Hurricane Sandy made an appearance in Florida after she put up a fight in the Caribbean and killed 69 people. Sandy has bypassed the Tampa Bay area and as she went over the Atlantic Ocean, she gained size and strength, building up to be about 1,000 miles wide. She produced up to 19-foot waves which slammed the coast while ripping from North Carolina to New York and parts of Canada, terrorizing everything in her path.
In some places, winds dropped to around 60 to 90 mph, but this so-called “Frankenstorm” still flooded streets and buildings, destroyed homes and vehicles and caused heartbreak to families and communities. Thousands of flights have been cancelled and people are limited to their homes and shelters to remain safe.
The New York City subway system, also flooded and damaged, is said will be back and in running order within four or five days of the initial hit. Though the cold weather and excessive flooding will prolong the damages from being repaired, billions of dollars in damages will be collected in the meantime by insurance companies, and, unfortunately, possibly by U.S. taxpayers.
Up to eight million people lost power and it is reported that there were 43 fatalities in the United States, many because of fallen trees. This is said to be one of the top three storms in U.S. history, with up to 50 million people affected by Hurricane and “Frankenstorm” Sandy.
Many of the people impacted by the threats of such a tremendous storm are University of Tampa students and their families.
Junior Dana Schwarz is from Cherry Hill, NJ and she says her home is not sustaining much damage from the hurricane.
“[The lack of power in the neighborhood] caused our sump pump in our basement to stop working so our basement has been filling with water since then. Thankfully we don’t really use our basement too much or keep anything too valuable down there but my parents did have to move my cats’ bathroom up a level.”
Schwarz is also troubled by the images that are surfacing of the damage.
“And on being here while all of this is happening, the hardest part for me has actually been seeing all of the pictures and footage of the Jersey Shore flooded. Many of my friends have houses there that I’m sure are destroyed and there are so many pictures I’m seeing of places that we go to in the Summer halfway under water.”
Sloane Baby can be reached at sloane.baby@spartans.ut.edu