Hurricane Sandy

Losses, 2024 dollars

$88 billion

Losses at the time

$65 billion

Deaths

159

The losses and deaths are NCEI’s, counting everything the disaster did. The episodes below are only what the Weather Service filed in its Storm Events record, which counts damage differently and often not at all, so the two never add up and are shown apart.

• Coastal Flood in New York, October 28 to 30, 201239 deaths · 15 eventsPost Tropical Storm Sandy was the costliest natural disaster in Southeast New York. Tropical Storm Sandy formed in the Caribbean Sea on October 22.
• Flooding in Ohio, October 29 to 31, 2012$206,000 · 6 eventsSuperstorm Sandy brought record rainfall and major flooding to northern portions of Ohio in late October 2012. The flooding was the result of three consecutive weather events; a cold front, hurricane Sandy remnants, and lake enhanced showers.
• Flooding and Coastal Flood in Massachusetts, October 29 to 30, 2012$21 million · 69 kt wind · 32 eventsSandy, a hybrid storm with both tropical and extra-tropical characteristics, brought high winds and coastal flooding to southern New England.
• Coastal Flood and High Wind in Rhode Island, October 29, 20121 injured · $11 million · 75 kt wind · 10 eventsSuperstorm Sandy, a hybrid storm with both tropical and extra-tropical characteristics, brought high winds and coastal flooding to southern New England.
• Flooding and Coastal Flood in Maryland, October 29 to 30, 2012$5.0 million · 52 kt wind · 15 eventsPost Tropical Storm Sandy caused an initial estimate of $5 million dollars in damage in the Eastern Shore of Maryland.
• Coastal Flood in New Jersey, October 29 to 30, 20122 deaths · 4 eventsTropical Storm Sandy formed in the Caribbean Sea on October 22. After drifting slowly southwest on October 23, Sandy turned to the north and intensified to a hurricane on October 24, just before making landfall in Jamaica.
• Coastal Flood in Puerto Rico, October 29 to 30, 20122 eventsLarge long period northwest swells associated with the broad circulation of Hurricane Sandy affected the local Atlantic waters and the Caribbean passages. Large breaking waves of 15 to 20 feet produced coastal flooding mainly in low lying and exposed areas.
• Coastal Flood in Connecticut, October 29 to 30, 20124 eventsTropical Storm Sandy formed in the Caribbean Sea on October 22. After drifting slowly southwest on October 23, Sandy turned to the north and intensified to a hurricane on October 24, just before making landfall in Jamaica.
• Coastal Flood in New Hampshire, October 29 to 30, 2012$25,000 · 2 eventsHurricane Sandy merged with a strong upper level trough approaching from the west just off the mid Atlantic coast. The resultant cut-off low caused Sandy to retrograde towards the southern New Jersey coast during the evening of October 29th as it rapidly intensified to 940 mb.
• Coastal Flood in Maine, October 29, 2012$4,000 · 2 eventsHurricane Sandy merged with a strong upper level trough approaching from the west just off the mid Atlantic coast. The resultant cut-off low caused Sandy to retrograde towards the southern New Jersey coast during the evening of October 29th as it rapidly intensified to 940 mb.
• Flooding in Maryland, October 29 to 31, 20127 eventsHurricane Sandy moved up the Atlantic coast and then turned Northwest and made landfall northeast of MD. Heavy rain and high winds over spread coastal regions and most of Maryland. Heavy rain caused flood and river flooding.
• Flooding and Coastal Flood in Pennsylvania, October 29 to 30, 201211 deaths · 6 injured · $16 million · 70 kt wind · 18 eventsPost Tropical Storm Sandy caused an initial estimate of $20 million dollars in damage in Pennsylvania and directly or indirectly caused 15 deaths across the state. Most of the damage in the eastern part of the state was wind related as wind gusts reached as high as 81 mph.
• Flooding and Heavy Snow in Pennsylvania, October 29 to 31, 20121 death · 56 kt wind · 39 eventsHurricane Sandy began as a tropical wave over the Caribbean Sea around 19 October 2012 and became a powerful storm by 23 October 2012 before making its long track over the western Atlantic, just off the East Coast of the United States and then into New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
• Storm Surge and High Wind in New York, October 29 to 30, 20121 death · 50 kt wind · 24 eventsHurricane Sandy moved northward off the eastern seaboard of the United States during the last week of October 2012.
• Flooding in Virginia, October 29, 201222 eventsTropical Cyclone Sandy which moved northward well off the Mid Atlantic Coast produced heavy rain which caused flooding across much of eastern and southeast Virginia. Storm total rainfall ranged from 4 inches to as much as 10 inches across the area.
