Hurricane Sandy - 2012

This week's hot topic is a devastating disaster. 

Hurricane Sandy, or else "Superstorm Sandy", was the deadliest  and most destructive Atlantic hurricane of the 2012 season. It is classified as the second major hurricane, with hurricane Katrina taking the first place. Hurricane Sandy lasted, approximately 11 days starting at 22 October and ending at 02 November.The highest winds reached the 185km/h and the lowest pressure was 940mbar. The hurricane started from a tropical wave in the western Caribbean sea and six hours after having strengthened, it had become the Tropical Storm Sandy. Sandy moved toward the Greater Antilles. On October 24, Sandy became a hurricane and sprea over Jamaica, Caribbean Sea, where it strengthened to a category 2, Cuba, category 3, Bahamas, as a category 1. On October 29, it moved northwest and then hit New Jersey, northeast of Atlantic City, as a post-tropical cyclone with hurricane-force winds. Sandy, in total, affected 24 states of America, Caribbean and Bermuda,  Florida, Carolina, Virginia, Washington, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, New England and Canada.

In Jamaica 70% of the people were left without electricity,Sandy blew roofs off buildings, killed one person and the damages cost $100 million. In Puerto Rico one man was swept by a swollen river. In Cuba, there was a coastal flooding and damages inland, 15,000 people were left without home, 11 were killed , and $2 billion damages were caused.Sandy caused two deaths and damages as high as $700 million in The Bahamas.  In Canada, two were killed in Ontario and approximately $100 million in damage was caused throughout Ontario and Quebec. In United States, the entire eastern seaboard from Florida to Maine and west across the  Appachian Mountains to Mischigan and Wisconsin, with particularly severe damage in New Jersey and New York. The damage at the United States were approximately $65 billion. Sandy flooded Haiti, killing at least 54, missing 21 people, causing food shortages, and leaving about 200,000 homeless. In total the cost was ≥$68 billion, 233 fatalities and 21 missing people.

Many inspiring stories have been published after hurricane Sandy, but from my point of view this was the most incredible. One man named Mike, in New Jersey, with hypothermia broke into a woman's house, Christine, and left a letter after taking some blankets and a black jacket. In the letter he was identified as a 28-year-old man and he left his father's phone number so the owner of the house could contact with him and tell him his son had died.

The letter reads: Who ever reads this I’m DYING – I’m 28 yrs old my name is Mike. I had to break in to your house. I took blankets off the couch. I have hypothermia. I didn’t take anything. A wave trew me out of my house down the block. I don’t think I’m going to make it. The water outside is 10ft deep at least. There’s no res[c]ue. Tell my dad I love him and I tryed get[t]ing out. His number is ###-###-#### his name is Tony. I hope u can read this I’m in the dark. I took a black jacket too. Goodbye. God all mighty help me.

Sources:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Sandy
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/03/a-hurricane-sandy-victim-_n_2066776.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeutC1WN6dc