Superstorm Sandy
A blend of a downgraded hurricane mixed with two other storms, Superstorm Sandy created an unprecedented weather event that left many dead and millions without power on the East Coast. The Washington Times offers the latest news, photos and videos of the wind, snow, rain and flooding as residents begin to clean up and rebuild in the aftermath of the 2012 Frankenstorm.
Congress is poised to clear the final $50 billion chunk of emergency aid for Superstorm Sandy relief Monday — and in one vote, it will have used up all the new tax money President Obama won by raising rates on the wealthy in the "fiscal cliff" deal.
Published
January 28, 2013
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By Wayne Parry - Associated Press
New Jersey used a record-breaking gesture Friday to celebrate its recovery from a record-setting storm, proclaiming to the nation that the Jersey shore is back in business following Superstorm Sandy.
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By Jennifer Kay - Associated Press
Responding to criticism after Superstorm Sandy, the National Hurricane Center said Thursday it would change the way it warns people about tropical storms that morph into something else.
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A bill to provide federal funding to churches and nonprofits tied to religious organizations has passed the House, over the objections of one Democrat, Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York, who found it unconstitutional.
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Congress on Monday cleared $50 billion in additional Superstorm Sandy relief and reconstruction aid for the Northeast, sending it to President Obama for his signature and bringing the total tab for taxpayers from the storm to $60 billion.
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Federal Emergency Management Agency officials are touting a first-of-its-kind "Rapid Repairs" program as speeding aid to Superstorm Sandy victims in New York City. But ask a resident still awaiting help, and the response, more often than not, is: Repairs? What repairs?
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By Stephen Dinan and Sean Lengell - The Washington Times
The House voted Tuesday against cutting the budget to pay for Superstorm Sandy relief spending, in a showdown that underscored the deep consensus in Congress for deficit spending when a natural disaster strikes.
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A $51 billion GOP-crafted Superstorm Sandy relief package scheduled to hit the House floor Tuesday includes billions of dollars in non-emergency spending — angering budget hawks, government-watchdog groups and many Republicans who say the bill is the latest example of out-of-whack government priorities.
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By Andrew Miga - Associated Press
Conservatives and watchdog groups are mounting a "not-so-fast" campaign against a $50.7 billion Superstorm Sandy aid package that Northeastern governors and lawmakers hope to push through the House this coming week.
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By Jessica Chasmar - Special to The Washington Times
New Jersey Democratic Rep. Rob Andrews is demanding his colleagues strip pork payouts from a massive aid bill intended to help victims of Superstorm Sandy.
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By Wayne Parry - Associated Press
While Superstorm Sandy did highly visible damage to homes, boardwalks and roads, it also walloped the Northeastern fishing industry, whose workers are hoping for a small piece of any future disaster assistance that Congress might approve.
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By Angela Delli Santi - Associated Press
In 2010, Gov. Chris Christie underestimated the first major storm of his administration by flying to Disney World hours before snow crippled New Jersey. A year later, he overplayed Tropical Storm Irene with the now-infamous order, "Get the hell off the beach."
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Rep. Gregory Meeks, New York Democrat, said Saturday that some Republicans who voted against the Superstorm Sandy relief funds are "mean-spirited."
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By David B. Caruso - Associated Press
A nursing home and an assisted living facility are under scrutiny by state officials and an advocacy group after The Associated Press disclosed that hundreds of elderly and disabled people forced to evacuate by Superstorm Sandy were still sleeping on cots in cramped and sometimes oppressive conditions almost two months later.
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By Andrew Miga - Associated Press
The new Congress has passed a $9.7 billion bill to help pay flood insurance claims to homeowners, renters and businesses damaged by Superstorm Sandy.
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After withering criticism from New Jersey and New York lawmakers, House Speaker John A. Boehner said Wednesday that his chamber will rush immediate Superstorm Sandy relief money through Congress on Friday, and take up a bigger bill by the middle of the month.
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By David Bauder - Associated Press
Neil Young said Sunday that he couldn't see performing in the area devastated by superstorm Sandy without doing something to help people who were affected by it.
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Associated Press
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is asking for nearly $37 billion in federal aid to recover and rebuild after superstorm Sandy.
