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Wednesday, October 31, 2012

After the storm: True scale of Sandy's devastation across Eastern Seaboard emerges as death toll hits FIFTY and damage set to top $50BILLION


The devastating aftermath of Superstorm Sandy began to emerge this morning as the death toll hit 50 and damage was expected to reach $50billion. As the superstorm passed over the region, startling before-and-after pictures revealed what was left of the East Coast. At first glance, New Jersey's Mantoloking Bridge appeared to be completely different highways - until it becomes clear that just one solitary house was left standing.
 Before the storm: The horizon over the Mantoloking Bridge was once dotted with row after row of Atlantic vacation homes

Before the storm: The horizon over the Mantoloking Bridge was once dotted with row after row of Atlantic vacation homes

Razed: Now the horizon in New Jersey is entirely altered following the devastating superstorm Sandy
Razed: Now the horizon in New Jersey is entirely altered following the devastating superstorm Sandy

Row after row of Atlantic vacation homes on the horizon were wiped out by the 900-mile storm following surging waters and winds which reached peaks of 95mph. The colossal scale of the devastation was mounting today as the death toll continued to rise - 50 people were dead in the wake of the storm but that number was expected to grow as rescue missions and clear-up continued. The cost was originally estimated at around $20billion but financial forecasters now expected it somewhere between $30 - $50billion of damage.
 Disaster zone: This aerial photograph shows the extent of the damage to the Breezy Point section of Queens, New York, now littered with burned-out homes

Disaster zone: This aerial photograph shows the extent of the damage to the Breezy Point section of Queens, New York, now littered with burned-out homes

Apocalyptic scene: Firemen continue to pour water on smoldering fires on Beach Blvd in Breezy Point, New York. More than 100 homes were destroyed by fire after Sandy passed directly though the area
Apocalyptic scene: Firemen continue to pour water on smoldering fires on Beach Blvd in Breezy Point, New York. More than 100 homes were destroyed by fire after Sandy passed directly though the area

Sandy will likely be among the ten costliest hurricanes in U.S. history. It would still be far below the worst - Hurricane Katrina, which cost $108 billion in 2005. Insured losses were expected to reach up to $15billion, according to NBC, before the additional toll of the damage done to uninsured buildings and infrastructure such as roads, bridges and transport systems. However experts said a slightly slower economy in the coming weeks will likely be matched by reconstruction and repairs that will contribute to growth over time.
 Completely destroyed: Fires ripped through around 130 homes on Breezy Point after the superstorm hit

Completely destroyed: Fires ripped through around 130 homes on Breezy Point after the superstorm hit

Some of those losses won't be easily made up. Restaurants that lose two or three days of business, for example, won't necessarily experience a rebound later. And money spent to repair a home may lead to less spending elsewhere. He pledged to rebuild the Jersey Shore but said that a lot of it had been washed into the sea.  Christie confirmed that six had died in the state and told residents of the Garden State to 'hang in'. He added that he didn't want to guess the cost of the damage but believed it would run into billions. 

AT LEAST 22 KILLED IN NEW YORK

There were last night 22 confirmed deaths in New York City, a day after Supertstorm Sandy tore along the East Coast. 
The city experienced the greatest number of fatalities in a disaster in which 50 people were killed. Authorities expect this number to rise as the clear-up and recovery missions continue.
Jessie Streich-Kest, 24, and Jacob Vogelman, 23 were crushed by a tree while walking their dog in Brooklyn just as the ferocious storms struck at 8pm on Monday. Their bodies were found on Tuesday morning. 
Lauren Abraham, 23, died after catching fire when she came in contact with a downed power line outside her home in Queens. She had stepped outside to take pictures of the storm, according to the New York Times, but no one was able to reach her burning body. 
A man drowned in Manhattan when the underground parking garage where he was working in TriBeCa flooded. His identity had not been released until family were informed. 
Another unidentified man was found dead in a flooded Manhattan basement.

New Jersey's barrier islands were hit directly as Sandy made landfall on Monday night and were left with colossal damage due to their exposed location on the open ocean. The gambling mecca of Atlantic City was battered by the storm with the historic boardwalk left in splinters after it was smashed by waves and torn up by the wind. The city's mayor Lorenzo Langford was denounced by Governor Christie after he advised people not to evacuate and 500 had remained in flimsy shelters, only a block from the beach.


