Tropical Storm In HIC: Hurricane Sandy Flashcards
When was Hurricane sandy
Made landfall with USA 29th October 2012 after damaging the Caribbean from the 18th onwards.
Tell me the background after hurricane sandy
When it made USA landfall sandy had been downgraded to a tropical storm but covered a huge area which made it very damaging. It unusually curved back towards the USA because of blocking high pressure over Greenland which prevented movement over the Atlantic.
What were the Affected areas
New Jersey and New York were the worst impacted regions but the massive size of the storm (despite lower power) meant it impacted 24 states in total.
Tell me about the primary effects
Worst rainfall in a century brought widespread flooding
111 people were killed
Boardwalk in Atlantic city tourist destination was destroyed
1.8 million in New Jersey and New York were without electricity
600,000 homes were either damaged or destroyed
$60 billion in damage was done
One crane collapsed
Part of the subway was flooded
Tell me about the secondary effects
$18 billion in financial losses from closure of New York businesses
Flooding hampered firefighting and 80 homes were lost due to gas fires where firefighters could not reach the area
Fuel shortages led to long queues at petrol stations
All 3 of New York’s airports were immediately closed. Leaving thousands stranded in New York and all over the world.
Commuters couldn’t get to work due to closed subway and railway lines due to flooding. Reducing productivity
New York marathon had to be cancelled (loss of tourism revenue)
Stock exchange closed for 2 days for the first time since 9/11
East coast oil refinery was destroyed restricting USA oil production
Both Barack Obama and mitt Romney had to stop election campaigns for 3 days because of the disaster
Lack of power followed by snow and cold weather led to people freezing and a rise in crime in unoccupied buildings.
What were the short term responses
The Red Cross sheltered 11,000 people
President Obama declared a state of emergency in New York and New Jersey. Freeing up more money and resources to help with the relief effort.
Marathon runners helped to fundraise by doing an unofficial run around the country
Empty hotels and apartments were used to shelter some of the homeless
Red Cross deployed 17 million meals and snacks (though was criticised for focusing on publicity)
Red cross also donated 7 million relief items which included cold weather clothing due to the arrival of a snow storm.
Americare (NGO) supplied $3.5 million in medical supplies to the affected areas
FEMA deployed disaster managers and liaison experts to areas likely to be impacted before the event so they were already in place.
What were the long term responses
Long term planning put in place for how to deal with future events. Especially because of the rising threat posed by climate change.
In 2013 a law passed allowing $50 billion of federal money to be spent on repairing the damage done by sandy.
Even today most of this money has not been spent
Investigations carried out into a micro grid system for New York’s electricity supply to avoid widespread blackout following disasters.
Rental assistance fund for those survivors who have lost their uninsured home and can not afford to leave emergency accommodation.
New, stricter building codes enforced for coastal properties and an alteration to the way electricity is supplied across the region
