A man crosses a flooded street in the wake of Superstorm Sandy on Thursday in Little Ferry, N.J. Surprise coastal surge floods caused by the storm battered Little Ferry, Moonachie and some other towns along the Hackensack River in Bergen County, all areas unaccustomed to flooding.
Every time a storm brings flooding to a large metropolitan area, there are calls to improve the levee systems that are designed to prevent flooding.
But there's a major problem with doing that. "We don't know where all of our levees are," says Samantha Medlock with the Association of State Floodplain Managers.
Superstorm Sandy capped what's been a pretty impressive couple of years for U.S. natural disasters. There have been wildfires, tornadoes, floods and derechos. And insurance companies are on the hook to pay billions in related claims.
"We're seeing more of everything, and what we're doing is trying to factor that in going forward as we work with others to have a better sense of what the future holds," says State Farm spokesman David Beigie.
On-air challenge: Every answer today consists of the names of two famous people. The last name of the first person is an anagram of the first name of the last person. Given the nonanagram parts of the names, you identify the people.
Both campaigns want to claim momentum heading into the final days of the campaign. This is especially true in battleground states like Iowa, where enthusiasm and voter turnout can make all the difference.
It's a common political metaphor — momentum — but is it a good one?
To many Americans, the right to vote in a presidential election is a sacred and precious opportunity. To others, the right to not vote is just as meaningful. And they exercise it.
In just-released data, the Pew Research Center reports that about 43 percent of Americans of voting age in 2008 didn't participate in the presidential election.
The Campaign to Defeat Barack Obama, a small-donor PAC, has launched a bus tour to reach conservative voters in hotly contested states, while trying to raise money to launch an anti-Obama TV ad.
As the election draws closer, candidates are wrapping up their campaigns and encouraging Americans to vote. Weekends on All Things Considered host Guy Raz talks with NPR's White House correspondent Scott Horsley, who is traveling with President Obama.
Vin Weber, a former Republican congressman from Minnesota and a senior advisor for the Mitt Romney campaign, talks with weekends on All Things Considered host Guy Raz about the momentum going into Tuesday and why Romney does not need Ohio to win the presidential election.
NPR's Ari Shapiro has been crisscrossing battleground states with the Republican candidate Mitt Romney and his campaign. He speaks to weekends on All Things Considered host Guy Raz from Iowa about where Romney is focusing his attention in the final campaign sprint before Election Day.