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Superstorm Sandy Could Cost as Much a $33B … In New York Alone

Nov. 8, 2012 7:27pm

NY Governor Cuomo Says Damage from Hurricane Sandy Could top $30 BillionNew York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (AP)

New York (TheBlaze/AP) — Damage in New York state from Superstorm Sandy could total $33 billion when all is said and done, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Thursday as the state began cleaning up from a nor’easter that dumped snow, brought down power lines and left hundreds of thousands of new customers in darkness.

A damage forecasting firm had previously estimated that Sandy might have caused $30 billion to $50 billion in economic losses from the Carolinas to Maine, including property damage, lost business and extra living expenses. Cuomo’s estimate will likely push the bill even higher.

A damage estimate of even $50 billion total would make Sandy the second most expensive storm in U.S. history, right behind Hurricane Katrina. Sandy inundated parts of New York City and New Jersey with a storm surge as high as 14 feet, killed more than 100 people and left more than 8.5 million people without power at its peak.

Sandy left more people in the dark than any previous storm, the Department of Energy has said, and it left drivers desperate for gas when it complicated fuel deliveries.

NY Governor Cuomo Says Damage from Hurricane Sandy Could top $30 BillionA damaged home tilts to one side along the beach in the Belle Harbor section of the borough of Queens, New York, in the wake of Superstorm Sandy (AP)

“We are going to have to look at a ground-up redesign,” Cuomo said of the power and fuel supply systems. “With power outages, you paralyze the nation, and chaos ensues.”

In particular, Cuomo noted New York City’s problems, largely due to the surge of seawater that inundated utilities lying 15 to 20 stories below ground.

“That’s a brilliant engineering masterpiece, yes, but if Manhattan floods, you flood all that infrastructure,” he said. “We don’t even have a way to pump it out.”

After tight gasoline supplies led to long lines and frustration at filling stations, officials in the city and on Long Island said Thursday that rationing will be implemented starting Friday. Drivers will alternate days they can fill up, based on whether their license plates end in an odd or even number.

On Thursday, a nor’easter that stymied recovery efforts from Sandy pulled away from New York and New Jersey, leaving hundreds of thousands of new people in darkness but failing to swamp shorelines anew, as feared.

Residents from Connecticut to Rhode Island saw 3 to 6 inches of snow on Wednesday. Worcester, Mass., had 8 inches of snow, and Freehold, N.J., had just over a foot overnight. Some parts of Connecticut got a foot or more.

From Brooklyn to storm-battered sections of the Jersey shore and Connecticut, about 750,000 customers — more than 200,000 from the new storm — in the region were without power in temperatures near freezing, some after already living for days in the dark.

NY Governor Cuomo Says Damage from Hurricane Sandy Could top $30 BillionA man photographs damage caused by a fire in the Belle Harbor neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens on Tuesday (AP)

“We lost power last week, just got it back for a day or two, and now we lost it again,” said John Monticello, of Point Pleasant Beach, N.J. “Every day it’s the same now: turn on the gas burner for heat. Instant coffee. Use the iPad to find out what’s going on in the rest of the world.”

Vladimir Repnin, of New York City’s Staten Island, emerged from his powerless home with a snow shovel in his hand, a cigarette in his mouth and a question from someone cut off from the outside world.

“Who won? Obama?” he asked.

He didn’t like the answer.

“The Democrats ruined my business,” he said, referring to his shuttered clothing manufacturing firm.

Unlike other holdouts who got by with generators or gas stoves, the 63-year-old from Ukraine has been without power since Sandy brought 8 feet of water through his door and his neighbor’s deck into his yard. He tried to beat the cold Wednesday night by sleeping with his Yorkie, Kuzya, and cat, Channel.

“I had the dog right here,” he said, pointing to his left side, “and the cat on my chest. It was still too cold, but I cannot leave my house.”

Throughout Staten Island’s beach area, the storm had blanketed growing piles of debris with several inches of snow. By mid-morning, it was starting to melt, filling the streets with filthy sludge.

NY Governor Cuomo Says Damage from Hurricane Sandy Could top $30 BillionA damaged flag stands among the remnants of the boardwalk on Rockaway Beach the damage caused during hurricane Sandy, Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2012, in the Queens borough of New York (AP)

Airlines canceled hundreds of flights before and during the new storm. On Thursday, there were about 600 canceled, according to flight tracking service FlightAware, mostly in the New York area.

