Instead of staying open to help displaced victims of the hurricane during the nor’easter that blanketed New York City in snow, the Federal Emergency Management Agency was “closed due to weather” as the storm approached.

FEMA, headed by Craig Fugate, exists to “prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from and mitigate all hazards,” the agency states. Its team is employed to fly into disaster areas to provide relief to victims of both of manmade or natural disasters – like storms.

But this week FEMA seemingly added a special condition to its services: The agency will only help as long as it’s not raining, snowy or too windy. As the nor’easter brought snowflakes to an area where thousands are still without electricity or homes in freezing temperatures, FEMA shut down its operations “due to bad weather.”

“We were abandoned yesterday,” Staten Island resident MaryAnne Alessio told Neil Cavuto.

After being questioned on the reasons behind the closed doors, Fugate told reporters that services needed to be postponed during the storm and would resume when the weather improves. FEMA’s response angered some New Yorkers who relied on the relief service after the storm had demolished their homes.

“Really? You’re telling Staten Island people that sorry, we’re closed due to the weather?”said Alessio. “These are people walking the streets that don’t have no homes, no electricity, no life, no place to go. They’re put out of their houses. And then they go to the FEMA center and they’re closed due to the weather. I think it’s a disgrace.”

FEMA buses vanished on Wednesday, taking away some New Yorkers’ only source of warmth and electricity. Trucks were removed from Staten Island and tents were taken down throughout the city.

And while the emergency management agency could not cope with the weather, the Red Cross stepped in and opened warming centers to help displaced hurricane victims survive the snowy weather.

But the Red Cross did not have the resources to provide many shelters. With only one shelter, located on Staten Island, FEMA’s help was much-needed.

“It’s just annoying when many people here need help, and they just didn’t do what they’re supposed to do,” a Queens resident told DNAinfo.com. “It’s emergency, and they should be open by now.”

To make up for the loss in aid that FEMA should have been providing, volunteers across New York tried to provide crucial resources to hurricane victims – including water bottles, food, electricity and places to warm up.

“FEMA packed up and left. We don’t know where they are, so there’s nothing here but us,”said volunteer Louis Giraldi.

The agency reopened its mobile sites after the second storm passed.

America’s cyberwar is already seeing collateral damage, and it’s hitting the country’s own billion-dollar companies. Oil giants Chevron say the Stuxnet computer virus made by the US to target Iran infected their systems as well.

California-based Chevron, a Fortune 500 company that’s among the biggest corporations in the world, admits this week that they discovered the Stuxnet worm on their systems back in 2010. Up until now, Chevron managed to make their finding a well-kept secret, and their disclosure published by the Wall Street Journal on Thursday marks the first time a US company has come clean about being infected by the virus intended for Iran’s nuclear enrichment program. Mark Koelmel of the company’s earth sciences department says that they are likely to not be the last, though.

“We’re finding it in our systems and so are other companies,” says Koelmel. “So now we have to deal with this.”

Koelmel claims that the virus did not have any adverse effects on his company, which generated a quarter of a trillion dollars in revenue during 2011. As soon as Chevron identified the infection, it was taken care of immediately, he says. Other accidental targets might not be so lucky though, and the computer worm’s complex coding means it might be a while before anyone else becomes aware of the damage.

“I don’t think the US government even realized how far it had spread,” Koelmel adds.

Discovered in 2010, the Stuxnet worm was reported with all but certainty to be the creation of the United States, perhaps with the assistance of Israel, to set back Iran’s nuclear enrichment program as a preemptive measure against an eventual war. Only as recently as this June, however, American officials with direct knowledge of the worm went public with Uncle Sam’s involvement.

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Astronomers have discovered another potentially habitable planet – and it’s at least seven times the mass of Earth. Dwarf star HD 40307g hosts a system of six planets, and one of those is believed have the potential to support human life.

The newfound exoplanet was discovered by a team of astronomers from the University of Hertfordshire and the University of Goettingen.

It’s located a mere 44 light-years from Earth. And although that may seem like a far distance, it’s actually just around the corner – cosmically speaking. It’s so close that researchers say telescopes on Earth may be able to image it directly.

The alien planet has been classified as a super-Earth, meaning it’s larger than Earth but smaller than gas planets such as Neptune.

It orbits at a distance of 55.8 million miles from the sun, which puts it in its host star’s habitable zone – the region where liquid water can exist on a planet’s surface.

But it’s not just the possibility of water that has astronomers thinking the newfound planet could be habitable.

The dwarf star is likely rotating on its own axis instead of having one face permanently turned toward the sun. The result is an Earth-like day and night cycle.

“The longer orbit of the new planet means that its climate and atmosphere may be just right to support life. Just as Goldilocks liked her porridge to be neither too hot nor too cold but just right, this planet – or indeed any moons that it has – lie in an orbit comparable to Earth, increasing the probability of it being habitable,” study co-author Hugh Jones said in a statement.

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