This Weekly Update focuses on Hurricane Sandy's effect on millions of people in the Northeast-Midwest region.  The storm plowed into the Mid-Atlantic region on the evening of Monday, October 29, 2012 and pummeled the Northeast into Tuesday, before causing high winds in the Midwest on Wednesday.  Many areas of federal policy interest, including public transportation, energy reliability and emergency management are in play in the wake of this huge storm.

Public Transportation Impacts

Hurricane Sandy seriously disrupted public transportation service and infrastructure in the Northeast-Midwest region, and the effects may linger for days, weeks and months.  Public transportation service was shut down as a fail-safe on Monday as the storm approached New York City, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.  The decision to do so was well-warranted.  The storm incurred severe damage to New Jersey Transit Rail and New York City's transit system; in New York, several tunnels and stations were flooded.  The storm disabled intercity public transportation in the region as well.  Amtrak experienced "unprecedented" water intrusion; partial service along the busy Northeast Corridor was restored today, but other segments of the line, including those into and out of New York Penn Station, will remain closed pending repairs and restoration work. 

Commercial and Residential Impacts

Millions of the Northeast region's residents await the return of electricity service in their homes after yesterday's storm events.  Today, the storm is affecting the Midwest, with power outages reported in Detroit and other cities.  A running CNN tally shows that even as power is restored to affected areas, as of Wednesday afternoon, nearly 6 million customers were still without power in 15 states--11 of which are in the Northeast-Midwest region--and Washington, DC.

Local social services networks are heavily taxed with the needs of storm-related homeless and stranded citizens.  As of Tuesday night, for example, 6,400 people in New York City and 4,500 residents of New Jersey were staying in shelters. 

Emergency Management

Economic estimates of the storm's damage across the region range from $10 billion to $20 billion, with perhaps only $5 billion to $10 billion in losses covered by insurance.  Earlier this week, President Obama authorized emergency declarations for New Hampshire, Virginia, West Virginia, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island; such a declaration authorizes FEMA to begin mobilizing for disaster relief efforts.  On Monday, disaster assistance--such as grants, low-cost loans, and other programs--was made available to those living in the most storm-ravaged areas, as the President declared "major disasters" in the States of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut.  According to the Chicago Tribune, FEMA could quickly access $7 billion for relief efforts, "and could get ahold of another $11 billion with congressional action."

Read more at The Philadelphia Inquirer, The New York Times, and CNN's state impact news.

The Great Lakes Integrated Sciences and Assessments (GLISA) and the National Laboratory for Agriculture and the Environment released a series of white papers that comprise the Midwest Technical Input Report for the National Climate Assessment.  The National Climate Assessment is prepared by the U.S. Global Change Research Program every four years for the president and congress.  The topics of the white papers include historical and future climate, water resources, forestry, biodiversity, transportation, energy, agriculture, tourism and recreation, and coastal systems.  The papers focus on the potential impacts, vulnerabilities, and adaptation options to climate variability and change across many sectors. 

For more information, contact Elin Betanzo, Senior Policy Analyst at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.