Case study: Hurricane Sandy, USA (2012)

When did Hurricane Sandy occur?

October 2012

Hurricane Sandy is the d________ hurricane to make landfall in the North East in the last __ years

Hurricane Sandy is the deadliest hurricane to make landfall in the North East in the last 40 years

What were some of the preparations for Hurricane Sandy?

• US National Guard positioned more than 61,000 National Guard personnel along the eastern seaboard 

• President Obama signed emergency declarations for five states in the northeast 

• 850,000+ people evacuated on October 28th, 2012

• temporarily shut down public transport services

What were some social impacts of Hurricane Sandy?

• at least 131 deaths across eight US states

• 233 total deaths across nine different countries 

• at least 650,000 homes destroyed

• 200,000 people left homeless in Haiti

• 8 million people without power in New Jersey and New York

• residents living on barrier Islands in New Jersey forced to evacuate

• over 100,000 homes on Long Island damaged or destroyed 

• more than 80% of Atlantic City was underwater

• 70% of people in Jamaica were left without electricity

• flooding and strong winds destroyed 15,000 homes in Cuba

• airports closed and almost 20,000 commercial flights cancelled

What were some economic impacts of Hurricane Sandy?

• economic losses in the US were estimated at $65 billion

• business interruption

• particularly severe damage in New Jersey and New York

• South Ferry subway station flooded by a 3m storm surge

• the US Stock Exchange was closed for two days

What were some political impacts of Hurricane Sandy?

• electioneering was suspended 

• President Obama gained favourable television coverage for his empathy with some of the victims/survivors

What were some of the responses to Hurricane Sandy?

• airports closed

• US Marine Corps aided the clean up effort

• new flood defences built which can double up as community spaces (e.g., a sea wall that can be used as a bench)

• deployable art walls built

• salt-tolerant plants and trees planted

• the American Red Cross supplied over 4,000 volunteers to help people affected

• the UN and World Food Programme sent relief supplies for 500,000 people in Cuba

What percentage of people perceived Hurricane Sandy as dangerous?

68.5%

Why did some people not evacuate?

• belief that the impacts would not be as bad as they were

• wanted to stay to protect their homes

• feared they would not be able to easily return to their homes

Was the hazard what people expected?

• impacts were more than expected

• perceptions were not consistent with what actually happened

Who was more vulnerable to the storm?

• the elderly

• minorities

• renters

• those in northeast Brooklyn

• those in the lower East Side of Manhattan