Sandy leaves behind trail of destruction
2 Nov 2012 5:24 AM IST
US authorities in densely- populated East Coast region scrambled on Wednesday to restore power and clear heaps of debris after superstorm Sandy left a trail of destruction from the Caribbean to Canada killing at least 122 people, including 55 in worst-hit New York and other American cities.
The storm, the most devastating witnessed by the US in decades, hit Eastern Seaboard from North Carolina to Connecticut, cutting off communication and leaving millions of people shivering without power as thousands were evacuated from flooded neighbourhoods.
Among the US states hit by the megastorm, New York and New Jersey bore the brunt of the disaster.
The trail of destruction left by the monster storm prompted President Barack Obama to declare it a ‘major disaster’ in New York and New Jersey. Rescuers on Wednesday combed neighborhoods strewn with debris, as authorities struggled to restore power to millions of households. The death toll rose to 55 along the Atlantic Coast since Sandy made landfall on Monday, with 67 killed earlier as the then-hurricane ripped through the Caribbean.
Obama, who suspended his campaign and took charge of the rescue operations, described the crisis as ‘heartbreaking’, warning Americans that the storm was ‘not yet over’.
‘This storm is not yet over,’ Obama said during his trip to the headquarters of the American Red Cross in Washington.
Less than a week before the US presidential elections, political pundits are eyeing two key states, Pennsylvania and Virginia, struggling to recover in the wake of the monster storm.
Superstorm Sandy’s effect on election day in those states next Tuesday is just speculation at this stage, but both are vital to President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney’s White House ambitions.
Pennsylvania, solidly Democratic for the past two decades, appears to suddenly have come into play - even though Obama is leading his Republican rival by 49.5 per cent to 44.8 per cent in an average of polls there by the RealClearPolitics website. But the president’s support is drawn heavily from metropolitan areas of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and less from more conservative rural areas. Havoc on city streets, if widespread outages continue, might depress turnout and could see Romney gain an edge.
Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral college votes could prove crucial in the ‘every vote counts’ tight race to the 270 electoral college votes needed for victory.
The superstorm is expected to result in economic losses totalling over USD 20 billion, according to estimates by a catastrophe forecasting company.
As the states of New York and New Jersey, the worst hit by the monster storm, begin the recovery process, experts believe the losses will add up to over USD 20 billion.
EQECAT, a California-based firm that tracks losses due to natural catastrophies, said initial loss estimates due to Sandy will total USD 10-20 billion in total economic damages and USD 5-10 billion in insured losses. EQECAT said insured losses and economic damages are rising as the days progress.
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the Nasdaq reopened on Wednesday after being forced to shut down due to superstorm Sandy that devastated a large part of US East Coast in particular New York and New Jersey this week.
This is for the first time in more than a century that NYSE has been closed for two consecutive days due to weather related events since 1888. A US nuclear plant exited ‘alert’ status early on Wednesday after the storm surge from Hurricane Sandy receded.
The storm, the most devastating witnessed by the US in decades, hit Eastern Seaboard from North Carolina to Connecticut, cutting off communication and leaving millions of people shivering without power as thousands were evacuated from flooded neighbourhoods.
Among the US states hit by the megastorm, New York and New Jersey bore the brunt of the disaster.
The trail of destruction left by the monster storm prompted President Barack Obama to declare it a ‘major disaster’ in New York and New Jersey. Rescuers on Wednesday combed neighborhoods strewn with debris, as authorities struggled to restore power to millions of households. The death toll rose to 55 along the Atlantic Coast since Sandy made landfall on Monday, with 67 killed earlier as the then-hurricane ripped through the Caribbean.
Obama, who suspended his campaign and took charge of the rescue operations, described the crisis as ‘heartbreaking’, warning Americans that the storm was ‘not yet over’.
‘This storm is not yet over,’ Obama said during his trip to the headquarters of the American Red Cross in Washington.
Less than a week before the US presidential elections, political pundits are eyeing two key states, Pennsylvania and Virginia, struggling to recover in the wake of the monster storm.
Superstorm Sandy’s effect on election day in those states next Tuesday is just speculation at this stage, but both are vital to President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney’s White House ambitions.
Pennsylvania, solidly Democratic for the past two decades, appears to suddenly have come into play - even though Obama is leading his Republican rival by 49.5 per cent to 44.8 per cent in an average of polls there by the RealClearPolitics website. But the president’s support is drawn heavily from metropolitan areas of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and less from more conservative rural areas. Havoc on city streets, if widespread outages continue, might depress turnout and could see Romney gain an edge.
Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral college votes could prove crucial in the ‘every vote counts’ tight race to the 270 electoral college votes needed for victory.
The superstorm is expected to result in economic losses totalling over USD 20 billion, according to estimates by a catastrophe forecasting company.
As the states of New York and New Jersey, the worst hit by the monster storm, begin the recovery process, experts believe the losses will add up to over USD 20 billion.
EQECAT, a California-based firm that tracks losses due to natural catastrophies, said initial loss estimates due to Sandy will total USD 10-20 billion in total economic damages and USD 5-10 billion in insured losses. EQECAT said insured losses and economic damages are rising as the days progress.
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the Nasdaq reopened on Wednesday after being forced to shut down due to superstorm Sandy that devastated a large part of US East Coast in particular New York and New Jersey this week.
This is for the first time in more than a century that NYSE has been closed for two consecutive days due to weather related events since 1888. A US nuclear plant exited ‘alert’ status early on Wednesday after the storm surge from Hurricane Sandy receded.
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