Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Sandy has lost its tropical characteristics and the National Hurricane Center has now classified the system as "post-tropical". However, this does not mean anything in terms of impacts (damaging winds, coastal flooding, etc.) as they will continue to be the same.Sandy made landfall as a post-tropical cyclone on the southern coast of New Jersey near Atlantic City at 8 p.m. with top sustained winds of 80 mph.Given that Sandy is no longer officially a hurricane, The Weather Channel and weather.com will refer to the system as "Superstorm Sandy". 1: Storm Surge Flooding in New York City IWITNESS WEATHER: JORDANF05Flooding near Avenue C and 14th street in New York City.With the first high tide cycle this morning, significant coastal flooding inundated many locations in southern New Jersey.During the second high tide cycle Monday evening, storm surge flooding inundated portions of the New York City area. Water was reported to be three feet deep in 4 New York plaza and six feet deep outside. Large amounts of water flooded the path train system under the Hudson River. WNBC reported that water was up to the attics of homes on Staten Island with rescues ongoing. FDNY engine 206 headquarters on Grand Street was evacuated by boats. An iWitness Weather photo showed flooding near Avenue C and 14th street in New York City. A tweet sent by @MTAinsider showed water in the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel (Brooklyn Battery Tunnel). A new storm tide record of 13.88 feet was set at The Battery in New York City on Monday evening. The old record was 11.2 feet in 1821. Tide levels in Sandy Hook, N.J. have topped the previous record from the Dec. 1992 Nor'easter and Hurricane Donna in 1960!Coastal flooding will continue through additional tide cycles beyond Monday's peak into Tuesday afternoon, in some areas!(MORE: New York area impacts) 2: Winds of 60 to 80+ mph Reported LocationTop Wind GustEatons Neck, N.Y.94 mphTuckerton, N.J.88 mphWesterly, R.I.86 mphNew York, N.Y. (JFK airport)79 mphWind gusts of 60 to 80+ mph have been reported from Maine to New Jersey and Maryland. Wind gusts have topped 60 mph in Boston and New York City.Downed trees, powerlines and other wind-related damage has been reported in Maine, Mass., Conn., R.I., N.Y., N.J., Pa., Vt., N.H. and Ohio.The threat of downed trees, powerlines and power outages will continue through Monday night and early Tuesday. Some structural damage is also possible in areas with winds gusting above 70 mph.(MORE: Sandy's status and forecast impacts | City-by-city impacts) 3: Near Six Million Without Power As of very early Tuesday morning, The Weather Channel and weather.com News Desk reports that there is a total of more than 5.9 million customers without power from Sandy.