But roads in New Jersey and New York City were clear for the morning commute, and rail lines into New York were running smoothly so far, despite snow still coming down heavily in some areas.

The Queens-Midtown Tunnel, a vital vehicular route linking Manhattan to the city borough of Queens and the rest of Long Island, is reopening Friday after being swamped by Sandy, Cuomo said.

Under ordinary circumstances, a storm of this sort wouldn’t be a big deal. But large swaths of the landscape were still an open wound, with the electrical system highly fragile and many of Sandy’s victims still mucking out their homes and cars and shivering in the deepening cold. As the storm picked up Wednesday evening, lights started flickering off again.

The additional power outages could stall recovery efforts, even though utility companies had prepared, adding extra crews ahead of the nor’easter.

In New Jersey, there were about 400,000 power outages early Thursday; 150,000 of those were new. In New York City and Westchester, more than 70,000 customers were without power after the storm knocked out an additional 55,000 customers.

NY Governor Cuomo Says Damage from Hurricane Sandy Could top $30 BillionHundreds of people wait in line for a food distribution at Surf Avenue and 25th Street on Friday, Nov. 2, 2012 in Coney Island, in the Brooklyn borough of New York (AP)

For Consolidated Edison, the extra outages were dealt with swiftly, so there were only about 3,000 additional customers without power from the total Wednesday of 67,000.

“I think we’re going to be able to power through. Our objective was to get power restored to everyone by the weekend and we’re still working with that goal,” said Alfonso Quiroz, a spokesman for the utility.

Temperatures over the next few days will be in the 50s in southern New England, said meteorologist Frank Nocera, and on Sunday it could edge into the 60s.

Meanwhile, over at MSNBC:

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All Photos courtesy the AP.

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Comments (61)

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  • DontCry
    Posted on November 9, 2012 at 8:55am

    Glad there are food lines for these people. Too bad that the lines were 50 times longer during the election. And good thing the people fought through the attempt at voter suppression to vote for Obama, so that the extremist right wingers can do nothing but scream racial hatred, and fear for all on their favorite web site.

    Report this comment

    DontCry  
    • Southerner01
      Posted on November 9, 2012 at 10:58am

      Chris Matthews is the one who said he was glad the hurricane happened, because it helped Obama win. Seems pretty extremist to me.

      Report this comment

      Southerner01  
  • DontCry
    Posted on November 9, 2012 at 8:51am

    Half of these right wing, racist extremists that are laughing at NY are probably the same ones that received government help in their middle america hick towns when tornado’s tear up their trailer parks once or twice a year.

    Report this comment

    DontCry  
  • DontCry
    Posted on November 9, 2012 at 8:47am

    Why spend 35 Billion on a natural disaster, when you could spend a trillion dollars on a man made disaster like the war in Iraq. Makes one wonder, doesn’t it?

    Report this comment

    DontCry  
    • mgh999
      Posted on November 11, 2012 at 9:50am

      Actually, they did find WMDs in Iraq. Not the troves once suspected, but all it takes is one chemical agent in the hands of a terrorist.

      And Iraq did a great job (to scare it’s people into submission) of maintaining all the appearance of an active WMD program.

      But that doesn’t matter since I will assume you’ll blame Sandy on Bush too.

      Report this comment

      mgh999  
  • DontCry
    Posted on November 9, 2012 at 8:41am

    So this huge disaster will cost NY about 3 months worth of war in Iraq. And why were we in Iraq? Way to go Bush. You’ve found yet another way to make worse, and already horrible natural disaster. Even when out of office, your stench lingers on.

    Report this comment

    DontCry  
  • sbenard
    Posted on November 9, 2012 at 8:04am

    Dr. John Hussman predicted that this storm will cause a -1.5% drop in GDP. We’ll be in recession by Q1 2013 — just 50 days away.
    Prepare for the debt bomb. It will hit next year.
    Stock futures down sharply again this morning before NYSE opens. Expect another losing day for stocks!

    Report this comment

    sbenard  
    • DontCry
      Posted on November 9, 2012 at 8:43am

      Good thing stocks are still almost double what they were when Bush had control. Thank the Lord we have someone in office that won’t crash us below 8000. Wheeeeew.

