Hurricane Sandy: The Superstorm

 

After cutting a destructive path through the Caribbean, Hurricane Sandy caused extensive damage along the East Coast this week. Sandy made landfall in southern New Jersey and brought with it major flooding, travel disruption, structural damage, and power outages. New York City was especially hard hit. The storm system was so large ­-- nearly 1,000 miles wide at times -- it brought blizzard conditions to West Virginia and 20 foot waves to Lake Michigan. It is projected Sandy will have caused about $30 billion in damages in the United States. To date, the storm claimed more than 100 lives. -- Lloyd Young ( 57 photos total)

 

Flooded homes in Tuckerton, N.J., on Oct. 30 after Hurricane Sandy made landfall on the southern New Jersey coastline on Oct. 29. (US Coast Guard via AFP/Getty Images)

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Cars floating in a flooded subterranean basement following Hurricane Sandy on Oct. 30 in the Financial District of New York City. The storm has caused massive flooding across much of the Atlantic seaboard. President Barack Obama has declared the situation a 'major disaster' for large areas of the US East Coast including New York City. (Andrew Burton/Getty Images) #

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A resident looks over the remains of burned homes in the Breezy Point neighborhood of New York City on Oct. 30. Millions of people across the eastern United States awoke on Tuesday to scenes of destruction wrought by monster storm Sandy, which knocked out power to huge swathes of the nation's most densely populated region, swamped New York City's subway system and submerged streets in Manhattan's financial district. (Keith Bedford/Reuters) #

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Sveinn Storm, owner of Storm Bros. Ice Cream Factory measures the flood waters outside his store in Annapolis, Md., on Oct. 30 in the aftermath of superstorm Sandy that passed through the East Coast. (Susan Walsh/Associated Press) #

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People are evacuated from a neighborhood in Little Ferry, N.J., one day after Hurricane Sandy slammed the East Coast. (Mehdi Taamallah/AFP/Getty Images) #

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Zoe Jurusik (20) paddle-boards down a flooded city street in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in Bethany Beach, Del., on Oct. 30. Millions of people were left reeling in the aftermath of monster storm Sandy on Tuesday as New York City and a wide swathe of the eastern United States struggled with epic flooding and massive power outages. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters) #

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US Route 30, the White Horse Pike, one of three major approaches to Atlantic City, N.J., is covered with water from Absecon Bay in this view looking west, during the approach of Hurricane Sandy on Oct. 29. Hurricane Sandy began battering the US East Coast on Monday with fierce winds and driving rain, as the monster storm shut down transportation, shuttered businesses and sent thousands scrambling for higher ground hours before the worst was due to strike. (Tom Mihalek/Reuters) #

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A parking lot full of yellow cabs is flooded on Oct. 30 as a result of superstorm Sandy in Hoboken, N.J. (Charles Sykes/Associated Press) #

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Boats cluster together at a marina in Brant Beach, on Long Beach Island of the New Jersey shore a day after superstorm Sandy blew across the New Jersey barrier islands on Oct 29. (Clem Murray/Philadelphia Inquirer via Associated Press) #

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Debris floats around a house pushed off its foundation in the aftermath of superstorm Sandy in East Haven, Conn., on Oct. 30. Sandy, the storm that made landfall Monday, caused multiple fatalities, halted mass transit and cut power to more than 6 million homes and businesses. (Jessica Hill/Associated Press) #

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The darkened skyline of Manhattan is seen on Oct. 30 one day after Hurricane Sandy hit. Life ground to a virtual halt in parts of southern Manhattan still without power, but many New Yorkers seemed to be taking the damage wrought by Hurricane Sandy in stride. (Mehdi Taamallah/AFP/Getty Images) #

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Water rushes into the Carey Tunnel (previously the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel), caused by Hurricane Sandy on Oct. 29 in the Financial District of New York City. (Andrew Burton/Getty Images) #

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Medical workers assist a patient into an ambulance during an evacuation of New York City University's Tisch Hospital on Oct. 29. The New York City hospital is moving out more than 200 patients after its backup generator failed when the power was knocked out by the storm. (John Minchillo/Associated Press) #

