<p>^My parents’ place in Manahawkin (about 5 miles inland from Long Beach Island in NJ) was essentially untouched. (OTOH, I was without power for 11 days and they went without only for 3.)</p>
<p>Garland–weather channel finally got a real expert in to explain it–The exact spot Sandy hit allowed the winds to drive and keep water up in the rivers on either side of the peninsulas.
If Sandy had been just a few miles north or south, the waters would have hit land banks instead and the wind direction at those points would not have driven the water into the rivers.</p>
<p>I’m still confused. What peninsulas are you talking about? The only “peninsula” I can think of (though it’s not usually labeled that way) anywhere near where Sandy hit is Cape May, which, just south of landfall, was relatively unscathed.</p>
<p>Much if not most of the damage was shorelines (not rivers). the river flooding that did occur, which was also very damaging (Raritan, Hackensack, Hudson Rivers, etc.) was many miles (maybe a hundred) away from the “landfall”. I am not understanding the discussion of peninsulas.</p>
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<p>South of landfall was expected to be unscathed since the hurricane wind moves counterclockwise. It makes no difference however close it was as far as it was south side with hurricane wind blowing eastward pushing the water to the sea. </p>
<p>gouf, are you saying if Sandy hit barrier islands, its force would have weakened? Much like snad dunes breaking up surf? Am I gussing right that Sandy continued with its force unabated because of it made a landfall where it did? If that’s the case. I agree that this is just an extremely rare occurance where everything that could go wrong went wrong and we shouldn’t overreact. What is the chance for a huge hurricane that makes landfall at high tides of all times and finds a gap in the barrier islands making a bullseye landfall?</p>
<p>(yes, I know about why CM did okay.)</p>
<p>As for the rest–That explanation still doesn’t make sense. The vast bulk of the damage was from storm surge. The surge hit the barrier islands from the ocean side and decimated them. It surged up the New York Bay, the Raritan Bay, and the Newark Bay, and from there up rivers like the Hackensack, Rahway, Hudson, etc. It swept over the shores of Staten Island and Long Island. What does this have to do with hitting between or against a barrier island many miles south of there? Also, where SAndy hit is a stretch of barrier islands. There are only small channels between them, so this idea of a bullseye landing in a gap does not fit with the geographic reality. </p>
<p>The barrier islands were slammed as it is; you’re arguing that if it had hit one directly, all of the above would have been lessened? But the coastal damage was from the storm surge which was widespread and devastating. The exact point it hit in south Jersey would have no bearing on the enormous surge it brought with it.</p>
<p>I have to say I don’t know the detailed anatomy of a hurricane. Just trying to understand what gouf said. What happens when hurricanes make a landfall? Do they weaken from the impact? If they lose momentum at the eye, does the weakness propagate to the rest of air mass affecting the storm effect hundres miles away?</p>
<p>No expert here, but what I do know is that the surge is an enormous dome of water carried by the storm (basically because of low pressure. SAndy had some of the lowest pressure on record.) When this dome hits shallow water it rises up; almost behaving like a tsunami. So when it hit the coast, it was like a sudden flood, mostly north of where it hit because the winds would be rotating that way, pushing the surge north and west. When it hit landfall, it brought the surge with it–most of the destruction the coasts was from the water more than the wind. Even if the storm slowed (though it moved surprisingly fast, apparently), all that water it was carrying wasn’t going to disappear.
