Frankenstorm Devours the Coast: Sandy's Aftermath in Pictures
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Along the coastal plains of Union Beach, N.J., the ruins of houses like this bear the horrifying mark of "Frankenstorm" Sandy, which made its devastating U.S. landfall on Oct. 29, 2012. To see more pictures of the powerful Atlantic hurricane and its effects on the Eastern Seaboard, read on.
Image Credit: Patsy Lynch/FEMA
Walls of water engulf this roller coaster at a Seaside Heights amusement park. This photo of Sandy's overwhelming tidal attack was taken from a New Jersey Army National Guard helicopter during a search and rescue mission along the New Jersey coast on Oct. 30. Next, you'll see an overhead view of the storm's full figure.
Image Credit: U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Mark C. Olsen
This image from NASA's Aqua satellite was taken less than six hours before the engorged cyclone crashed into the New Jersey shore. At full girth, Sandy covers 1.8 million square miles (about 4.7 million square kilometers) of the area shown in this photo. Sandy first developed as a tropical storm in the Caribbean, where it hit Jamaica, Cuba and the Bahamas. After this destructive spree, however -- a mere two days before it struck the Eastern United States -- Sandy seemed to be losing force. How did the storm manage to come back with such a vengeance?
Image Credit: NASA Goddard MODIS Rapid Response Team
After weakening to a tropical depression, Sandy moved east of the Florida coast and again gained muscle and momentum when centered over the empty ocean. As the storm began to move north through the Atlantic, parallel to the East Coast, a combination of weather factors spelled danger: While a cold front from the north corralled the superstorm and drove it toward the edge of the continent, a full moon on the night of landfall made a powerful storm surge rise even higher than expected. Above, NASA's Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) uses a color code to show the areas of heaviest rainfall, which are centered on the purple smudge in the middle of the storm just hours before it struck.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
All across the northern coastal states of the U.S., residents, emergency responders and government agencies began to prepare for the worst when it became clear that Sandy's assault was imminent. On Oct. 26, these workers in Scituate, Mass., scrambled to remove floating docks from this marina so they could avoid the damage a massive storm surge would cause.
Image Credit: Marilee Caliendo/FEMA
Driven by the approaching arms of the hurricane, the tide in Scituate, Mass., took on a frightening character by the day of Oct. 29. The homes shown in the background were fortified to meet FEMA regulations by being raised on stilts after the "Perfect Storm" of 1991 ravaged this region. These measures kept many structures safe from storm surges and flooding.
Image Credit: Marilee Caliendo/FEMA
After Sandy invaded the American mainland, not only were many homes and businesses destroyed, but in some places, the landscape itself was pounded into submission. Here, gray-green water from the churned ocean washes cleanly through what used to be an unbroken stripe of dry land in Mantoloking, N.J. This damage survey was captured on Halloween, just after the storm had finally passed.
Image Credit: NOAA Remote Sensing Division
Sandy was a tragedy with several chapters. Before it menaced the East Coast, the tropical cyclone killed dozens in the Caribbean, and though the worst of Sandy's post-Caribbean wrath was focused on New York and New Jersey, the great hurricane also caused fatalities in at least six other states along New England and the Mid-Atlantic, including Massachusetts, shown above.
Image Credit: Marilee Caliendo/FEMA
What was once a beautiful home in Fairfield Beach, Conn., is now lost at sea in this damage photo from Oct. 31. Hurricane Sandy left thousands of Americans homeless. Those whose homes were left destroyed, damaged or inaccessible by the superstorm were forced to seek help from neighbors, family members and emergency shelters.
Image Credit: John Kosciolek/FEMA
In Massachusetts, some elevated and reinforced coastal dwellings managed to survive the onslaught of the hurricane-force winds and surging tide. Next, you'll see some of the damage from Sandy's strike on the New Jersey coast.
Image Credit: Marilee Caliendo/FEMA
New Jersey Army National Guard helicopters performed search and rescue operations in the wake of Sandy's landfall. Hundreds of neighborhoods along the New Jersey coastline were left battered, flooded and crammed with garbage and debris. In the next image, you'll get a frightening look at the feats of strength a hurricane like Sandy can achieve.
Image Credit: U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Mark C. Olsen
By Nov. 11, 2012, this storm-pitched boat remained unclaimed by its owner in a backyard in Seaford, N.Y. A strong enough hurricane with a raging storm surge can easily throw a vessel like this ashore.
