Cars are submerged at the entrance to a parking garage in New York’s Financial District in the aftermath of superstorm Sandy on Oct. 30, 2012.
Ten years ago, Hurricane Sandy barreled through the Caribbean and then up the Eastern seaboard, bringing floods and storm surges that destroyed homes and critical infrastructure. It was one of the most destructive storms in U.S. history, costing the country more than $81 billion, according to NOAA.
Sandy made landfall over New Jersey and New York on October 29. Its effects killed 72 people in the U.S. and displaced thousands. It shut down the largest city in the country, with 17% of New York City underwater from the storm surge, according to a recap from the Lower Manhattan Coastal Resiliency website. About 2 million city residents lost power, and there were fuel shortages that lasted for weeks.
Airports in the northeast cancelled around 20,000 flights nationwide in response to Sandy. The storm damaged hospitals and other healthcare facilities throughout, including Coney Island hospital, Bellevue hospital in Manhattan, and Hoboken University Medical Center in New Jersey. Medical professionals struggled to support patients through frequent outages, ABC News reported at the time.
Here are photos that show the awful extent of the storm surge in the region.
Inundated city
People take photos of water filling the entrance of The Plaza Shops in Battery Park in New York on October 30, 2012 as New Yorkers cope with the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.
Flooded streets
An ambulance sits abandoned in the middle of a flooded street after Hurricane Sandy October 30, 2012 in Hoboken, New Jersey.
Flooded Avenue C
A flooded intersection in NYC’s Alphabet City neighborhood on October 29, 2012, after flooding from Hurricane Sandy.
Shuttered subway station
A man uses his mobile phone to photograph a closed and flooded subway station in lower Manhattan, in New York, Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012.
Evacuations
An emergency responder helps evacuate two people with a boat, after their neighborhood experienced flooding due to Hurricane Sandy, on October 30, 2012, in Little Ferry, New Jersey.
Leftover debris
Residents take a break during cleanup operations following Hurricane Sandy on October 31, 2012 in Lindenhurst, New York.
Sewer aftermath
Workers with the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) work on the sewer system in the heavily damaged Rockaway neighborhood on November 27, 2012 in the Queens borough of New York City.
Subway station underwater
In this Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2012 file photo, Joseph Leader, Metropolitan Transportation Authority vice president and chief maintenance officer, shines a flashlight on standing water inside the South Ferry 1 train station in New York in the wake of Superstorm Sandy.
Widespread power outages
Residents charge their mobile devices at a station set up by Lucy Walkowiak, 11, who collected for donations to aid victims of Hurricane Sandy, October 31, 2012 in Hoboken, New Jersey.
Escaping by boat
A man pushes a woman and a dog in a boat a boat after their neighborhood experienced flooding due to Hurricane Sandy, on October 30, 2012, in Little Ferry, New Jersey.
Eye of the storm
Image from NOAA’s GOES-13 of Hurricane Sandy at 9:10 am EDT on October 29, 2012.
