Hurricane Sandy - Natural Hazards Flashcards
Date
Made landfall 29th October 2012
Background
Had downgraded to a tropical storm but covered huge area
Affected areas
New Jersey and New York were the worst impacted
24 states impacted
Primary effects
> worst rainfall in a century > 111 people killed > boardwalk in Atlantic city destroyed > 1.8 million in New Jersey and New York without electricity > 600,000 home damaged or destroyed > $60 billion in damage > one crane collapsed > subway flooded
Secondary effect
> $18 billion in financial losses from closure
80 homes lost due to gas fire
fuel shortage, long queues at petrol stations
all 3 airports were shut (NY)
commuters couldn’t get to work
NY marathon was cancelled
stock exchange closed for 2 days (first time since 9/11)
East coast oil refinery destroyed
election campaigns stopped for 3 days
Short term response
> Red Cross sheltered 11,000 people
Obama declared state of emergency in NY and NJ
empty hotels were used for homeless people
Red Cross deployed 17 million meals and snacks
Red Cross donated 7 million relief items (cold weather clothing)
Americans supplied $3.5 million in medical supplies
FEMA deployed disaster managers
89 shipments of medical supplies from Direct Relief
Long term responses
> long term planning put in place
2013 law passed allowing $50 billion of federal money to be spent on repairing damage
most of money still hasn’t been spent
investigation carried out into a micro-grid system for New York stricter building codes enforced for coastal properties
new stricter building codes
money for beach regeneration (reinstitution of defences and wetlands)
long term planning for the future due to risk from climate change
social effects
> 80 homes destroyed by fires in Queens > subway was flooded > 111 died > 1 million without power > 600,000 homes were destroyed
economic effects
> 20,000 flights put on hold
$18 billion in financial losses from business closures
3 of new York’s airports closed leaving thousands stranded
stock exchange closed for 2 days
environmental effects
> worst rainfall in a century > 10m beach lost > 6-7m storm surges > 144km/hr winds > 23 fires across NY
political effects
> interrupted Obamas election campaign
