Hurricane Sandy (18L) – October 31st, 2012
The remnants of Hurricane Sandy (18L) can be observed over the USA in this image, stretching from the south to the northeast to the midwest. Many states were impacted by the storms.
High winds and waves washed sand onto coastal roads in southeastern Florida. The storm left power outages across the region. North Carolina was spared from major damage through the late evening hours of October 28, though winds, rain, and inland snow could affect the state through October 30. Several highways were flooded, and a state of emergency was declared in 24 western counties due to snow and strong winds.
On October 29, snow was falling in parts of the state of Virginia. Virginia was awarded a federal disaster declaration. At Sandy’s peak, 200,000 customers were without power, and in Northern Virginia where most of the outages occurred 92,000 customers were still without power on 30 October; the local utility intended to restore full service by 1 November.
West Virginia was also declared a federal disaster area, due to abnormally heavy snowfall. In Kentucky, the most impacted area was the Eastern region of the state where as much as eight inches of snow fell as Sandy merged with a cold front.
In Maryland, at least 100 feet of a fishing pier at the beach resort of Ocean City was destroyed. Several bridges were closed, and I-68 in far western Maryland and northern West Virginia closed due to impassable roads from heavy snow. Multiple vehicles are stranded on the interstate and the National Guard was sent out to help. Workers in Howard County, Maryland tried to stop a sewage overflow caused by a power outage October 30. Raw sewage spilled at a rate of 2 million gallons per hour. It was unclear how much sewage had flowed into the Little Patuxent River.
In Delaware, which was also declared a federal disaster area, rainfall at Rehoboth Beach totaled 6.53 inches inches by early afternoon, with nearly 7 inches at Indian River Inlet and more than 4 inches in Dover and Bear. At 4 p.m., Delmarva Power reported on its website that more than 13,900 customers in Delaware and Maryland’s Eastern Shore had lost electric service as high winds brought down trees and power lines. Delaware Route 1 is now closed by flooding from Dewey Beach to Fenwick Island.
In New Jersey, a 50-foot piece of the Atlantic City Boardwalk washed away. Half the city of Hoboken is flooded. In the early morning of October 30, authorities in Bergen County, New Jersey, are evacuating residents after a berm overflowed and flooded several communities. Police Chief of Staff Jeanne Baratta says there are up to 5 feet of water in the streets of Moonachie and Little Ferry.
In Pennsylvania, several bridges and highways were closed, and more than 1.2 million were left without power as a result of the storm. Storm impacts in Upstate New York were much more limited than in New York City; there was some flooding and a few downed trees. Large portions of the Manhattan borough of New York City were without electricity. The East River over flowed its banks, flooding large sections of Lower Manhattan. Battery Park had a water surge of 13.88 ft. Seven subway tunnels under the East River were flooded as of October 30. Sea water flooded the Ground Zero construction site.
Over 385,000 customers in Massachusetts were without power as of the afternoon of October 29, and flooding of roadways and buildings was reported. In New Hampshire, over 200,000 customers were without power as of late Monday, October 29. In Rhode Island, over 100,000 customers lost power during the storm. In Ohio, on October 30, at least 247,000 in northeast Ohio were without power, mostly in the Cleveland area. In Michigan, more than 120,000 customers were without power at one point, but as of 9 p.m. Tuesday, only 45,000 are still without power. The National Weather Service said that waves up to 23 feet high were reported on southern Lake Huron.
