, streams, highways, have been blocked off pretty much everywhere. The damage was extensive right across the board. We don’t even have a real handle of it yet. I mean, you take a flight over the state there’s so much water, its mind-boggling. Remarkably, there have been no fatalities or serious injuries reported,” said Kass.

The Department of Public Works in Rhode Island asked every resident, (about 1 million people) to conserve water and electricity because of flooded sewage systems and electrical substations. Health officials urged people exposed to floodwater to wear long sleeves and wash their hands regularly to avoid bacteria and viruses.

Carcieri, said it is too soon to know the economic impact of the latest round of flooding to the state, which has a $220 million budget deficit.

The heavy rain is just another setback to Rhode Island, which has struggled for months with an unemployment rate nearing 13 percent. This is 3 percent higher than the national average.

Some of the areas worst hit were business districts, including the area around the Warwick Mall, one of the state's major shopping areas. “The Warwick Mall is still underwater- that’s 1,000 jobs… we have one of the highest unemployment rates in the country as it is. We don’t need this at all,” Kass said.

The National Weather service said that the Pawtuxet River, which runs through Cranston, Rhode Island, crested at 20.79 feet Wednesday. This is nearly 12 feet above flood stage. Although it is now falling, it is not expected to be below flood stage until Sunday.

As floodwaters in various areas begin to recede, residents may have to spend their holiday weekend cleaning up damage and shoveling mud from their homes. Disaster response organizations said they expected to begin damage assessments next week that will help them consider appropriate response to the most recent flooding.

Allan Fung, Mayor of Cranston, Rhode Island, said 140 homes were evacuated in his town. “We’re at a stage now where we move from public safety aspect to the assessment of infrrastructure and helping people pump out their basement and get back in their homes. We’re getting two major sewer pump stations back up and running right now. There’s a lot going on.”

Kass said that at this point, there is only so much residents can do. “So many homes still have water in their basement (from the storm two weeks ago), now the water is several feet higher, and the water table is so high, that there’s nowhere for it to go, it can’t be absorbed. I was getting water in my basement yesterday. It’s unreal,” said Kass.

The Northeast has barely had time to recover from their last major storm. The most recent storm follows nearly 10 inches of rain residents received just a few weeks ago.

“The FEMA people are still here from the last storm. Now they’ve sent additional people for this storm. Two weeks ago, the Pawtuxet River went six feet over flood level, and that was crazy. This time it went 12 feet over flood level causing much more widespread damage. The whole state is buried,” said Kass.

President Obama issued an emergency declaration Tuesday for Rhode Island, ordering federal aid and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano visited Rhode Island on Friday to assess the damage.

The National Weather Service says that sunny weather over the next few days should speed up the drying process as Easter weekend approaches.

Kass has tried to find positive in a bleak situation: “Once we get all the water down to normal, we can see what’s underneath it all, then it’s a massive clean up. People have started what they can, but it’s still a waiting game until it goes away.” By: SANDIE GARCIA