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Hospital workers evacuate patient Deborah Dadlani from NYU Langone Medical Center during Hurricane Sandy the evening of Oct. 29 in New York City. More than 200 patients were evacuated from the hospital after backup generators failed due to flooding following a power outage. (Michael Heiman/Getty Images) #

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Residents, lit by police vehicles, stand outside their homes during a power outage in Lower Manhattan on Oct. 29. (Adrees Latif/Reuters) #

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Manager, Devin Vilardi, wears a headlamp while doing paperwork at Professor Thom's bar, that is still serving drinks even though they have no power, in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in New York City on Oct. 30. Millions of people faced epic flooding and lengthy power outages on after the massive storm Sandy wreaked havoc in much of the eastern United States with high winds and heavy rains. (Brendan McDermid/Reuters) #

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Hurricane Sandy is seen churning over the Bahamas in this NASA handout satellite image taken on Oct. 25. (NASA) #

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A photograph floats just below the surface of a flooded street in the aftermath of superstorm Sandy on Oct. 30 in Massapequa, N.Y. (Jason DeCrow/Associated Press) #

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The HMS Bounty, a 180-foot sailboat, is shown submerged in the Atlantic Ocean during Hurricane Sandy approximately 90 miles southeast of Hatteras, N.C., on Oct. 29. Of the 16-person crew, the Coast Guard rescued 14, recovered a woman and is searching for the captain of the vessel. (US Coast Guard via Reuters) #

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An ambulance is stuck in over a foot of snow off Highway 33 West, near Belington, W.Va., on Oct. 30. Superstorm Sandy buried parts of West Virginia under more than a foot of snow cutting power to at least 264,000 customers and closing dozens of roads. (Robert Ray/Associated Press) #

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Brannen Hinerman (19) hangs on for dear life as buddy James Turner goes airborne on suicide hill at Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C., on Oct. 30. The North Carolina mountains got a taste of winter as superstorm Sandy brought high winds, freezing temperatures and several inches of snow to the mountains. (Chuck Liddy/The Charlotte Observer via Associated Press) #

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A visitor in a bathrobe does a cartwheel in the rain while visiting Times Square in New York City on Oct. 29. As Hurricane Sandy aimed straight for them, promising to hammer the place they live with lashing winds and extensive flooding, New Yorkers seemed to be all about nonchalance on Monday morning, an attitude that didn't last into the afternoon. (Adrees Latif/Reuters) #

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A girl jumps off the porch of a cottage along Roy Carpenter's Beach that was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy in Matunuck, R.I., on Oct. 30. Millions of people across the eastern United States awoke on Tuesday to scenes of destruction wrought by monster storm Sandy, which knocked out power to huge swathes of the nation's most densely populated region. (Jessica Rinaldi/Reuters) #

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Glenn Heartley pulls on a rope attached to his car in preparation for getting it towed from a creek in Chincoteague, Va., on Oct. 30. Heartley and his wife were swept off the road into the shallow creek during superstorm Sandy's arrival. (Steve Helber/Associated Press) #

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A worker steadies the bow of a boat prior to its removal from the water for safekeeping at Ponquogue Marine Basin in preparation for the arrival of Hurricane Sandy in Hampton Bays, N.Y., on Oct. 28. (Lucas Jackson/Reuters) #

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A man shops for groceries by flashlight at an East Village grocery store in New York City on Oct. 30 as New Yorkers cope with the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. The storm left large parts of New York City without power and transportation. (Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images) #

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Repair crew members of Delmarva Power replace a power pole on Oct. 30 which was damaged during Hurricane Sandy in Ocean City, Md. The storm has claimed at least 33 lives in the United States, and has caused massive flooding across much of the Atlantic seaboard. President Barack Obama has declared the situation a "major disaster" for large areas of the US east coast, including New York City, with widespread power outages and significant flooding in parts of the city. (Alex Wong/Getty Images) #

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Two boys run down Foster Avenue while dodging high winds and waves from the effects of Hurricane Sandy in Marshfield, Mass., on Oct. 29. (Scott Eisen/Reuters) #

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A man takes a picture of the John B. Caddell, a 700-ton tanker that washed up on the shore of Staten Island in New York City during a storm surge caused by Hurricane Sandy, on Oct. 30. The death toll from superstorm Sandy has risen to 35 in the United States and Canada, and was expected to climb further as several people remained missing, officials said. (Mehdi Taamallah/AFP/Getty Images) #

