Published Work - Le Provocateur

Assumption students' hometowns slowly recover form Hurricane Sandy - News - Le Provocateur
Published in November 14, 2012 issue of Le Provocateur 

Although Hurricane Sandy didn't do much damage to the Assumption College campus, she left her mark on many other places. The high winds and rain that came with the hurricane left towns with downed trees, telephone poles, wires and flooding.

Hurricane Sandy was not only the largest hurricane on record, but also the second most costly Atlantic hurricane in history. Hurricane Katrina of 2005 being number one.

Hurricane Sandy changed the lives of many people in New Jersey and New York City. Sophomore Tyler Murphy was personally affected by the hurricane.

"My mom lives in West Keansburg, New Jersey. West Keansburg didn't get hit that bad, but my houes is flooded and the back yard is completely ruined," Murphy said. "My dad lives in Union Beach, New Jersey with my grandma, grandpa, aunt and little cousin. Union Beach got it the worst out of any place in New Jersey."

If you Google "Hurricane Sandy and Union Beach, New Jersey" there is a picture, courtesy of nj.com, of a home completely split in half. This house belonged to one of Murphy's friends.

"My dad's house is completely flooded and gone. My aunt Karen's house literally floated away," shared Murphy. "Probably the worst thing that happened was just that the Union Beach beachfront was washed away and that was pretty much all the town had going for it. There was a huge September 11 memorial there and it is completely ruined."

"Nearly 200 homes were destroyed in Union Beach in one of the worst storms the state has seen," according to nj.com.

Junior Brooke Samaha has a sister who lives in Manhattan who, as of October 30, was "stuck in NYC."

"She lives on the 21st floor of an apartment building, and although she was not evacuated from it, her power had gone out, and she was told she wasn't going to have power back for another week," said Samaha. "She also did not have water, and they weren't allowing anyone into New York City at the time."

"My sister told me, 'it was really scary since I was on the 21st floor and all the windows were shaking and you could feel the building moving. If you looked out my window, you could see how flooded all of First Ave. was. Probably three feet of water. You could hear things falling outside. Then the power went out.'"

"Luckily, the FDR bridge opened back up, and at about 8:45," said Samaha. "My father was able to pick her up and bring her to our home in Connecticut which was in much better shape than New York."

According to the New York Times, "The number of New York City fatalities from Hurricane Sandy jumped to 38 on Thursday, including two young boys who were swept from the arms of their mother on Staten Island and found dead at the swampy end of a street, the police said."

Sandy was the 10th hurricane that hit during the 2012 hurricane season. Not only did she do damage to the Northeastern part of the United States, but also devastating damage to the Caribbean and Mid-Atlantic.

According to The Huffington Post, Hurricane Katrina caused more deaths, but Hurricane Sandy has left almost 10 times more people without power than Katrina did.

Sandy changed from a tropical wave while it was in the Caribbean Sea on October 22 to a tropical storm roughly six hours later.

By October 27, Sandy grew stronger to a category one hurricane. On October 29, when Sandy moved towards land near Atlantic City, New Jersey, she was referred to as a "post-tropical cyclone."

By the time Sandy was over, 24 states were affected by the hurricane. The entire East Coast from Florida to Maine and as far west as Michigan and Wisconsin were hit, while the most severe damage occurred in New Jersey and New York.