Hurricane Sandra is shaping up to be the biggest storm to hit the eastern seaboard of the United States in 100 years. That’s not good news to residents living in the flood-prone Tri-state areas — directly in the storm’s path.
Dubbed “Superstorm” by the media and “Frankenstorm” by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Hurricane Sandy cut a swathe of destruction across Haiti, Jamaica and Cuba, leaving 28 people dead and many injured.
When Hurricane Irene threatened the East coast last year, NY Mayor Bloomberg released a map of flood zones based on hurricane category severity. The Lower East Side, Coney Island, Upper East Side and Staten Island are all at risk for serious flooding.
At 11 a.m. Friday Hurricane Sandy was downsized to a category 1 storm packing more rain than wind. But CNN meteorologist Rob Marciano warns that hurricane categories can be misleading.
“Forget about the category with this,” said Marciano. “When you have trees with leaves on them still, this kind of wind and rain on top of that, you’re talking about trees that are going to come down, power lines are going to be out and the coastal flooding situation is going to be huge.”
The Superstorm is expected to make landfall somewhere between Washington and Boston over the weekend.
Photo: Reuters: Gilbert Bellamy
