Hurricane Sandy's destructive impact on New York caused the NYSE to close

This Day In Weather History is a daily podcast by Chris Mei from The Weather Network, featuring stories about people, communities and events and how weather impacted them.

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Hurricane Sandy was a catastrophic storm that impacted the Caribbean, United States, and Eastern Canada. It formed on Oct. 22, 2012, and hit Jamaica, Haiti, Cuba, and other countries in the area, before making landfall in the U.S.

Sandy killed a total of 233 people and cost US$68.7 billion. In the United States, the storm caused 157 deaths and $65 billion, making it the fifth-most costly storm in U.S. history.

"Tanker beached on Front Street, Staten Island." Courtesy of Jim.henderson/Wikipedia/CC0

In the U.S., many states were impacted, including Florida, the Carolinas, Virginia, and Maryland, but New Jersey and New York received the worst of the storm.

Starting Oct. 28, Sandy reached New Jersey and New York. The storm flooded the New York City Subway system and most of the tunnels that enter Manhattan.

"After Hurricane Sandy, large portions of Manhattan were without electricity." Courtesy of Hybirdd/Wikipedia/CC BY-SA 2.0

In the two states, the storm knocked out the electricity for 2.2 million people. Sandy's strong winds caused a construction crane to collapse, causing several thousand people in Manhattan to evacuate for six days.

In New York City, the storm killed at least 43 people and destroyed thousands of homes and around 250,000 vehicles. Sandy's flooding caused the New York Stock Exchange to close for two days.

"Boat on the subway tracks of the IND Rockaway Line." Courtesy of Metropolitan Transportation Authority of the State of New York/Wikipedia/CC BY 2.0

To learn more about Hurricane Sandy's impact on New York and New Jersey, listen to today's episode of "This Day In Weather History."

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