Flood Barrier USA

Hurricane Sandy: Biggest Hurricane Ever

Author: Donna Conneely

Hurricane Sandy has now gone down in the record books as the biggest Atlantic hurricane ever recorded, based on the diameter of the storm at its peak. The storm powered through several Caribbean countries before slamming into the mid-Atlantic US coastline, then north to New Jersey and New York before going on to wreak destruction in the mid-West. It was the last hurricane of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season, but it was also the strongest. 24 states suffered damage from Hurricane Sandy- almost half of the total 50 states. Over 250 people lost their lives in the storm.

The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite 13 (GOES-13) captured this natural-color image of Hurricane Sandy at 1:45 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (17:45 Universal Time) on October 28, 2012. Note how a line of clouds from a continental weather system runs south to north along the Appalachian Mountains, approaching from the west to meet the offshore storm. NASA Earth Observatory image by Robert Simmon with data courtesy of the NASA/NOAA GOES Project Science team.

In addition to being the strongest storm of the season, Sandy was by far the most expensive, both in terms of lives lost and physical damage. The estimated property and loss-of-business damage is estimated at over $65.5 billion, making it the second most expensive hurricane in history, surpassed only by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Whereas the damage from Katrina was concentrated in a few states, Sandy struck with amazing thoroughness, and caused damage in every state on the eastern seaboard as well as in states as far inland as Michigan and Ohio. However, the heavily populated states of New Jersey and New York were hardest hit, with devastation far beyond what anyone had imagined possible.

In these densely populated areas, existing flood barriers and other defenses proved woefully inadequate. In spite of the implementation of the coastal emergency plan, mandatory evacuations, closures of subways and tunnels, and other measures, the storm tore through the area with a violence that had not been seen before in living memory.

New York Mayor Bloomberg used his authority to close schools and hospitals, to evacuate low-lying areas, place flood barriers at the entrances to subways, and to deploy National Guard troops throughout the city. Even the New York Stock Exchange remained closed for two days, which has happened only once before in the history of the venerable organization.

The State of New Jersey also fared poorly, losing much of its famed coastline, including many of its lucrative beach resorts. A few island communities were lucky enough to escape complete devastation due to the fact that sand dune berms had previously been plowed into place along the oceanfront. These sand berms acted as natural flood barriers, and saved many homes from the almost total destruction that other communities had suffered.

Now, two months after the storm has passed, many people are living lives forever changed by the hurricane. Some have lost loved ones. Others have lost homes or businesses. Many have lost their livelihood. As these areas begin to rebuild after this monster storm, one thing is certain: more storms like this one loom in the future. Rebuilding efforts MUST incorporate planned flood protection for the next Hurricane Sandy, which is sure to appear in the coming years.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 27th, 2012 at 1:24 pm and is filed under Flood Protection. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.