Tatyana Smilyanich
11/29/13
Hurricane Sandy, also known as “Superstrom Sandy” was one of the deadliest and most
hazardous hurricanes in a long time, it was a stage three hurricane and it traveled all the way to
landfall in Cuba, destroying everything in its way. Hurricane Sandy was the second costliest
hurricane in United States history! It was also the eighteenth named storm, tenth hurricane and
second foremost disaster hurricane of the year. The hurricane was measured by diameter, with
winds spinning as fast as one hundred and one thousand miles; which is one thousand, eight
hundred kilometers. Wow! Now that is super fast.
There has been as estimate as of June 2013 that there was over sixty-eight billion dollars
in damage left behind after hurricane Sandy, this estimate surpasses the damage done by
hurricane Katrina back in 2001. It was also estimated that at least two-hundred and eighty-six
people were killed in this monster storm which spread throughout seven countries! Sandy started
out as a tropical wave in the Western Caribbean Sea on October 22, and it quickly built up speed,
being upgraded to a tropical storm just six hours later. Sandy started moving northward toward
the Greater Antilles and gradually became stronger. On October 24th, Sandy was proclaimed a
hurricane. Sandy continued going and made landfall near Kingston, Jamaica, then resurfaced,
being categorized as a level two hurricane. On October 25th, hurricane Sandy struck Cuba as a
category three hurricane, then to our surprise weakened to a category one hurricane. A day later,
Sandy moved all the way through the Bahamas and on October 27th she weakened again, falling
into a tropical storm, and then regained strength going back to a category one hurricane. Then
Sandy struck again on October 29th, curving northwest and then moving ashore near Brigantine,
New Jersey, just to the northeast of Atlantic City, as a “post tropical cyclone” with hurricane
speed winds.
While in Jamaica, Sandy left seventy percent of residents without electricity, roofs blown
off of house and buildings, one person was killed and the storm caused one-hundred dollars
worth of damage. Sandy also brought deadly floods to Haiti, killing fifty-four people and leaving
two-hundred thousand residents homeless. In Cuba, there was severe flooding, destroying
fifteen-thousand homes, killing eleven people and causing two billion dollars worth of damage,
according to USD 2012. Sandy caused two deaths and damage to homes and buildings in the
Bahamas, estimating seven-hundred billion dollars in damage. In Canada, two people were also
killed and they had one-hundred billion dollars in damage as well going throughout Ontario and
Quebec.
In the United States, there were twenty-four states affected by hurricane Sandy, including
the entire eastern seaboard, from Florida to Maine, traveling west across the Appalachian
Mountains to Michigan and Wisconsin, leaving the most damage in New Jersey and New York
city. When the storm hit New York City on October 29th, there was a lot of flooding in the
streets, tunnels and subway lines, causing the power outages around the city. Damage in the
United States was estimated to be about sixty-five billion dollars. That’s just to name a few, I’m
sure there is many more states that were affected by Sandy.
According to NCAR senior climatologist Kevin E Trenberth, he says to answer the
question frequently asked, “Whether an event is caused by climate change, and is that it is the
wrong question.” All weather events are affected by climate change because the environment in
which the storm occurs tends to be warmer and a lot moisture then what it used to be. Although
NOAA meteorologist Martin Hoerling says Sandy is “little more than the coincidental alignment
of a tropical storm with an extra tropical storm” Trenberth does believe that hurricane Sandy was
caused do to “natural variability” but also adds that it was “enhanced by global warming” One of
the reasons the storm emerged was because of the unusual warm sea surface temperatures
offshore, the East Coast of the United States had temperatures higher than three degrees Celsius,
five degrees F above normal, meaning global warming had contributed 0.6 degrees Celsius,
which is one degree F. “As the temperature of the atmosphere increases, the capacity to hold
water increases, leading to stronger storms and higher rainfall amounts.” As it moves North,
Atlantic hurricanes are pushed toward the East and back out to sea by “Prevailing Westerlies.” In
Sandy’s case, this usual pattern was blocked by a ridge of high pressure over Greenland, which
made a negative North Atlantic fluctuation and as a result, formed a kink in the jet stream,
“causing it to double back on itself off the East Coast. Sandy seemed to be caught in what they
call a “northwesterly flow.”
