Jump to content
  • Member Statistics

    17,508
    Total Members
    7,904
    Most Online
    joxey
    Newest Member
    joxey
    Joined

Hurricane Sandy - LIVE - Impacts


Recommended Posts

  • Replies 352
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Two updates from Jeff L (HCFCD):

1.) Catastrophic flooding in progress in New York City.

FDNY can no longer respond to numerous 911 calls due to extensive flooding. FDNY requesting numerous boats to move personnel out of flooding fire stations.

Subway and tunnels are flooding and LaGuardia Airport is now completely inundated with sea water.

Con ED is cutting all power to all lower Manhattan.

Water levels now at 13.45ft and still rising at Battery Park. Water over car tops in East Village.

Water levels now 1-2.5 ft beyond previous records.

2.)Catastrophic flooding inundating NYC. All tunnels/subways filling with sea water. Entire Coney Is/E Village under 6-8’ water

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We have had relatively calm conditions in northern Atlantic County, NJ for the past 4 hours but wind has now picked up again, 30+. Numerous trees down as expected, many on wires. Shore flooding in Mystic Island, NJ (Ocean County) reported at least 1.5' higher than '92 (via phone from my father whom is still there, turned down an evac from the fire company deuce). Currently listening to ongoing structure fire in Brigantine on police radio, firefighters reporting water up to windshield on fire truck trying to get to scene. My town is without power but neighboring towns have power, only store open was a Chinese food restaurant. Generator is running to keep sump pumps going, thankgoodness for the breaks in the rain. It also helps to cut out the wind noise outside. Its much easier dealing with the wind during the day.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

RECORD EVENT REPORT

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW YORK NY

949 PM EST MON OCT 29 2012

..RECORD HIGH WATER LEVEL AT THE BATTERY NY

A RECORD HIGH WATER LEVEL OF 13.88 FEET WAS SET AT THE BATTERY NY

TODAY AT 9:24 PM. THIS BREAKS THE OLDEST OFFICIAL RECORD OF 10.02

FEET SET IN 1960 WITH HURRICANE DONNA.

batn6hg.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Weather Channel keeps showing the wrong tide chart for King's Point on the east side of Manhattan, high tide isn't until after midnight and water levels aren't dropping yet. Water rise leveling off as winds shift to out of the south though, but the east side of Manhattan and the boroughs on Long Island will be in peak flooding for a few more hours

post-645-0-77511000-1351565313_thumb.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Everyone keeps getting the old record incorrect too.

					 Highest and Lowest Values

Station:  8518750									   Begin Date:  18000503
Name:	 The Battery, NY							   End   Date:  20121030
Product:  High/Low									  Units:	   Feet
Datum:    StnDatum									  Quality:	 Verified

	  Rank Highest  Highest Date  Zone  Lowest   Lowest Date  Zone
	  ---- ------- -------------- ---- ------- -------------- ----
		 1   13.30 19600912 13:00  LST   -1.00 19760202 16:30  LST
		 2   12.99 19921211 14:00  GMT   -0.91 19780110 16:12  LST
		 3   12.80 20110828 12:42  GMT   -0.50 19660109 04:24  LST
		 4   12.09 20100313 23:42  GMT   -0.24 19800316 02:06  LST
		 5   12.01 19911031 03:36  LST   -0.23 19800316 00:00  LST
		 6   11.81 19840329 08:12  LST   -0.19 19850208 17:24  LST
		 7   11.73 19921212 02:18  GMT   -0.15 19710127 15:36  LST
		 8   11.66 19870102 10:30  LST   -0.13 19690102 01:12  LST
		 9   11.64 19930314 05:00  GMT   -0.10 19760317 15:42  LST
	    10   11.62 19681112 10:42  LST   -0.01 19800315 13:36  LST

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Devastating surge here in Connecticut. Worst surge since Hurricane Carol east of Madison, CT and worst surge since 1938 west of Madison all the way to Greenwich.

Peak surge I found was ~11.5 ft during the peak of the storm... and thankfully the surge dropped a bit before high tide... but still a catastrophic flooding event with widespread inundation and structures destroyed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Receiving some absolutely chilling news now in the EOC. Crisfield, MD: Evacuation aborted due to worsening conditions...will resume ar 8am. Hundreds of citizens left trapped in homes that were succumbing by flood waters. Catastrophic loss in the City of Crisfield".

One aspect that may be overlooked is exposure and hypothermia issues for anyone in a flooded home thats not in danger of drowning but that is soaked and standing in cold water.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I predict the insurance industry will call it a hurricane regardless and a class action lawsuit by policy holders will ensue.

I'm not a fan of insurance companies, and I can already mentally picture an insurance agent telling me "sorry, but because the storm originated as a hurricane, per article 27, section L of your policy, the major damage sustained to your home is not covered. Sorry. Don't forget your next policy payment due date is on the 10th, have a good day". Interested to see the total damage to structure (primarily residential) associated with this, as i'm sure in some area's seriously affected, any slight glimmer of hope of a rebounding housing market will be temporarily shelved. Could be lots of displaced people/families, with little, to no means, of getting readily accessible funds (whether it be through insurance or financial lending) to replace, repair, etc...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not a fan of insurance companies, and I can already mentally picture an insurance agent telling me "sorry, but because the storm originated as a hurricane, per article 27, section L of your policy, the major damage sustained to your home is not covered. Sorry. Don't forget your next policy payment due date is on the 10th, have a good day". Interested to see the total damage to structure (primarily residential) associated with this, as i'm sure in some area's seriously affected, any slight glimmer of hope of a rebounding housing market will be temporarily shelved. Could be lots of displaced people/families, with little, to no means, of getting readily accessible funds (whether it be through insurance or financial lending) to replace, repair, etc...

