Hurricane Sandy And Hurricane Irene : Two Hurricanes that changed New Jersey Forever

        Imagine yourself in the middle of winds that are more than 70 miles per hour. You are trying to enter your house which is near the ocean, has no electricity and is flooded. This is very similar to the situation that people felt in Hurricane Irene and Hurricane Sandy. These are also two hurricanes that I have personally lived through. As most people in New Jersey know they both were Category 1 storms when they hit New Jersey. They both were devastating when they hit land. Both had their most casualties in the U.S.A. The eye of both hurricanes went through New Jersey.  Both broke records in New Jersey and both will never be forgotten by those that have been affected by it. But even with these similarities, their are tremendous differences in these hurricanes, especially in their statistics.

        
        Irene and Sandy both had caused tremendous damage to New Jersey. Though, Sandy's damage was $52.4 billion, making it the 2nd costliest storm in the U.S.A. While Irene's damage was $16.56 billion, making it the 7th costliest storm in the U.S.A. Also Irene's damage was mostly because of the result of the tremendous amount of rain. While Sandy's damage was mostly because of the wind. Another huge difference between the two storms was that Irene at it's height was a Category 4 Hurricane. On the other hand Sandy at it's greatest extent was a Category 2 Hurricane. Another major difference is that Irene caused 56 deaths , in which 47 were from the U.S.A. However, Sandy caused 199 deaths, in which 121 were from the U.S. Also Sandy made landfall in New Jersey, while Irene made landfall in North Carolina. Another huge difference was the fact that Irene had a smaller diameter than Sandy. This also resulted in the amount of days it took for the hurricane to pass over. Sandy took four days to pass through New Jersey. While Irene only took two days.  Also, in Irene most people died because of flooding. In Sandy, most people died because of fallen trees. All in all, no matter how much damage or deaths each cause, let us hope that New Jersey will never face another storm like these two.

 

Hurricane Irene

    

Hurricane Sandy