Hurricane Sandy was the deadliest and most destructive hurricane of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season. In the United States, Hurricane Sandy affected 24 states with particularly severe damage in New Jersey & New York.New JerseyNew York Sandy was the second-costliest hurricane in United States history After briefly weakening to a tropical storm, Sandy re-intensified into a hurricane, and on October 28 an eye began redeveloping. The storm moved over the eastern United States and also to the southwest of a ridge over Atlantic Canada, turning it to the northwest. Sandy briefly re-intensified to Category 2 intensity on the morning of October 29, around which time it had a wind diameter of over 1,150 miles (1,850 km). The convection diminished while the hurricane accelerated toward the New Jersey coast, and the hurricane was no longer tropical by 2300 UTC on October 29. An hour later at about 0000 UTC on October 30, Sandy made landfall near Brigantine, New Jersey, Information from Wikipedia:: Super storm Sandy

Total fatalitiesTotal fatalities: 147 direct, 138 indirect (285 total) Damage: Damage: $71 billion (2012 USD) (Second – Costliest hurricane in US history) Highest windsHighest winds: 115 mph (185 km/h) DateDate: October 22, 2012 – October 31, 2012 CategoryCategory: Category 3 Hurricane (SSHS) Affected areasAffected areas: Eastern Canada, Greater Antilles, Eastern United States, Bermuda, BahamasEastern CanadaGreater AntillesEastern United StatesBermudaBahamas Information from Wikipedia::

Satellite view of Super Storm Sandy As the storm approached land. As the storm surge predictions were broadcast NJ residents feared the worst. The impact of Super storm Sandy on the state of NJ

Storm surge in Ocean Grove NJ Picture from Tracy Brennan - photo taken by Mr. Brennan as he stood on the beach in ocean grove watching the waves destroy a building during the storm.

Photo by Heather Cortese - taken down the road from her house in Brick Township NJ. Many NJ homes along the shore and inland lost electricity and home phone lines were down cutting off access to the news and the damage the storm was causing outside.

Accounts of the storm as described by my family in NJ My family lives in East/No. Brunswick, Metuchen and Brick Township NJ. As the storm was raging with no electricity and no house phones my family and I kept in touch by cellphone while the lines were still open and their batteries were charged. I was reporting the news to them as I heard it from the TV. My sister described her fear as the transformers on the telephone poles out side her house blew up one by one sounding like explosions. One of the telephone poles fell on her neighbors property ripping the phone and power line out of my sisters home. The exterior light fixtures were ripped off along with large chunks of wood from the front of the house. The noise and shaking of the house in the dark was frightening. With live power lines laying on her front porch and across the road there was nothing to do but wait. The fire department came and told her not to leave her house because the power lines on her porch had electrified her front door, if she had touched the doorknob she would have been electrocuted. It took over a day from when the firemen came until the lines were finally moved. My family and friends were without power for over 2 weeks. When the power was finally restored in Brick Township the transformer blew and the power went back out for a third week.

Debris in the street washed up by the storm. The Day After Sandy The following pictures were taken by Heather Cortese within a few blocks of her house in Brick Township NJ the day after.

Debris washed up by the storm.

The roof from a house on the side of the road.

Trees knocked down in No. Brunswick NJ. Photo taken by Phillip Cortese.

Princeton Train Station flooded the day after Sandy. Photo taken by - Micheal Billand when he went to the train station.

Below is a picture of melted tar on the street where a live power line fell. Photos by Phillip Cortese - taken the day after Sandy.

Still signs of damage months after Sandy. Picture taken by Heather Cortese in April 2013 a mile from her house Brick Township NJ.

Pictures taken by Heather Cortese April 2013 a mile from her house Brick Township NJ

Picture taken by Heather Cortese in April 2013 a mile from her house Brick Township NJ

The danger of being outside during Sandy Hundreds of trees were downed across the state of NJ and many deaths were caused by falling trees during and after the storm. Wikipeida: One unrecorded story broadcasted on the news the night of the storm was about a husband and wife. After the electricity went out in their house the couple decided they would walk to their neighbors. On their way to their neighbors house the couple were struck by a falling tree injuring one of them and killing the other.