A new study finds the storm caused over $8 billion more in damage than it would have in a world without climate change.
In 2012, Hurricane Sandy was about as close to a worst-case scenario storm for the New York, New Jersey and Connecticut area as one could imagine. With a storm surge of 9 feet inundating highly populated areas and valuable real estate, it was the fourth costliest hurricane in U.S. history, causing nearly $63 billion in damage. Now, in a first-of-its-kind study published in the journal Nature Communications, a team of researchers has quantified just how much more the storm cost due to higher sea levels from human-caused climate change. The study found that the damage increased by $8.1 billion — or 13% of the total cost — compared to what it would have been in a world without climate change. The study also found that climate change led to about 71,000 additional people being impacted by the flooding. «The human impact of climate change is clear and costly,» said study co-author Daniel Gilford, a postdoctoral associate at Rutgers University and climate scientist at Climate Central. In the case of Hurricane Sandy, nearly all the damage was caused by storm surge as the strong winds, low pressure and fast forward motion of the storm funneled Atlantic Ocean waters into the triangle-shaped, low-lying coast of the tri-state area. And since sea level is higher than it was a century ago, ocean waters were able to penetrate further inland, with deeper flood waters impacting more homes and causing more damage. In total, more than 650,000 homes were damaged or destroyed by the storm, and over 150 people lost their lives. «Human-caused sea level rise is already making every coastal flood more destructive and costly,» said Benjamin Strauss, CEO and chief scientist at Climate Central and the lead author of this study.
