Superstorm Sandy

[awol]

The following figures have been purloined from the SA site. The "super" epithet certainly applies to the geographical area the storm affected, the rainfall and the storm surge but the actual wind speeds seem tamer than some of the storms we have suffered lately. Last January gusts of 120mph were recorded in Edinburgh with sustained winds of 80-90mph.

I just can't get my head round the huge amount of damage caused.

Death toll: 160 (88 in the U.S., 54 in Haiti, 11 in Cuba)
Damage estimates: $10 - $55 billion
Power outages: 8.5 million U.S. customers, 2nd most for a natural disaster behind the 1993 blizzard (10 million)
Maximum U.S. sustained winds: 69 mph at Westerly, RI
Peak U.S. wind gusts: 90 mph at Islip, NY and Tompkinsville, NJ
Maximum U.S. storm surge: 9.45', Bergen Point, NJ 9:24 pm EDT October 29, 2012
Maximum U.S. Storm Tide: 14.60', Bergen Point, NJ, 9:24 pm EDT October 29, 2012
Maximum wave height: 33.1' at the buoy east of Cape Hatteras, NC (2nd highest: 32.5' at the Entrance to New York Harbor)
Maximum U.S. rainfall: 12.55", Easton, MD
Maximum snowfall: 36", Richwood, WV
Minimum pressure: 945.5 mb, Atlantic City, NJ at 7:24 pm EST, October 29, 2012. This is the lowest pressure measured in the U.S., at any location north of Cape Hatteras, NC (previous record: 946 mb in the 1938 hurricane on Long Island, NY).
Destructive potential of storm surge: 5.8 on a scale of 0 to 6, highest of any hurricane observed since 1969. Previous record: 5.6 on a scale of 0 to 6, set during Hurricane Isabel of 2003.
Diameter of tropical storm-force winds at landfall: 945 miles
Diameter of ocean with 12' seas at landfall: 1500 miles

 

[snowleopard]

The only figures I heard were that it was Cat 1 with 95 mph winds, a far cry from Katrina, Cat 5 with 175 mph. Of course there are other factors e.g. that the area impacted was less used to storms. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the fact that Katrina mostly affected poor black people and Sandy hit rich white people.

I once drove for an hour along the New Jersey shore trying to get down to the beach but mile after mile was lined with big houses and rich people who wouldn't allow non-residents onto their beach. Not a lot of sympathy there.

Mind you, I wonder how London would fare with a 14 ft storm surge, Thames Barrier or not.

 

[machurley22]

I just can't get my head round the huge amount of damage caused.

As you imply yourself, I'm sure this is down to the huge amount of stuff that was available to be damaged.

 

[grumpy_o_g]

The only figures I heard were that it was Cat 1 with 95 mph winds, a far cry from Katrina, Cat 5 with 175 mph. Of course there are other factors e.g. that the area impacted was less used to storms. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the fact that Katrina mostly affected poor black people and Sandy hit rich white people.

I once drove for an hour along the New Jersey shore trying to get down to the beach but mile after mile was lined with big houses and rich people who wouldn't allow non-residents onto their beach. Not a lot of sympathy there.

Mind you, I wonder how London would fare with a 14 ft storm surge, Thames Barrier or not.

The wind did a huge amount of damage in more exposed areas but it was the flooding that caused the most problems. Sandy hit probably the most culturally diverse area in the world so your comment about rich white people is wide of the mark, to be polite. In fact many people in areas like Queens, the Bronx and the less well off parts of New Jersey are struggling just like the "middle class" in areas like downtown Manhattan. You appear to say that someone who has possessions that you don't deserves no sympathy when they suffer? If so then you're pretty poor example of a human being.

 

[interloper]

The shape of the coastline has a lot to do with the magnitude of the damage. In 2003, Hurricane Isabelle hit the coastline of North Carolina and Virginia. At landfall, Isabelle had higher peak winds than Sandy, but the maximum storm surge for Isabelle was about nine feet as opposed to fourteen feet for Sandy. Water being pushed toward New York City from south and east has no place to go once it reaches the corner formed by shorelines of New Jersey and Long Island.

As Sandy passed the entrance of the Chesapeake Bay, we had sustained winds at my house of about 30 mph and a storm surge of about three feet. The weather was just bad enough to ruin the weekend, but we had no significant damage.

When Isabelle hit, we were lucky to escape having heavy damage. Several large trees fell in our yard, but they missed the house and cars. Some of our neighbors were not so lucky. We were without power for a week, but the weather was nice enough that we didn't miss having heating or air-conditioning. I did miss having the Internet.

 

[Stemar]

The only figures I heard were that it was Cat 1 with 95 mph winds, a far cry from Katrina, Cat 5 with 175 mph. Of course there are other factors e.g. that the area impacted was less used to storms. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the fact that Katrina mostly affected poor black people and Sandy hit rich white people.

Perhaps it would be fairer to say that Katrina's damage was handled handled incompetently and this wan't fixed because it mostly affected poor people who weren't articulate or organised enough to make things happen, while Sandy (so far) is being handled better.

 

[dt4134]

I just can't get my head round the huge amount of damage caused.

Back home if the walls consist of less than a foot thickness of stone they're considered flimsy. I was working in the US a good few years ago and became mates with a Yorkshireman from up in the dales, where they have the same attitude. He'd been over there a few years and settled down, so naturally I was winding him up about owning a house built of wood. Except it turned out not to be wood. It was a wooden frame with panels of wood composite shaped to look like planks nailed onto it. A sort of glorified papier maché

Not surprised by the damage myself.