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The Empire State Building towers in the background of an apartment buliding in Chelsea, New York City, with the facade broken off Oct. 30, the morning after Hurricane Sandy hit. (Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images) #

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This aerial photo on Oct. 30 shows burned-out homes in the Breezy Point section of the Queens borough of New York City. The tiny beachfront neighborhood told to evacuate before Sandy hit New York City burned down as it was inundated by floodwaters, transforming a quaint corner of the Rockaways into a smoke-filled debris field. (Mike Groll/Associated Press) #

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People walk on a street littered with debris after Hurricane Sandy hit Santiago de Cuba on Oct. 26. The Cuban government said on Thursday night that 11 people died when the storm barrelled across the island, most killed by falling trees or in building collapses in Santiago de Cuba province and neighboring Guantanamo province. (Desmond Boylan/Reuters) #

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A woman cries out in front of her flooded house caused by heavy rains from Hurricane Sandy in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Oct. 25. Hurricane Sandy rumbled across mountainous eastern Cuba and headed toward the Bahamas on Thursday as a Category 2 storm, bringing heavy rains and blistering winds. (Dieu Nalio Chery/Associated Press) #

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People sit on the rooftop of houses submerged in floodwaters in the neighborhood of Barquita, after days of heavy rain in Santo Domingo, on Oct. 26. Hurricane Sandy, a late-season Atlantic storm unlike anything seen in more than two decades, slogged slowly toward the US East Coast on Friday after killing at least 41 people as it cut across the Caribbean. (Ricardo Rojas/Reuters) #

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Residents are rescued by emergency personnel from flood waters brought on by Hurricane Sandy in Little Ferry, N.J., on Oct. 30. Millions of people across the eastern United States awoke on Tuesday to scenes of destruction wrought by monster storm Sandy, which knocked out power to huge swathes of the nation's most densely populated region, swamped New York City's subway system and submerged streets in Manhattan's financial district. (Adam Hunger/Reuters) #

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People stand on a mound of construction dirt on Oct. 30 to view the area where a 2000-foot section of the "uptown" boardwalk was destroyed by flooding from Hurricane Sandy in Atlantic City, N.J. (Mario Tama/Getty Images) #

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A man walks away from a building that has been surrounded by water pushed up by Hurricane Sandy in Bellport, N.Y., on Oct. 30. (Lucas Jackson/Reuters) #

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A truck drives through water pushed over a road by Hurricane Sandy in Southampton, N.Y. on Oct. 29. Hurricane Sandy, the monster storm bearing down on the East Coast, strengthened on Monday after hundreds of thousands moved to higher ground, public transport shut down and the stock market suffered its first weather-related closure in 27 years. (Lucas Jackson/Reuters) #

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A pedestrian touches a fallen tree that crushed a parked car on East 7th Street in Manhattan's Lower East Side neighborhood on Oct. 30 in New York City. The city awakened Tuesday to a flooded subway system, shuttered financial markets and hundreds of thousands of people without power a day after a wall of seawater and high winds slammed into the city, destroying buildings and flooding tunnels. (John Minchillo/Associated Press) #

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A woman arrives at Seward Park High School, which is doubling as an evacuation center for Hurricane Sandy, on Oct. 28 in New York City. (Andrew Burton/Getty Images) #

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Timothy O'Hara practices kick boxing with his five-year-old son Isaiah as his wife April watches from a make-shift bed while their daughters Nehemiah and Tiana play at a shelter in the Milford Middle School gymnasium in Milford, Del., on Oct. 28 after they were evacuated from their home in Rehoboth Beach due to Hurricane Sandy's imminent landfall in the area. (Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images) #

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Esther Owolabi (left) and Gustavo Grande sit stranded at Logan Airport in Boston, Mass., on Oct. 29. Owolabi flew from Chicago to Boston to take a bus to D.C. because all flights were cancelled. Grande had a flight to San Francisco that was cancelled until Friday. (Kayana Szymczak/The Boston Globe) #

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Only a few bread items remain on the shelves at the Waldbaums grocery store as Hurricane Sandy approaches on Oct. 28 in Long Beach, N.Y. (Mike Stobe/Getty Images) #