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Like many people watching images of the devastation left in the wake of Superstorm Sandy, the Bethesda children were stunned by what they saw and felt compelled to do something.
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By Meghan Barr - Associated Press
The things that Marge Gatti once cherished are lying on what's left of her deck, spattered in mud, like a yard sale gone awry. The stuff is ruined, just like her sodden Staten Island home, which was ravaged by Superstorm Sandy's floodwaters and will be demolished in the coming weeks. Of all things material, Gatti has nothing. And yet, on Thanksgiving Day, she will be counting her blessings.
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By Mesfin Fekadu - Associated Press
Madonna has gone "Gangnam Style." Korean pop star PSY joined the pop icon Tuesday night during her second show this week at Madison Square Garden. They danced to his pop culture anthem "Gangnam Style" and to her jam "Music" in front of nearly 20,000.
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Associated Press
The Dave Matthews Band is giving $1 million to help Superstorm Sandy recovery efforts.
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By Frank Eltman and Michael Virtanen - Associated Press
Priscilla Niemiera has a message for officials at the Long Island Power Authority. "I'd tell them, get off your rear end and do your job," the 68-year-old Seaford resident said. Well, she would if she could get in touch with anyone.
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By Jim Fitzgerald and Tom Hays - Associated Press
A return to 1970s-era gas rationing seemed to help with hourslong gas station lines that formed after Superstorm Sandy, but it didn't end a fuel-gauge fixation that suddenly has become a way of life for drivers in the nation's largest city.
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By Meghan Barr - Associated Press
You might be surprised at what has become a lauded and effective relief organization for victims of Superstorm Sandy: Occupy Wall Street.
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By Beth Fouhy and Wayne Parry - Associated Press
Election Day turnout was heavy Tuesday in several storm-ravaged areas in New York and New Jersey, a welcome change from crisis to catharsis for many who saw exercising their civic duty as a sign of normalcy amid lingering devastation.
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By Jocelyn Noveck and Michael Rubinkam - Associated Press
The lights were back on Saturday in lower Manhattan, prompting screams of sweet relief from residents who had been plunged into darkness for nearly five days by Superstorm Sandy. But that joy contrasted with deepening resentment in the city's outer boroughs and suburbs over a continued lack of power and maddening gas shortages.
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Facing questions about his campaigning for re-election while millions of Americans still await government relief efforts from superstorm Sandy, President Obama said Saturday that one of the disaster's positive results was "leaders of different political parties working together to fix what's broken."
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In the face of withering criticism, New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and organizers of the New York City Marathon announced Friday that the race, scheduled for Sunday, will be canceled.
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By Karen Matthews - Associated Press
Motorists increasingly desperate for a fill-up fumed in long lines at gas stations and screamed at each other Friday as fuel shortages in Superstorm Sandy's wake spread across the metropolitan area.
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By Eileen Aj Connelly and Meghan Barr - Associated Press
The mother grabbed her two boys and fled their home as it filled with water, hoping to outrun Superstorm Sandy.
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Earlier this year, the Department of Homeland Security announced a successful test for a giant high-pressure balloon that can plug a mass-transit tunnel, in theory preventing damaging floods such as the ones flowing through New York's subway system.
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Associated Press
Police say the bodies of two missing New York City boys have been found.
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By Geoff Mulvihill and Maryclaire Dale - Associated Press
In its tear of destruction, the megastorm Sandy left parts of New Jersey's beloved shore in tatters, sweeping away beaches, homes, boardwalks and amusement parks.
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By Adam Geller and Meghan Barr - Associated Press
Subways started running again in much of New York City on Thursday for the first time since Superstorm Sandy, but traffic at bridges backed up for miles, long lines formed at gas stations, and tempers flared as commuters waited for buses.
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While Congress is facing several unresolved issues in a potentially busy post-election lame duck session, finding additional disaster relief money for Hurricane Sandy likely won't be on the list, as FEMA and lawmakers say available funds should be sufficient.
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D.C. United and the New York Red Bulls will swap home dates for their Eastern Conference semifinal series, the clubs announced Wednesday, with RFK Stadium hosting Game 1 on Saturday as the New York metropolitan area continues to recover from the devastation of Hurricane Sandy.
