Hurricane Sandy Storm Surge to Cause Flooding

Many cities on the Eastern Seaboard might become basins with a significant surge of sea water.
3:00 | 10/29/12


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Transcript for Hurricane Sandy Storm Surge to Cause Flooding
places like new york city. Absolutely. Not to be nerdy, but common sense. Just to be standing there. Here in new york city, a couple hours away from high tide, water's coming over the edge. The problem is big metro areas like new york city, atlantic city, philly, they're low-lying already. Any assumption and this place will fill up like a basin. And it will. As a matter of fact, where we're standing right here, there are some places that will see exactly the water that chris is talking about. We'll take a look and see exactly what storm surge will do. Reporter: Sandy's storm surge will be wind and water and the worst. Ocean will come inland here causing massive flooding. So that likely to be the biggest threat to loss of life. Reporter: Storm surge forces bodies of water higher and farther than norm. We're talking 10 to feet feet or higher. An extremely deadly wall of water powerfully invading areas. 90% of all hurricane deaths. To make matters worse, sandy with her high wind is getting a head start, a full moon. During a full moon, gravitational pull on the southeast is its strongest, producing high tide of two to four feet. And residents dug in with protective sand. Long islanders filled winds and side streets with sandbags and even to stop the fit from the sea with the full weight of the ocean behind it. We packed 35 sandbags and brought them back to the house. Then we put plastic and sandbags and boarded up. Reporter: Sandy could turn lower manhattan into a virtual flood zone where experts predict considerable flooding in an area that has little elevation. Last year, irene, and driving through the wall street area. Now, last year, you and I were standing almost exactly here to get a very different situation. The surge isn't going to bring just water. It's going to bring force. And that's why we don't know how it will affect an area like this already in evacuation. People aren't living in the area where we are right now. If the forecasters, not you, sam, but everybody general, close to accurate, this place is going to look very different tomorrow. Maybe permanently. Chris, we're standing right here where the water is up on the edge. Last year where we were here, the water wa or feet below that. Didn't really get to the top until the middle of the storm. Absolutely.


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