• Flooding in Maryland, October 29, 20124 eventsTropical Cyclone Sandy which moved northward well off the Mid Atlantic Coast produced heavy rain which caused flooding across much of the Lower Maryland Eastern Shore. Storm total rainfall ranged from 4 inches to as much as 10 inches across the area.
• Flooding in North Carolina, October 29, 20122 eventsTropical Cyclone Sandy which moved northward well off the Mid Atlantic Coast produced heavy rain which caused flooding across portions of northeast North Carolina. Storm total rainfall ranged from 3 inches to as much as 9 inches across the area.
• Flooding in Virginia, October 29 to 30, 201210 eventsHurricane Sandy moved up the Atlantic coast and then turned Northwest and made landfall northeast of MD. Heavy rain and high winds over spread coastal regions and most of Maryland and parts of Northern Virginia. Heavy rain caused flood and river flooding.
• Coastal Flood in Maryland, October 29 to 30, 2012$6.0 million · 3 eventsTropical Cyclone Sandy moving northward well off the Mid Atlantic Coast then northwest into extreme southern New Jersey produced very strong northeast winds followed by very strong west or northwest winds.
• Flash Flood and Flood in West Virginia, October 29 to 30, 20122 eventsHurricane Sandy moved up the Atlantic coast and then turned Northwest and made landfall northeast of MD. Heavy rain and high winds over spread coastal regions and most of Maryland, eastern panhandle of West Virginia and Northern Virginia.
• Flash Flood and Flood in Maine, October 29 to 31, 201252 kt wind · 7 eventsSandy brought high winds and flooding to portions of east-central and Downeast Maine. The strongest winds generally occurred across Downeast areas from the late afternoon of the 29th into the early morning hours of the 30th.
• Flood in District of Columbia, October 29 to 30, 20121 eventHurricane Sandy moved up the Atlantic coast and then turned Northwest and made landfall northeast of MD. Heavy rain and high winds over spread coastal regions and most of Maryland, Northern Virginia, and DC. Heavy rain caused flood and river flooding.
• Flooding and Heavy Snow in Pennsylvania, October 29 to 31, 2012$460,000 · 31 eventsThe remnants of Sandy brought a variety of weather impacts to western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio, northern West Virginia, and Garrett county Maryland as the storm made landfall and interacted with a cold front essentially right over the region.
• Flooding and High Wind in Maine, October 29 to 31, 2012$281,000 · 76 kt wind · 16 eventsOn Monday, October 29th, Hurricane Sandy (and its remnants) tracked northwest from well off the North Carolina coast to southeastern Pennsylvania, making landfall near the southern tip of New Jersey.
• Coastal Flood in Maryland, October 30, 20125 eventsHurricane Sandy moved up the Atlantic coast and then turned Northwest and made landfall northeast of MD. Heavy rain and high winds over spread coastal regions and most of Maryland. Heavy rain caused flood and river flooding.
• Coastal Flood in District of Columbia, October 30 to 31, 20122 eventsHurricane Sandy moved up the Atlantic coast and then turned Northwest and made landfall northeast of MD. Heavy rain and high winds over spread coastal regions and most of Maryland, Northern Virginia, and DC. Heavy rain caused flood and river flooding.
• Coastal Flood in Virginia, October 30, 20121 eventHurricane Sandy moved up the Atlantic coast and then turned Northwest and made landfall northeast of MD. Heavy rain and high winds over spread coastal regions and most of Maryland, Northern Virginia, and DC. Heavy rain caused flood and river flooding.
• Flash Flooding and Hail in Massachusetts, October 30, 2012$125,000 · 1 in hail · 6 eventsShowers and thunderstorms developed within one of the bands rotating through Southern New England from superstorm Sandy. A strong low level jet, coupled with elevated instability resulted in a couple of these storms becoming severe.
• Flood in Maine, November 1, 20121 eventThe remnants of Hurricane Sandy produced 3 to 6 inches of rainfall resulting in minor flooding on the Swift River at Roxburry and the Kennebec River at Skowhegan. Flooding along the Kennebec persisted for about 8 hours into November.

Every billion-dollar disasterEvery storm of 2012The 2012 hurricane seasonTornadoes in 2012

NOAA NCEI, U.S. Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters (2025), https://doi.org/10.25921/stkw-7w73, and the Storm Events Database for the episodes.