Hurricanes: The Rise And Fall Of Hurricane Sandy

Over the past decade, the world has experienced more natural disaster than people can count. Floods, mudslides, earthquakes, and raging fires are just a few of the events that have stripped people away from their families, homes, and possessions. The deadliest of these natural disasters are hurricanes. Extremely strong winds mixed with large waves can cause enormous damage, taking months, even years for towns to recover. Hurricane Katrina left millions of people without homes and families torn apart. Hurricane Sandy demolished the Jersey coast, leaving years of repair work behind. The most recent and powerful hurricane that surfaced is Hurricane Maria. A level five hurricane, Hurricane Maria ripped straight through the United States territory of Puerto Rico. The island lost power, supplies

Recently and historically hurricanes have caused catastrophic amounts of damage to individuals, property, and society as a whole. Given this immense amount of destruction caused by hurricanes, a president’s response to these storms is not only extraordinarily significant but necessary for society to recover from the damage. Not only does the president need to provide aid and support to the victims affected directly by these hurricanes, but also unite America in these times of crisis. A president’s ability to deal with these dire situations is crucial to their success and a representation of their leadership skills. Hurricane Maria and Hurricane Sandy were both similar storms that resulted in contrasting results. Two deadly storms with two very different responses: one from Obama and the other from Trump. President Obama’s response to Hurricane Sandy was swift and respectful, while Trump’s to Maria was sluggish and demeaning to the people of Puerto Rico, demonstrating the contrast between Obama’s heart and intellect and Trump’s idiocy and heartlessness.

Both the textbook Superstorm Sandy: the Inevitable Destruction and Reconstruction of the Jersey Shore and The Business of Disaster PBS documentary discussed the effects that Superstorm Sandy had on New Jersey (and other regions, such as Staten Island and Connecticut, that were impacted), mainly residents whose homes were either severely damaged or lost altogether. Each goes into the sociological significance that an event like this has on the people that encounter it.

Hurricane Sandy started off as a small storm, but quickly grew to be a large and powerful hurricane that caused major destruction to the Caribbean islands and East Coast of the United Sates of America. On October 19, 2012, a tropical depression formed in the Caribbean Sea by Venezuela. In a matter of five days, the tropical depression gained speed and became known as Hurricane Sandy. Hurricane Sandy caused high wind speeds, rain, and even snow in all East Coast states, especially New Jersey. On October 29, 2012, Hurricane Sandy made landfall in Atlantic City, New Jersey with peak wind speeds measuring just over 220 miles per hour. At this point, people who thought that they would wait the storm out realized what a

Impact from this hurricane was quite different from many impacts seen across the southern coastlines, as the effects were quite different. This storm hit during the early stages of the winter months where are hurricanes affecting southern coastlines generally hit during summer months. Hurricane Sandy destroyed infrastructure-causing shut down of heat, power, and hot water services.

Monica Lewinsky, a former White House intern, found herself thrust into the spotlight in 1998 when news of her affair with President Bill Clinton broke. The news of the affair quickly spread, making it one of the most sensational political scandals of the 20th century. As details of the affair emerged, the scandal caused a political frenzy and public outrage. The spectacle showcased the vulnerabilities of public officials and raised several questions about ethical misconduct amongst elected authorities. More than an affair, the Lewinsky scandal unveiled societal attitudes towards morality, gender, and the media.

Hurricane Sandy was one of the most destructive hurricanes in history. In fact, it is known as the fourth-costliest hurricane in U.S. history. Indeed, Hurricane Sandy dealt 68.7 billion dollars worth of damage. In addition, nearly 30,000 jobs were lost because of Hurricane Sandy. As can be seen, Hurricane Sandy had an immediate negative impact on the economy and the damage dealt was overwhelming.

Hurricane Sandy made a devastating landfall along the coast of New Jersey (McCallum, Wicklein, Reiser, Busciolano, Morrison, Verdi, Painter & Frantz, 2012). However, the origin of the hurricane was quite removed from that location. The core instigation of Hurricane Sandy originated off of the west coast of Africa in the southwestern Caribbean Sea. It started off rather weak, a category one on the Saffir-Simpson’s scale. The storm became a stronger category three as it moved towards the island of Cuba, and then weakened to a category one again as it traveled north through the Bahamas. On the journey from the Bahamas to the

In late October of 2012 many weather factors converged to create Hurricane Sandy, a huge storm with winds gusting up to 90 miles per hour. This hurricane was unprecedented in modern times, arriving late in the hurricane season, making landfall abnormally far to the north on the United States east coast with an exceptionally low pressure and a record breaking storm surge. Sandy also had among the most kinetic energy of all tropical cyclones on record at 222 Joules, more energy than category 5 hurricanes, despite just being category 1 because of the large area over which she spread.