I was thinking earlier than Sandy could temporarily dampen the overall economy back into a recession as people use precious savings to survive rather than prosper. Countering that will be the influx of money for rebuilding next year, so the economy may get a boost. Over time, the net effect could be positive (economically) in that infrastructure improvements will be made for future needs that otherwise wouldn't have been financially or politically possible.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

According to neighbors that stayed behind, my house is in bad shape. All houses flooded and ours sits lowest. 7 ft of water came through. I'm itching to get over there. I may have nothing but a couple of bedrooms left on the 2nd floor.

So sorry to hear this. Praying for you and yours.

The air travel delays are also very serious. Be sure to check with your airline if you need to move a flight.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Morning update from Jeff L (HCFCD):

Historic Sandy continues to battered much of the eastern US. Numerous weather records have fallen from lowest central pressures to highest storm surge heights (I will compile an e-mail on all Sandy’s records in the next few days once they are verified).

Thus far the death toll stands at 16 with potential damages estimate at over 25 billion dollars.

President Obama declares major disaster declaration for New York City and Long Island.

Incredible record 32.5 ft wave recorded in New York Harbor overnight surpassing the 26 foot record in Hurricane Irene!

7.5 million persons are without power in 11 states. Con Ed indicates significant damage has occurred to the NYC underground power system due to flooding. Back-up power generation at some NYC hospitals have failed due to flooding and this is requiring unprecedented evacuation of hundreds of patients similar to what happen at the Texas Medical center during TS Allison.

Levee failure in northern New Jersey has completely flooded three entire towns this morning with an estimated 1000 persons trapped in their attics and on rooftops.

In the 108 years of the New York City Massive Transit System: “ it has never faced a disaster as devastating as last night” 7 subway tunnels under the East River were flooded. 6 bus garages were flooded. Hugh Carey Tunnel is flooded end to end and the Queens Midtown Tunnel is flooded.

A massive fire has burned over 50 homes in Queens due to arcing power lines and strong winds.

Showing the size of this event: 60mph winds and 24 foot waves are expected near Chicago today!

12,500 airline flights have been cancelled and many major NE airports are closed and have taken either flooding or wind damage.

We have not fully grasped the scope and magnitude of this disaster, but based on sketchy reports from Long Island and the New Jersey coast, the damage is “incredible”! Sunrise this morning will reveal the full magnitude of the destruction.

Note: I strongly advise everyone in this day of instant media “twitter and facebook” to be wary of reports. While much of the reports last evening were real time, only about 20% were actually true.

Brooklyn

post-32-0-42964100-1351600072_thumb.jpg

post-32-0-86617400-1351600087_thumb.jpg

PATH Subway Flooding

post-32-0-72960900-1351600150_thumb.jpg

Entrance near Battery Tunnel

post-32-0-17578600-1351600239_thumb.jpg

Water entering WTC

post-32-0-47948300-1351600297_thumb.jpg

Southampton, NY

post-32-0-02170900-1351600359_thumb.jpg

Edgewater, NJ

post-32-0-02700800-1351600443_thumb.jpg

Atlantic City, NJ

post-32-0-05892200-1351600514_thumb.jpg

Del Coast

post-32-0-43746200-1351600631_thumb.jpg

Hoboken, NJ

post-32-0-88777900-1351600715_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I predict the insurance industry will call it a hurricane regardless and a class action lawsuit by policy holders will ensue.

I found the New York State Guidelines for Hurricane Deductibles. I'd say 2/3 only apply to category 2 and above storms. The others mention claims 12 hours prior or 12 hours after landfall.

http://www.dfs.ny.gov/insurance/homeown/pdf/awindded.pdf

A few notes:

- flood coverage is usually outside the deductible wording (I believe thats a regulation)

- things like trees falling on your car / house: Well it was a hurricane at 659:PM Monday night.

- some of the deductible wording is around wind speed (i.e. 74 mph) and it was at 80 mph at landfall.

- the buyers knew about the deductible when the policy was bound

- despite the 0.001% of examples we read in the news, insurance industry usually is quick to pay claims during catastrophes.

- States will step in, the insurance regulators always have the final say.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not a fan of insurance companies, and I can already mentally picture an insurance agent telling me "sorry, but because the storm originated as a hurricane, per article 27, section L of your policy, the major damage sustained to your home is not covered. Sorry. Don't forget your next policy payment due date is on the 10th, have a good day". Interested to see the total damage to structure (primarily residential) associated with this, as i'm sure in some area's seriously affected, any slight glimmer of hope of a rebounding housing market will be temporarily shelved. Could be lots of displaced people/families, with little, to no means, of getting readily accessible funds (whether it be through insurance or financial lending) to replace, repair, etc...

Some of us work in this industry, and it is our livelihood. And yes sometimes major damage is not covered. My frustration when people are upset with the deductible is that this is basically the only item on your policy that you get to pick. There should be no surprises when a deductible is applied...

I already see complaints in social media about insurance companies not being responsive. Are you kidding me? I am sitting with my bags packed ready to board a plane to start helping folks, but we have to figure out where we can stay (we can do nothing with no power) and how to get there (airports closed/delayed). The industry as a whole is very quick in catastrophes, but understand, your missing shingles are going to get pushed way back while we deal with the people who have trees in their bedroom.

In all reality, if any individual companies attempt to enforce a hurricane deductible will be quickly smacked back into place by the local state's department of insurance. I cant see this happening, as there is little dispute that it was post-tropical at landfall (But I cannot speak for the wording of all underwriting companies hurricane deductible).

My bigger concern from the industry will be the water damage and flooding that has happened in areas that have not flooded in decades. The possibility exists that many of these people do not have flood insurance, and as many people know, the homeowners policy will not ever sniff at ground water.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

×
×
  • Create New...