A case study on Hurricane Sandy about the impacts of the event

1. Hurricane Sandy (31st October 2012)

2. Social Impacts
• 8.2 million people live in New York
• Air traffic had to be cancelled
• The subway system had to be closed so no one could get into the City and as it was underground it was more likely to
flood
• Power Shortage affecting hospitals and food supplies
• In Haiti and Jamaica 50 people killed
• People were told to evacuate and schools were closed but some choose not too as they thought it wasn’t going to be as
bad therefore many people got trapped in their homes with no phone service but they still could connect to social media
and this is where people got help.
• Emergancy services couldn’t get to some areas of the city
• Power stations caught fire and so did neighbourhoods
• New York were able to put in place emergency procedures by they didn’t expect it to be as bad as it was

3. Environmental Impacts
• The ocean temperature was at 26-27 degrees and the gulf stream was 3 degrees hotter than normal so the storm had
more energy and power.
• Most hurricanes die out in the Atlantic where the sea is cold or when it hits land, normally the track of storms is influenced
by the Bermuda high which is an area of high air pressure and this blow Sandy towards New York.
• Forecast models predicted that it would hit New York early on
• Went up the eastern coast affecting Miami and Carolina
• It was combined with a second storm from inland to produce one big storm
• Largest Hurricane in history
• 90-100 mph wind speeds
• Places affected first- Barrier Islands, Lower Manhattan and Queens
• It was high tide and it was a full moon so even higher tide and there were storm surges
• The shape of the coastline acted like a funnel to New York
• The Hudson River bursts its banks flooding the subway systems

4. Economic Impacts
• New York Stock exchange closed so businesses were not able to trade therefore
this would affect the global economy. The wolf of wall streets power had gone
and this could have lasted a couple days before it was up and running again so
affecting the economy.
• Petrol Stations, Infrastructure, Transportation were all at risk
• In lower Manhattan there was flooding of the transport system and they shave a
lot of cables underground so power was lost.