As Hurricane Sandy makes its way toward the eastern seaboard of the United States, disaster experts and meteorologists warn that the mid-Atlantic and Northeastern states face dangerous winds and heavy rains that could trigger flooding in the coming days.
Some forecasters even say that Sandy has the potential to be a multibillion dollar disaster greater than last year’s Hurricane Irene, though it may be too soon to tell if it has the power and trajectory to fulfill that worst-case scenario.
There are concerns that Sandy could join with another storm approaching from the west, a “nor’easter” that was going to strike somewhere around New York City and New England next week anyway, hurricane or not.
If the two systems combine, the effects will be much worse than if Sandy were to turn and go out to sea.
“When that occurs there can be a bit of a synergy, sort of a 1 plus 1 equals 3 effect,” said Michael Kistler, a product manager at RMS, one of the main firms used by the insurance industry to model potential disaster exposure.
“There’s a lot of folklore in popular media around a ‘perfect storm’ or that kind of event but essentially what you’re doing is bringing two sources of energy together.”
-from Reuters news service
