Sandy Dusts Vermont, Ravages the Coast

Despite the bleak forecast and closures throughout Vermont prior to Sandy, the state experienced only minor flooding and high winds in the aftermath of the storm. Meanwhile, areas along the northeast coast were not so fortunate, and like Vermont after Irene, have a long road ahead to recovery.

With a lot of damage still left to process from Irene, Vermonters were extremely concerned about the potential for another natural disaster coming up the eastern seaboard. Looking back, Governor Peter Shumlin characterized Vermont’s fortune with a sense of relief.

“We are pleased that we have escaped the bullet on Sandy without more damage [and] without loss of life,” said Shumlin in a televised broadcast two days after the storm.

Strictly speaking, Vermont did not entirely avoid damage, but compared to the staggering figures posted for areas like New York City and parts of New Jersey, Vermont’s power outages appear relatively inconsequential.

“We did lose 36,000 power customers during the storm,” said Shumlin. “Right now, we have connected back up all but about 8,000, and we expect to have them connected back in the near future.”

By contrast, the main electricity provider for New York City, Con Edison,  estimated that over 800,000 homes were without power immediately after the storm. While above ground circuits may be quickly rebuilt, recovery for the sprawling underground infrastructure will be harder to reconnect. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, however, underlined the greatest loss as a result of Sandy in a press conference on Nov. 2.

“The death toll from Sandy continues to rise,” said Bloomberg somberly. “We now know that at least 41 New Yorkers have perished.”

Since then, a cold front has set in on the city, threatening the many thousands displaced from their homes as a result of Sandy’s devastating storm surges.

In response, Vermont, along with other states in the northeast, has sent state law enforcement officials to aid in the ongoing recovery effort to the south.

“We are obviously extremely sympathetic and empathetic, having survived Irene and other storms, to our neighbors in the south,” said Shumiln, “and we’re going to be offering them all the help that they deserve and need.”

Shumlin went on to report that Vermont will send two helicopters to New Jersey to help distribute food and resources and provide emergency response for those still in need.

In addition, the Vermont State Police (VSP) reported in a press release that they will be sending 11 troopers to New Jersey, joined by 15 troopers from Maine, to form a task force to aid local law enforcement.

“We are honored to be able to support the recovery efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy,” said Colonel Tom L’Esperance, director of the Vermont State Police. “As part of the greater law enforcement community, it is vital that we help one another during times of crisis.”

The VSP noted the significance of this act, adding that this is only the second time since the VSP’s formation that it has sent officers to support another state; the first time was in 2005 when VSP troopers assisted in Louisiana’s recovery from hurricane Katrina.

Despite the extreme damage to infrastructure along the coast, all nuclear facilities in the trajectory of the hurricane were either successfully shutdown or managed to withstand the severe conditions while running at normal capacity.

“Careful planning and comprehensive preparations days in advance of the storm paid off at all of the facilities, which were prepared to take the steps necessary to maintain safety against high winds, record flooding and disturbances on the regional electric grid,” the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) wrote in a recent press release.

While many facilities were forced to shut down in New York and in other states affected by the storm due to disruptions in the electric grid, Vermont’s sole reactor, Vermont Yankee, was asked by the regional electric grid operator only to reduce its output to 90 percent of capacity.

Recovery efforts will continue throughout the northeast in the coming weeks as officials decide how best to rebuild given coastal vulnerabilities to this kind of extreme flooding. Looking ahead, some groups warn that this storm and other natural disasters have been exacerbated by climate change and will continue to grow in frequency and severity in the years to come.

The largest reinsurance company in the world, Munich Re, found in a study released just two weeks prior to Sandy that North America has been the most affected part of the world in recent decades by extreme weather events, which was only bolstered by the onset of hurricane Sandy.

“The study shows a nearly quintupled number of weather-related loss events in North America for the past three decades,” wrote Munich Re.

While many doubt human involvement in these disaster events within the U.S., the report indicated in no uncertain terms that there is a connection between green house gas emissions and extreme weather.

“Climate change particularly affects formation of heat-waves, droughts, intense precipitation events, and in the long run … probably also tropical cyclone intensity,” Munich Re concluded.