Twelve Years Ago – Superstorm Sandy
Twelve years ago, a category 1 hurricane made landfall near Atlantic City, leaving in its wake billions of dollars in damage and over 200 people dead.
It was the deadliest, most destructive and strongest hurricane of the 2012 season. Sandy formed October 22 in the Caribbean, strengthening to a hurricane, then eventually peaking as a category 3 storm. It made landfall in Jamaica and left 70 percent of the island without power. From there the storm moved north into the open Atlantic, then made a sharp left turn to the west towards the United States. This sharp left turn was not picked up by all-weather computer models, in fact the European model was pretty much the only one that handled this storms track well.
Sandy’s impact was devastating, and still is to this day. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie ordered all residents of barrier islands to evacuate as the storm approached. All of the casinos in Atlantic City closed as the storm moved closer. The New York Stock Exchange even closed for two days because of this storm. After all was said and done, it was reported that the storm caused 70 billion in damages, 65 billion of which was in the United States. It was also a deadly storm, killing 223 people, over 150 of those deaths were in the United States. President Obama issued an emergency declaration for the state of New Jersey following the storm. Parts of that area have yet to recover from this storm.
This storm was not the biggest or strongest storm that has ever hit the U.S., but it hit an area that doesn’t see a lot of tropical activity. It also hit a very highly populated area, leaving a big impact.