      Report this comment

      DontCry  
    • Zipit
      Posted on November 9, 2012 at 10:44am

      Don’t cry DONTCRY! Your already tiresome posts simply reflect the lack of responsibility, self imposed ignorance, and ability to do nothing but blame someone else, that define you as a modern liberal. It’s anazing someone does not have to feed you with a spoon every morning to make you happy! Or do they?

      Report this comment

      Zipit  
    • JRook
      Posted on November 9, 2012 at 11:13am

      well lets hope that beckett here keeps tabs on the insurance companies and how they take care of their policy holders and customers ….. that will be the real story here.

      Report this comment

      JRook  
  • mary12153
    Posted on November 9, 2012 at 7:15am

    Hummmm…. having trouble mustering sympathy for all the 1%?

    Report this comment

    mary12153  
  • justa_thought
    Posted on November 9, 2012 at 12:09am

    And, Id like to thank… and Id like to thank…. and Id like to thank… and he would like to thank me and I would like to thank him and we would like to thank you and you love us and we love you and vote for obama… and pay your union dues…

    Report this comment

    justa_thought  
  • justa_thought
    Posted on November 9, 2012 at 12:08am

    I wonder how Bush was able to pull that off. And what union did the storm belong to?

    Report this comment

    justa_thought  
  • wontyouguessmyname
    Posted on November 8, 2012 at 11:34pm

    EPA BRING YOUR WRATH UPON THEM …. Let them not build or rebuild it would create economic growth and we don’t want that to happen….Oh save us enviros…. we are to stupid to know not to live on a beach. We need super govt legislation the earth is warming…..

    Report this comment

     
    • kindling
      Posted on November 9, 2012 at 12:07am

      Up in the Sacramento area there are homes built in flood areas and they get destroyed every now and then. How stupid is it to build in an area that gets cleaned out like this? How stupid are we as tax payers to fund the rebuilding of these homes. Let their home owners insurance pay for it. Bet they don’t.

      Report this comment

      kindling  
  • BoycotttheBlue
    Posted on November 8, 2012 at 11:31pm

    Funny that not one person that came to help us during Katrina was turned away. Do they seriously expect sympathy when they have turned away help from Alabama and Food from Tennessee??? Oh wait….it was our neighbors that came to help us…… interesting…… we weren’t waiting for someone to come.

    Report this comment

    BoycotttheBlue  
  • dylan
    Posted on November 8, 2012 at 8:56pm

    Not to worry New York!! The ‘One’ you adore and you nanny mayor will come through for you…..in the end.

    Report this comment

    dylan  
  • Battlefieldborn
    Posted on November 8, 2012 at 8:19pm

    Just abit south of Baton Rouge LA, when Katrina hit I had 13 other people (family and their neighbors) who had fled the storm with me. Power went down fast, hot as all git out ,2 trees ,both of wich fell across multiple vehicles had me wondering if I had doomed all of them by bringing them in.All the while they fretted over their own homes and what they had left behind. I know alot of people are bash’n Christie for his “Love in an elevator” moment with Obama. It should have shined a light on the restrictive force that was Kathleen Blanco and Mayor Nagan during Katrina. They resisted help from W and the people locally knew it. Now the ball is in Obamas court, he has the “Katrina Improvement Plan”…he better get it right or Christie will be the bear we all know, for his people. I’de wager,though a much smaller event overall than Katrina..It will be slower in recovery and more costly..and the death toll may yet surpass Katrina.

    Report this comment

    Battlefieldborn  
  • Bobby D
    Posted on November 8, 2012 at 8:03pm

    Still chrissy Oh my leg is tingling matthews was glad the wind and rain got to the BIG ApHole—-LMAO

    Report this comment

    Bobby D  
    • rickc34
      Posted on November 8, 2012 at 8:19pm

      Okay liberals take out your credit cards. Your mess….your problem. Vote for Obama and the wrath of God comes down. Oh and have not seen any new photo ops of Obama and Christie lately..I thought they were in love.

      Report this comment

      rickc34  
  • NO_MORE_OBAMA
    Posted on November 8, 2012 at 7:59pm

    Thats a shame! But get used to long food lines and gas lines.

    Report this comment

    NO_MORE_OBAMA  
  • KingDork
    Posted on November 8, 2012 at 7:58pm

    The left in that area spat at God, he just simply spat back.