Image Credit: Howard Greenblatt/FEMA
The borough of Staten Island, N.Y., where these boats were beached by the overwhelming winds and waves of Oct. 29, suffered some of the worst effects of Sandy's destruction, as thousands were left without power or heat for days in the chilly month of November.
Image Credit: Jocelyn Augustino/FEMA
Just after Sandy wrecked much of the New York area and sabotaged local access to crucial utilities, especially in parts of Staten Island, a freezing Nor'easter blizzard moved in to make things worse.
Image Credit: Jocelyn Augustino/FEMA
Here's another inland watercraft. After the hurricane had finished its business in Pleasantville, N.J., residents found this boat sitting in the middle of the US 40 highway. It's kept in temporary storage at the highway's center median on Nov. 10, 2012.
Image Credit: Steve Zumwalt/FEMA
If you were wondering why the workers shown earlier would bother to remove docks from the storm-affected waters, these wooden ruins might give you some indication. Many docks along Bay Drive in Pleasantville, N.J., were reduced to crooked wreckage by Sandy's invasion. Not only were the docks themselves destroyed, but in the end, they became weapons of destruction in their own right, as the storm hurled them into the homes of the adjacent neighborhood.
Image Credit: Steve Zumwalt/FEMA
Though cities on the sea suffered the brunt of Sandy's fury, inland areas also felt it when the storm rolled in. On Nov. 9, in Parsons, W.Va., these workers hurried to clear hurricane debris, including the trunks of many shattered and toppled trees, from Mount Zion Road in Tucker County. Next, you'll see an important measure that helped protect many homes along the East Coast from flooding and destruction.
Image Credit: Norman Lenburg/FEMA
In Milford, Conn., this concrete seawall shielded seaside houses from the thrashing and churning of the ocean under Sandy's spiraled clouds.
Image Credit: Marilee Caliendo/FEMA
In Brigantine, N.J., this house was literally blown away by Sandy's violent winds. By Nov. 1, the storm had dissipated, and residents evacuated from some (but not all) dangerous areas could return to survey the damage. On this day, almost 5 million people across the East Coast remained in the dark and the cold without power.
Image Credit: Liz Roll/FEMA
The cyclone devastated an amusement park on the pier of Seaside Heights, N.J., where the roller coaster was shown washed into the ocean in a previous image. Sandy caused catastrophic damage to the decades-old boardwalk along this coastal vista.
Image Credit: Patsy Lynch/FEMA
In Rockaway, N.Y., Jacob Riis Park is serving as a makeshift holding area for debris and garbage. According to FEMA, by Nov. 7, more than 250,000 tons of garbage had been gathered by sanitation workers in the wake of the disaster. Check out the next image to see just how fiercely a hurricane can rearrange the topographical character of dry land.
Image Credit: Mary Simms/FEMA
In Mantoloking, N.J., a drain pipe that was once positioned at ground level within the backshore sand dunes is now unearthed and exposed for several feet of its height. So where did the dunes go? They're everywhere, now -- scraped away by the hurricane and dispersed to land and sea.
Image Credit: Liz Roll/FEMA
This house in Mantoloking, N.J., was undercut at its roots by the storm surge. New Jersey's barrier islands were some of the hardest hit by the initial advance of Sandy's tumultuous core. Mantoloking also endured a raging post-hurricane fire caused by a gas-main explosion. Even days after the storm had passed, some areas like this were not considered safe enough for residents to return. Check out the next image to see where another hurricane-related fire left its mark.
Image Credit: Liz Roll/FEMA
Some of the damage caused by the superstorm's advance over the Northeast was caused not by high water and powerful winds, but by explosions and flames. A fire in Breezy Point, N.Y., for example, consumed more than 110 homes. The charred remains of this neighborhood were captured in this image from Nov. 8.
Image Credit: Jocelyn Augustino/FEMA
At Fairfield Beach, Conn., the storm has buried one neighborhood in sands more than 4 feet (1.2 meters) deep, leaving homes inaccessible under the smooth strata of grit. Images like this are a harsh reminder that even after the worst of the storm had passed, residents and responders had the hard work of recovery and rebuilding still ahead of them.
Image Credit: John Kosciolek/FEMA
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