After the storm became a tropical cyclone on October 22nd, the government of Jamaica
made a smart decision and passed a tropical storm watch for the entire island. At 1500 UTC the
watch was changed to a tropical storm warning system. The residents of Jamaica prepared
themselves in case of another storm by stocking up on supplies and they reinforced roofing
material. Peter Phillips, the prime minister, urged residents to take this storm very seriously and
also to lookout for each other, neighbors, friends and family. Shortly after Jamaica took action,
the government of Haiti also issued a tropical storm watch, along with the government of Cuba
and many other islands that were tragically affected by Sandy.
Several organizations have contributed to the “hurricane relief effort.” Disney ABC
television group had a “day of giving” charity event for the people affected and raised seventeen
billion dollars on their television show and gave it to the American Red Cross. NBC also raised
about twenty-three million dollars during Hurricane Sandy coming together telethon event. News
Corporation donated one million dollars as well to relief efforts in the New York metropolitan
area. That’s amazing! It`s so nice to see these big corporations lending out a helping hand to
people that really needed it during this horrific disaster.
The storm hit the United States exactly a week before elections. This affected the
presidential campaign a great deal in storm-damaged areas. New Jersey governor; Chris Christie
praised President Barack Obama and his reaction after the storm hit. The two of them even went
and toured storm-damaged areas together, hoping to give some kind of relief to the people that
were affected. The storm also ignited controversy about (FEMA) republican presidential
nominee Mitt Romney, proposed that we completely exterminate FEMA. Many people were not
happy with this decision so the Romney campaign eventually decided to keep FEMA funded but
he failed to explain what other parts of the federal budget he would have to cut in order to pay
for it.
On December 28th the senate agreed to an emergency relief bill, which provided sixty
billion dollars for the states that were affected by hurricane Sandy, but unfortunately the house
postponed action until January third by adjourning voting on the bill. On January 28th the house
passed a bill signed by president Obama, stating that 50.5 billion dollars be donated to Sandy aid.
There was a great political impact that Sandy made causing many comments from scientists,
saying that; “warming oceans and greater atmospheric moisture are intensifying storms while
rising sea levels are worsening coastal effects.” Representative Henry Waxman of California
requested that there be a hearing in the “lame duck session” on ties between climate change and
hurricane Sandy.
One year later, there has been more than 1.4 billion dollars donated to individual
people needing assistance after the storm, estimating that there were one hundred eighty-two
thousand survivors. An additional 2.4 billion in low interest disaster loans have also been given
by the US small business administration. More than 7.9 billion dollars in flood insurance money
has been donated as well from (NFIP) and FEMA has also contributed, approving 3.2 billion
dollars to help fund emergency work, debris removal, and repair and replacement of buildings. It
was a long road to recovery for the people and places affected, but with all of the help that was
given to these poor people, they are going to be able to rebuild their lives. Although it will never
be the same, it is considered as a new beginning.
Surprisingly there was also a baby boom, 9 months after the storm hit in New Jersey.
How ironic is that? The Monmouth Medical Center reportedly saw a thirty-five percent jump in
babies, along with two other hospitals that also saw a twenty percent increase. Another expert
states that post-storm births in 2012 after Sandy were higher than any other disasters in the past
couple of year. I guess horrific events in your life can bring you blessings as well. That is just
awesome, it just shows us that no matter what disaster we go through in life, we will survive and
make the very best out of it by repopulating 
All in all, this was a horrific event that happened; my heart goes out to all of the people
who lost their lives due to hurricane Sandy and also the individuals who were affected in the
process in some way. In all honestly, every single American was affected by this disaster,
whether you were there or not and it was up to all of us to try and help these people in need. This
was an unexpected storm, and was rated most destructive hurricane of the 2012 Atlantic
hurricane season, as well as the second costliest hurricane. Sandy was classified as one of the
eighteenth named storms, tenth deadliest hurricane, and second major hurricane of the year. This
superstorm killed at least two hundred and eighty-six innocent people in its way through seven
countries. That is not a small number, and not to mention the amount of damage that was done to
residents homes, in Cuba alone, there was fifteen-thousand homes destroyed, leaving people
homeless. I pray to god that another disaster like this does not happen again, but we are not in
control of Mother Nature, the only thing that we can do is work together to better prepare
ourselves for the next storm. We can do this a number of different ways, by preparing canned
foods, water, stabilizing your roofs and most importantly, having a storm warning system!