    Report this comment

    KingDork  
  • The-Monk
    Posted on November 8, 2012 at 7:57pm

    New York tax on a 64 oz soda = 4x the tax of a 16 oz soda.
    New York tax on a 32 oz soda = 2x the tax of a 16 oz soda.

    Looks like New York just cut it’s nose off to spite its when it needs money….

    Report this comment

    The-Monk  
  • conserv2011
    Posted on November 8, 2012 at 7:55pm

    while i never would wish this on anyone.. guess who they are going to ask to pick up the bill.

    NY: you don’t expect us to pay for this do you?

    Report this comment

    conserv2011  
    • chips1
      Posted on November 8, 2012 at 8:06pm

      I’m going to vote not to let them become the 58th state. They have nothing to offer civilization.

      Report this comment

      chips1  
    • JACKTHETOAD
      Posted on November 9, 2012 at 5:23am

      Dear Lord, please send them a tsunami. Amen.

      Report this comment

      JACKTHETOAD  
  • Astalavistababy
    Posted on November 8, 2012 at 7:54pm

    Truthfully, it is probably the best thing to happen to those old neighborhoods. I know they were someone’s home, but they were really dated. I just hope the US Taxpayer isn’t stuck bailing out all these people who didn’t have the proper insurance. It’s not the governments job to make people whole again.

    Report this comment

    Astalavistababy  
  • Astalavistababy
    Posted on November 8, 2012 at 7:49pm

    That is a shameful photo of Americans standing in line for food. Get used to it America. This is what you have voted for.

    Report this comment

    Astalavistababy  
  • Astalavistababy
    Posted on November 8, 2012 at 7:46pm

    Breaks my heart to see all those dems having a bad time. Funny how they all voted for big government and now they whine about their government not helping them. The irony is deeper than the sand piled up on the streets.

    Report this comment

    Astalavistababy  
    • Jenasus
      Posted on November 8, 2012 at 7:48pm

      LOL Right on! They reaped what they sowed.

      Report this comment

      Jenasus  
    • CatB
      Posted on November 8, 2012 at 7:54pm

      Too bad we WASTED all that money on green energy payoffs so Obama could get re-elected. I agree … you wanted big government east coast you got it! Enjoy.

      (I do feel sorry for the individual who has been affected but not the masses .. I made a donation to Mercury One .. BEFORE Christie kissed Obama’s a$$ .. there will be no more .. I will save my money for LOCAL disasters) sorry Glenn.

      Report this comment

      CatB  
  • DEFCON4
    Posted on November 8, 2012 at 7:44pm

    LQQKS like it’s time for a “Big Soda” Sale in the Big Apple…..

    Report this comment

    DEFCON4  
  • chips1
    Posted on November 8, 2012 at 7:34pm

    Just put it on my Obama EBT card. AND, keep the change!!!!!

    Report this comment

    chips1  
    • WarMunger_Al
      Posted on November 8, 2012 at 7:39pm

      let them pay for it.

      Report this comment

      WarMunger_Al  
    • chips1
      Posted on November 8, 2012 at 8:17pm

      The funny part of this is China is paying for the damage and then we are going to declare that we are bankrupt. They know where our responsible leader lives.

      Report this comment

      chips1  
  • Jenasus
    Posted on November 8, 2012 at 7:34pm

    Obama will also use Superstorm Sandy to implement Carbon Taxes to combat global warming which they claim caused Superstorm Sandy.

    Report this comment

    Jenasus  
    • AmazingGrace8
      Posted on November 9, 2012 at 5:34pm

      If you live near an ocean, you may encounter a hurricane. If you lve in Kansas, you may encounter a tornado. Sorry, just relaying some common sense…why? while listening to Rush & Hannity on the radio today, I was watching & listening to tv channel with Music Classic Country music and I have been “struck-by” COMMON SENSE WORDS about hard-working,God-fearing Americans.

      Report this comment

      AmazingGrace8  
  • Psychosis
    Posted on November 8, 2012 at 7:34pm

    dont care

    let the idiots in the blue states pay for it im off the grid

    Report this comment

    Psychosis  
  • Jenasus
    Posted on November 8, 2012 at 7:31pm

    Superstorm Sandy, Obama’s gift to the North East that was created and guided to New York, NY using HAARP.
    How do you like Obama now?

    Report this comment

    Jenasus  
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