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By Rachel Cohen - Associated Press
The New York City Marathon is a go for Sunday, and while logistical questions persist one thing is certain: The 26-mile route will have a disaster for a backdrop.
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Giant cities and small neighborhoods across the eastern half of the country took stock, mourned their losses and began the first tentative efforts to restore normalcy Wednesday as the death toll from superstorm Sandy rose to more than 70 and the economic losses were being reckoned in the tens of billions of dollars.
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By Samantha Henry - Associated Press
Tempers are flaring in Hoboken, N.J., as residents complain officials in the flooded city on the Hudson River have been slow to get out food and water to the stranded.
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By Rachel Cohen - Associated Press
The 26 miles might be the easy part.
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By Adam Geller - Associated Press
Two major airports reopened and the floor of the New York Stock Exchange came back to life Wednesday, while across the river in New Jersey, National Guardsmen rushed to rescue flood victims and fires still raged two days after Superstorm Sandy.
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By Jennifer Peltz and Ralph D. Russo - Associated Press
Faced with the prospect of days without power and swaths of the city plunged into darkness at night, police brought in banks of lights and boosted patrols to reassure victims of a monster storm that they won't be victims of crime.
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Schools, government offices and transportation systems in the D.C. metro area are set to resume full operations on Wednesday after Hurricane Sandy ravaged parts of the East Coast but did less damage than expected to the District and its suburbs.
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Home insurance companies say they were prepared for Hurricane Sandy, but the same may not be true for flood insurers who are feeling increased pressure as the storm caused more water damage than normally expected in such storms.
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Although Hurricane Sandy blew President Obama's re-election campaign far off its charted course, Mr. Obama had the advantage over Republican rival Mitt Romney Tuesday by taking on the presidential role of coordinating emergency relief efforts across the Eastern seaboard.
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Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell said Tuesday that, while there was still clean-up to do, the worst of Hurricane Sandy had passed through the state and the commonwealth was "very blessed" that the damage was not as extensive as in places like New Jersey and New York.
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By Rachel Cohen - Associated Press
Five days before New York hosts its namesake marathon, its public transportation is shut down, its airports closed, its streets flooded and power out in many neighborhoods.
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By PETER SVENSSON - Associated Press
Water welling into southern Manhattan drenched one of the world's densest communications nodes, taking out popular websites and forcing carriers to reroute international traffic.
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Associated Press
The New York Stock Exchange will reopen for regular trading Wednesday after being shut down for two days because of Hurricane Sandy.
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Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley was thankful Tuesday morning that his state escaped the brunt of Hurricane Sandy's damage, but called on residents to remain cautious for the next day as crews assess damage and restore power.
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Governors, mayors and millions of Americans on the East Coast braced for a "superstorm" of unprecedented strength — and it delivered.
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Associated Press
Some streets remain covered with water in Ocean City with flooding extending as far as two blocks from the bay in some areas.
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Associated Press
A huge fire destroyed 80 to 100 houses in a flooded beachfront neighborhood of the borough of Queens on Tuesday, forcing firefighters to undertake daring rescues and injuring three people.
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D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray set off on a tour of shelters and sites along the Potomac River Tuesday morning to examine the damage and debris left by a one-two punch of harsh weather in the capital region.
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By MARCIA DUNN - Associated Press
The superstorm that has been ravaging the East Coast is enormous, even when seen from space.
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By Vicki Smith - Associated Press
Wet snow and high winds spinning off the edge of superstorm Sandy spread blizzard conditions over parts of West Virginia and neighboring Appalachian states Tuesday, shutting one interstate as trucks and cars bogged down and knocking out power to many.
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Swirling from the nation's capital to New England, a hurricane-fueled superstorm struck the most populous region of the United States on Monday with the type of brute force that had been predicted for days.
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By Allen G. Breed and Tom Hays - Associated Press
Millions of people from Maine to the Carolinas awoke Tuesday without electricity, and an eerily quiet New York City was all but closed off by car, train and air as superstorm Sandy steamed inland, still delivering punishing wind and rain. The U.S. death toll climbed to 34, many of the victims killed by falling trees.
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