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
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
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
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
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
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
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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