Christie said on Monday that the decision was 'stupid and selfish’ because the precarious location of Atlantic City would place rescue workers in danger. He said: 'I feel badly for the folks in Atlantic City who listened to him and sheltered in Atlantic City, and I guess my anger has turned to sympathy for those folks, and we’re in the midst now of trying to go in and save them.' The Jersey Shore appeared completely flattened in the before-and-after shots. And in Hoboken, an entire fleet of  New York city's iconic yellow cabs were almost entirely submerged by flood waters.
 Lying in a heap: Boats cluster together at a marina in Brant Beach on Long Beach Island, New Jersey

Lying in a heap: Boats cluster together at a marina in Brant Beach on Long Beach Island, New Jersey

Submerged: An image provided by the U.S. Coast guard shows flooded homes in Tuckerton, New Jersey
Submerged: An image provided by the U.S. Coast guard shows flooded homes in Tuckerton, New Jersey

Around 120 miles to the south-west, New York City had its own pictorial record of the devastation. A ferocious fire in Breezy Point, Queens, destroyed 111 homes. The New York Fire Department battled to save houses in a neighborhood that is home to hundreds of their fellow firefighters, plunging into neck-deep water and fighting winds to reach the raging inferno. In Dumbo, Brooklyn, the painstakingly restored Jane's Carousel, which is a popular tourist attraction in the area, was badly damaged by flood waters and cut off on its own little island in Brooklyn Bridge Park.  

Sandy, one of the biggest storms ever to hit the United States, roared ashore with fierce winds and heavy rain on Monday at 8pm (EST) and forced evacuations, shut down transport and interrupted the 
presidential campaign. New York City was all but closed off by car, train and air. The superstorm overflowed the city's waterfront, flooded the financial district, subway tunnels and cut power to hundreds of thousands. Power is expected to be fully restored in Manhattan and Brooklyn within four days.
 Travel hub: The extensive damage to the subway station will take time to repair - officials are unable to estimate when it will reopen for business

Travel hub: The extensive damage to the subway station will take time to repair - officials are unable to estimate when it will reopen for business

The New York Stock Exchange will reopen for regular trading on Wednesday after being shut down for two days.Most homeowners who suffered losses from flooding won't be able to benefit from their insurance policies. Standard homeowner policies don't cover flood damage, and few homeowners have flood insurance. But Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac said they will offer help to borrowers whose homes were damaged or destroyed, who live in designated disaster areas and whose loans the mortgage giants own or guarantee.
 Tossed around like toys: Boats like crumpled in a heap in a harbour on the south shore of Staten Island

Tossed around like toys: Boats like crumpled in a heap in a harbour on the south shore of Staten Island

Among other steps, mortgage servicers will be allowed to reduce the monthly payments of affected homeowners or require no payments from them temporarily. Shipping and business travel has been suspended in areas of the Northeast. More than 15,000 flights have been grounded. On Tuesday, more than 6,000 flights were canceled, according to the flight-tracking service FlightAware. More than 500 flights scheduled for Wednesday were also canceled. The three big New York airports were closed on Tuesday. The 1,000-mile-wide storm lashed towns and cities up and down the East Coast, with cars floating down streets in New York City and the 911 system inundated with 10,000 calls every 30 minutes.

The storm cut power to more than eight million homes and shut down 70 per cent of East Coast oil refineries. It inflicted worse-than-expected damage in the New York metro area - which produces about 10 per cent of economic output in the U.S. President Obama, who will visit New Jersey tomorrow, declared the storm as a 'major disaster' as submerged streets were littered with debris and downed power lines, homes were razed and a tanker had washed ashore.

Mantoloking Bridge leads to the Jersey Shore village of Brick Township, home to more than 76,100 people. Dozens of people have been rescued from roofs of properties where areas were flooded with at least 6ft of seawater. President Obama will join New Jersey Governor Chris Christie on Wednesday for a helicopter tour of the ravaged state. At press conference on Tuesday night at 7.30pm (EST) Governor Christie said: 'It was an overwhelming afternoon for me - very emotional for a boy who was brought up in this state.'

Daily Mail UK
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