Hurricane Sandy NYC: Expected to Cause Massive Flooding in New York, Long Island, New Jersey
Super storm Hurricane Sandy is still expected to churn up the east coast with devastating waves and tides predicted for New York City's metro area.
According to the Associated Press, government forecasters and experts are worried about the water, which usually kills and does more damage than winds in hurricanes.
The National Hurricane Center has predicted that some coastal parts of New York and New Jersey will see water rise from 6 to 11 feet from surge and waves.
The worst case scenario in this case will be seas amped up by giant waves and full-moon-powered high tides. This will gather with drenching rains, triggering inland flooding as the hurricane nears with a winter storm system that will make it worse and hold it in place for days.
Environmental Prediction Chief for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Louis Uccellini told the Associated Press that the worst of Sandy will hit New York City, Long Island and northern New Jersey.
"Yes this is the worst case scenario," Uccellini said.
On Sunday, the NOAA's hurricane research division ranked the surge and wave "destruction potential" for super storm Sandy. They ranked the hurricane's destruction, not including the storm, will eventually become a 5.8 pm a 0 to 6 scale.
According to experts at the research division, the damage expected from winds will be far less.
Weather Underground meteorologist Jeff Masters told the Associated Press that the damage caused by the surge is a record due to the storm's massive size.
"You have a lot of wind acting over a long distance of water," Masters said.
"Even though it doesn't pack much power in maximum wind speed, the tremendous size of Sandy - more than 1,000 miles across with tropical storm force winds - adds to the pummeling power when it comes ashore."
Master also added that Monday's full moon will add 2 to 3 inches to the storm surge in New York.
Sandy's energy numbers are bigger than those of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, although that can be misleading.
Master mentioned that Katrina's destruction was focused in a small area, which made it much worse.
Sandy's storm surge energy is spread over a wider area, as Katrina hit a city that is below sea levels and had levee problems.
