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DISASTER RESPONSE www.buyemp.com Hurricane Sandy, By the Numbers • An estimated 8.5 million customers in 16 states and Washington, D.C. lost power due to Sandy, most in New York and New Jersey, for periods ranging from a few days to multiple weeks. Reportedly as many as 2,000 people are still without power in those two states as of early February. • The estimated cost of damage from Sandy ranges from a low of $74 billion to as much as $82 billion, with the majority of the damage taking place in New Jersey and New York. In New York 305,000 homes were destroyed and at least 72,000 buildings were damaged in New Jersey. • Hurricane Sandy has been blamed for 132 deaths in the U.S., as well as 60 in the Caribbean. • More than 850,000 people were evacuated prior to Hurricane Sandy making landfall, compared to about 1 million before Hurricane Katrina. At least 100,000 people were displaced by Sandy. • At its largest, Hurricane Sandy spanned more than 1,000 miles in diameter, dwarfing Katrina's 415 mile diameter span. Sandy spent about 32 hours on land. • Winds from Sandy reached 80 mph on land, making it a Category 1 hurricane. Katrina, with landfall winds up to 120 mph when it hit Louisiana, was a Category 3 hurricane at its strongest. • More than 4,300 FEMA personnel were deployed to assist before, during and after Sandy. Data and statistics courtesy of The New York Times, Hufngton Post, CNBC, Scientific American and FEMA. levels were probably about 12 feet. It was unfounded, on the first response. Two hours later we got called back again for a possible drowning, but they gave us a different location. We responded with a family member of the person who was suspected to be in the water. The police chief and I pulled up on the scene and the victim was far from the location that had originally been provided. This guy was a boater, a fisherman, who had gone down to check on his boat and apparently fell overboard at some point. He floated several piers away where he managed to hold on to another boat." The victim, in his 60s, had been holding onto the side of a boat, in rapidly moving water, for close to three hours, Bascom estimates. It was too dangerous to send rescue swimmers in to get him because of all the other boats and debris floating through the water, but Bascom was able to direct the man to an area where he could support himself on the pier and still hold on to the side of the boat. "He was in a channel we're very familiar with, that's normally 50 yards wide," Bascom says. "When we pulled up, the water rushing through that channel was probably about 400 yards wide. It had just overflown and engulfed restaurants, nightclubs and everything else that had lined the waterfront previously. Obviously this limited our access to get down to the guy, and the operation continued past the period where we had called people off the road, but when you actually make physical contact with an individual, regardless of the conditions, it's tough to walk away. So, we remained on scene until we were able to successfully rescue this guy, who then refused medical assistance. He just wanted to go home and put on dry clothes. Your typical old salt fisherman. Tough, tough guy." EMP is proud to announce the release of the 2013 EMP Medical Equipment & Supply catalog! · Featuring over 100 new products including LMA Supreme, Curaplex® Extrication Collars, Laerdal Compact Suction Unit 4, Philips FR3 AED and Phasin EMMA Capnometer · Includes an expanded selection of 5.11 Tactical Products · The exclusive home of L.A. Rescue Bags · FREE UPS ground shipping on most orders Check out the interactive online version of the catalog or request a free printed copy at www.buyemp.com. For More Information Circle 33 on Reader Service Card EMSWORLD.com | MARCH 2013 37