During the 2012 north Atlantic hurricane season the east coast of the United States was devastated by the onslaught of Hurricane Sandy. The initial reports, on 22nd October, 2012, of a tropical wave down in the western Caribbean Sea quickly escalated to a case of reclassification, as the storm intensified. Within hours it was renamed as Tropical Storm Sandy, but a mere six hours later it had moved northward. On 24th October, all eyes were on the growing storm happening in the area around Jamaica and by the 25th October it hit the Cuban coast as a category three hurricane.
At that point there was still no real reason for concern. Meteorologists were unable to accurately predict its path, but within hours again, they quickly concluded that it could easily head for the southern end of Florida and weaken as it hit the upper part of the east coast of the United States. Again, Sandy strengthened and was reclassified, yet again, as a category one hurricane. Suddenly curving to the north west, it became evident that Sandy was in danger of having a massive hit to the entire east coast and sure enough, upon touchdown a total twenty four states were severely affected. By the time Sandy had disbursed into the north Atlantic New Jersey and the surrounding areas were licking their wounds as the devastation became ever more clear. Despite the preparations that all the east coast state had made it was not nearly enough to protect everything and it is estimated that over seventy one billion dollars in damages were caused.
Affecting the Buildings and Businesses
Buildings were strewn down, the clean-up operation was to take months to complete and the results were that many homes and businesses were totally ruined. The Jersey Shore has declared that it would open on time for business, as hoped. Awnings Nassau County were torn from their fixings, roofs were sent miles away on the extreme winds and buildings were raised to the ground as the storm had intensified. The storm also highlighted many issues with the aging infrastructure of the American electricity network, as well as the strength of some bridges and roadways that suffered terribly as a result of the storm.
The American Red Cross had four thousand relief workers scattered across the affected areas, helping to clean up, get food to the masses, and hand out water to help the locals. Almost seven thousand people spent the first night in the emergencies centers around the region and some returned to their homes the next day to find them completely gone.
