The Weather Channel provides
200+ pictures. Most damage is trivial. The usual and expected flooding on barrier islands. Cars flooded (ie in NYC's financial district) because owners foolishly ignored warnings and stayed. Wildwood homes with the usual flooding because they were not built on stilts are that environment requires. Ironically, one homeowner had an air conditioner (picture 57?), properly protected, on stilts.
Worst was a 100 home fire in Breezy Point Queens NY. Probably because some homeowner foolishly did not turn off electricity and gas before leaving. Learn from other's mistakes.
Locations with flooding have serious planning to implement. For example, PATH has been doing planning for flooding that will take 20 years. A picture of their Hoboken Station shows how much work must still be done.
In PA (Cellar region), most remain with electricity despite so many overhead wires threatened by trees. Weather Channel pictures demonstrate how minor this storm really was. Notice damage, while even electric and phone lines remain intact. Because this storm was only a serious storm. And not the disaster hyped by the local gossip TV stations (no TV for two days while local gossip hunts so hard for to report isolated damage). All useful news on this storm could have been reported by a 5 minute report once every hour. But, no. They stopped all TV broadcasting like it was 11 September. Even the network news (far more important information) was not broadcast. View the pictures. Even overhead power lines remain intact.
Learn from other's mistakes. If water is half way up your tires, then you are at serious risk or possible death. Notice how many (and how many 'the world is going to end' news reporters) do not know that. Learn from their mistakes.
If suffering from flooding, then you have a problem that must be solved. Anyone who had flooding should expect future flooding. Fix the house. Move the car. Rebuild or redecorate accordingly.
How out of touch are some? HMS Bounty left port on Thursday headed directly into what everyone knew was coming. The Captain said it was safer to be as sea rather than in port. He foolishly claimed he was going around the hurricane - using sail power. He and one crewman died because he did not use simple intelligence. And that was only a Category one hurricane. Intelligence - not the storm - was the problem. Meanwhile, in London, planes remain grounded because others used brain power to avert problems from a simple serious storm.
Notice that NYC even had plans to cover subway grates. Essential to protect the entire subway system and adjacent buildings.
Had Irene (last year) remained over water, then it would have been a more serious storm. Had Irene struck NYC as threatened, then NYC would have had serious problems. Notice NYC doing things that could only happened with advanced planning.
Among serious storms, Sandy was trivial. Even its wind was not that serious as demonstrated by so many intact utility wires. As demonstrated by maps during landfall in
Here they Come Again! A lesson that everyone should learn from. If your house had damage, then you know how much work need be done to prepare for serious storms. Storms that are expected to become more common.