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Water floods the Plaza Shops in the wake of Hurricane Sandy on Oct. 30 in Manhattan. The storm has claimed at least 16 lives in the United States, and has caused massive flooding across much of the Atlantic seaboard. (Allison Joyce/Getty Images) #

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A storm surge hits a small tree as winds from Hurricane Sandy reach Seaside Park in Bridgeport, Conn., on Oct. 29. Water from Long Island Sound spilled into roadways and towns along the Connecticut shoreline Monday, the first signs of flooding from a storm that threatens to deliver a devastating surge of seawater. (Jessica Hill.Associated Press) #

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Waves pound a lighthouse on the shores of Lake Erie on Oct. 30 near Cleveland, Ohio. High winds spinning off the edge of superstorm Sandy took a vicious swipe at northeast Ohio early Tuesday, uprooting trees, cutting power to hundreds of thousands, closing schools and flooding parts of major commuter arteries that run along Lake Erie. (Tony Dejak/Associated Press) #

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People brave high winds and blowing sand as they watch the rising surf at Coney Island Beach in the Brooklyn borough of New York City as Hurricane Sandy arrives on Oct. 29. Hurricane Sandy continued on its path Monday, as the storm forced the shutdown of mass transit, schools and financial markets, sending coastal residents fleeing, and threatening a dangerous mix of high winds and soaking rain. (Mark Lennihan/Associated Press) #

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Deputy Cliff Tice, of the Dare County Sheriff's Department, walks down damaged and impassable NC 12 leading into Mirlo Beach in Rodanthe, N.C., on Oct. 30. People on North Carolina's Outer Banks are facing some flooding and damage from Hurricane Sandy, but emergency management officials say it could have been worse. (Steve Earley/The Virginian-Pilot via Associated Press) #

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A worker cut a downed tree that fell on a road during the the early stages of Hurricane Sandy on Oct. 29 in Old Orchard Beach, Maine. Hurricane Sandy continued on its path Monday, as the storm forced the shutdown of mass transit, schools and financial markets, sending coastal residents fleeing, and threatening a dangerous mix of high winds and soaking rain. (Robert F. Bukaty/Associated Press) #

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Christopher Hannafin, of South Kingstown, R.I., enters a friend's cottage through a window to salvage belongings from the structure destroyed by superstorm Sandy, on Roy Carpenter's Beach, in the village of Matunuck, in South Kingstown on Oct. 30. (Steven Senne/Associated Press) #

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Martha Hiatt gathers sand bags at the Belle Harbor section of Rockaway beach in the Queens borough of New York City on Oct. 28 in preperation for the arrival of Hurricane Sandy. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters) #

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A man secures the lines on a boat in Woods Hole, Mass., on Oct 29 during Hurricane Sandy. (Bill Greene/The Boston Globe) #

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A woman walks past a house collapsed by superstorm Sandy in East Haven, Conn., on Oct. 30. (Jessica Hill/Associated Press) #

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Sand marks the floodwater line on the side of a house in the aftermath of superstorm Sandy on Oct. 30 in Long Beach, N.Y. Sandy, the storm that made landfall Monday, caused multiple fatalities, halted mass transit and cut power to more than 6 million homes and businesses. (Jason DeCrow/Associated Press) #

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The Kunta Kinte-Alex Haley memorial sits in flood waters in downtown Annapolis, Md., on Oct. 30 after the superstorm and the remnants of Hurricane Sandy passed through Annapolis. (Susan Walsh/Associated Press) #

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Brian Hajeski (41) of Brick, N.J., reacts as he looks at debris of a home that washed up on to the Mantoloking Bridge the morning after superstorm Sandy rolled through on Oct. 29 in Mantoloking, N.J. Sandy, the storm that made landfall Monday, caused multiple fatalities, halted mass transit and cut power to more than 6 million homes and businesses. (Associated Press Photo/Julio Cortez) #

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A rainbow is seen among homes devastated by the effects of Hurricane Sandy at the Breezy Point section of the Queens borough of New York City on Oct. 30. Millions of people across the eastern United States awoke on Tuesday to scenes of destruction wrought by monster storm Sandy, which knocked out power to huge swathes of the nation's most densely populated region, swamped New York City's subway system and submerged streets in Manhattan's financial district. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters) #