After Hurricane Sandy there was a bunch of damage done to theses states : Jamaica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Bahamas, and the U.S. (“Superstorm Sandy”). “The hurricane left an estimated 200,000 people without shelter” (“Superstorm Sandy”). The property damage was an estimate from between $30-$50 billion (“Superstorm Sandy’’). Many people had no home for a long time nothing to come home to or

Hurricane Irma was an extremely powerful and catastrophic Cape Verde-type hurricane, the strongest on record in the Atlantic region. Hurricanes are very terrifying and dangerous. They can destroy pretty much anything, it was about 425 miles long. It began around August 30 near Cape Verde Islands, In Florida keys it started to reach Florida on September 9, 2017. The average wind speed was 185 mph, that is recorded the longest because it stayed the same for 37 hours.

Immediately following Hurricane Sandy, the damages done to the transportation infrastructure included approximately 600 million gallons of water that penetrated the mass transit system and critical inter-city roads. States along the eastern seaboard were impacted from Florida to Maine, with the most destruction occurring in New Jersey and New York. Prior to landfall, pre-storm emergency declarations were issued for Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, and West Virginia to facilitate preparation. Following the storm, major disaster declarations were issued for Connecticut, New York, New Jersey followed by Rhode Island, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia, and New Hampshire.

There is an estimate of $50 billion in damages according to David Abramson in Hurricane Sandy: Lessons Learned, Again (Abramson, 1). In the effort to restore some that was destroyed, government agencies were set out to help. “As of July 2013 FEMA and the Small Business Administration (SBA) had helped more then 270,000 individuals or households and 3,900 businesses to get back on their feet through $3.8 billion in SBA recovery loans and FEMA individual assistance.” (US Department of Housing and Urban Development) The repercussion of this storm could’ve been prevented with better preparation behaviors. In an article from The Nations Health, Natalie McGill talks about those living in public housing and shelters during the storm. She describes how residents in shelters went without main necessities such as electricity and food for weeks after the storm (McGill, 2014). In another article Nancy Solomon describes a family from Long Island whose bay house was completely destroyed by Sandy yet she was gratified to see that process was being made. (Solomon, 2016) So although not all affected by the storm feel abandoned by the efforts of the government it is a pressing issue for a majority that

In the United States, Hurricane Sandy affected at least 24 states, from Florida to Maine and west to Michigan and Wisconsin, with particularly severe damage in New Jersey and New York. Its storm surge hit New York City on October 29, flooding streets, tunnels and subway lines and cutting power in and around the city. It is having various political effects in the United States especially in terms of the general election scheduled for November 6, 2012. Hurricane Sandy developed at 1500 UTC on October 22, when the National Hurricane Center initiated advisories on Tropical Depression Eighteen to the south of Kingston, Jamaica. The system developed from an area of low pressure and had organized convection. It moved slowly at first due to a ridge to the north. Low wind shear and warm waters allowed for strengthening, and the system became Tropical Storm Sandy late on October 22. Early on October 24, an eye began developing, and it was moving steadily northward due to an approaching trough. Later that day, the NHC upgraded Sandy to hurricane status about 65 mi south of Kingston, Jamaica. At about 1900 UTC that day, Sandy made landfall near Kingston with winds of about 80 mph. Just offshore Cuba, Sandy rapidly intensified to winds of 110 mph, and at that intensity it made landfall just west of Santiago de Cuba at 0525 UTC on October 25.

In my opinion, the low-and middle-income homeowners affected by Hurricane Sandy should receive subsidized coastal flood insurance so they can continue to live along the shore. People deserve to receive this flood insurance because according to Ed Beeson and Erin O'Neill (2013), before the Hurricane Sandy occurred, The Federal Emergency Management Agency begun to eliminate the allowance for flood insurance, so homeowners will start to pay more for flood insurance. It is not fair to people to increase their amount of premium for the flood insurance. As mentioned in the article, " [homeowners] will face 25 percent rate increases every year until their premiums reflect the full risk of flooding" (Beeson & O'Neill, 2013). Not everyone is able to