Here’s a good visual:
[Sandy’s</a> Storm Surge Visualized - weather.com](<a href=“http://www.weather.com/news/weather-hurricanes/sandy-surge-interactive-20121105]Sandy’s”>http://www.weather.com/news/weather-hurricanes/sandy-surge-interactive-20121105)</p>
<p>garland–the strongest winds in a hurricane are north and west of the eye so that plays a huge factor in where the damage is done in a storm too.</p>
<p>Would that still be the case when the center loses its power was what I was asking. I am guessing not. I am guessing if Sandy weakened on landfall and downgraded to tropical storm, NY would have felt a tropical storm not Hurricane Sandy. Does that make sense?</p>
<p>My understanding is that a hurricane weakens over land, especially where it is mountainous because it loses it’s feeding mechanism (the warm ocean) and due to friction with the land…however it doesn’t happen immediately…it would have to stay inland for some time before it would weaken.</p>
<p>I think when Sandy made landfall it was no longer technically a hurricane, it was a “post tropical cyclone”. But it didn’t weaken as much as expected because it was able to merge with a cold front, hence the “Frankenstorm” name. Or so I’ve read. </p>
<p>The main thing about Sandy was it was so huge, 1100 miles wide? That size storm can move a lot of water.</p>
<p>“Global warming-related sea level rise gave the surge a higher launching pad than it would have had a century ago, making it more damaging than it otherwise would have been. This is only going to get worse as sea level rise continues as a result of warming ocean waters and melting polar ice caps and glaciers.” [How</a> Global Warming Made Hurricane Sandy Worse | Climate Central](<a href=“http://www.climatecentral.org/news/how-global-warming-made-hurricane-sandy-worse-15190]How”>How Global Warming Made Hurricane Sandy Worse | Climate Central)</p>
<p>We are headed to NYC for Thanksgiving. 2 of 3 family homes on LI are still uninhabitable and it is not yet clear if they’ll be fixable or condemned. So it’s going to be crowded in the NYC apartment we usually stay in as those household’s residents are split up between that apartment and other relatives’ homes.</p>
<p>At this point it looks like the 2 families that can’t go home will be in FEMA trailers of some kind, or best-case scenario, rentals, for the foreseeable future.</p>
<p>It’s a good point about the fact that Sandy didn’t play by the established storm “rules.” It wrote new ones. </p>
<p>Steve–yes, winds drove north and west–again factors that would not have been changed by a few mile difference in where the eye hit.</p>
<p>The damage wasn’t limited to New Jersey and New York going north. Although the media coverage would lead people to think that. There was a lot damage in North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Delaware too. Here is a video of the Hatteras/Pea Island area. Fortunately, development is not nearly as extensive on NC barrier islands as it is in NJ. </p>
<p><a href=“Hatteras Island Aerials after Hurricane Sandy - YouTube”>Hatteras Island Aerials after Hurricane Sandy - YouTube;
<p>A few years ago, think it was 2009, South Shore LI residents were told based on predictions of hurricane strength 1-4 who would now fall into flood zones from storm surge, homeowners insurance policies skyrocketed based off the new maps. Here is a copy of it, based on where I know the water reached inland, this was above a category 4 based on the storm surge. Not only was the south facing shore decimated so was the north shore. People scoffed at the maps and the insurance hikes, said it would never happen. One of the flooded (about 5-6 feet) communities is 25-30 feet above sea level.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/administration_pdf/ssurgezones.pdf[/url]”>http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/administration_pdf/ssurgezones.pdf</a></p>
<p>I’ve found myself thinking how the older adults who rely on caregivers are faring in the wake of this storm. If my dad was still alive, not only would we be dealing with the care of him and his home, but also the caregivers that travelled, typically from the Bronx, to care for him. Can only imagine what the staffing companies who provide caregivers are going through, and how these older adults and the caregivers are managing, with the likelihood that the caregivers are dealig with their own personal challenges. Thoughts go out to all of them.</p>
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<p>samiamy, are you saying you believe Sandy was a Category 4 storm? Hurricane categories are based on wind speed, not storm surge. Sandy wasn’t even a hurricane when it made landfall and it was only a category 1 before that.</p>
<p>Sandy’s hurricane status had more to do with temperature drops running into that winter storm. She still came ashore with hurricane force winds of 90 MPH.</p>
<p>I don’t think samiamy’ saying that. Wht the quote indicates is that our Category definitions are not really measuring the impact of a storm like this, as the storm surge apparently hit the level defined as to be expected with a Cat 4 storm, though this was not. The extreme low pressure combined with the size of the storm were more to blame for the coastal destruction than wind speed, so defining by windspeed does not capture the extent of the possible consequences of such an event.</p>