Nor'easter drenches East Coast as bomb cyclone lashes the West
CBSN
The first nor'easter of the season could affect more than 30 million people with devastating winds and flooding. Forecasters say it could develop into a bomb cyclone just as another blasted the West Coast over the weekend.
Overnight, the storm began soaking the Northeast with one to three inches of rain with some areas that experienced even higher amounts. Across the region, locally moderate flooding is forecast with heavy rain and strong damaging winds of up to 60 miles per hour are expected to continue into the evening, according to the National Weather Service. Flash flood watches are in effect for more than 31 million people.
New York and New Jersey's governors declared a state of emergency ahead of the storm. In both states, crews cleared drains and handed out sandbags to keep potential rushing water out. Officials hope to be as prepared as possible to avoid a repeat of the deadly tropical storms this past summer when a record rainfall killed over 50 people.
Two more black-footed ferrets have been cloned from the genes used for the first clone of an endangered species in the U.S., bringing to three the number of slinky predators genetically identical to one of the last such animals found in the wild, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Wednesday.
There were 56 wild, endangered Puerto Rican parrots living around El Yunque National Forest before Hurricane Maria in 2017. After the storm, there was only one survivor. Wood thrushes, found across the eastern U.S.; 60% of them are gone. Baltimore orioles, also an eastern bird; two-fifths have been lost. Western meadowlarks, prevalent in the central and western U.S.; three-fourths have disappeared.