Hurricane Sandy caused nearly $18.8 billion in property lossesfrom Maryland to Massachusetts, affecting an area that produces 10percent of U.S. economic output.

A year later, a report based on Guy Carpenter's on-site surveying shows thebrunt of Sandy's damage fell on Mantaloking, NJ; Breezy Point,Queens; Long Beach Island, NJ; and Staten Island.

Sandy affected New Jersey and New York the most—at $9.6 and $6.3billion in losses, respectively, according to the InsuranceInformation Institute (I.I.I.)—because the infrastructure was notbuilt to withstand a historic mix of water and wind.

“Sandy was a unique storm with an estimated 700-year returnperiod track, historically low barometric pressures, record waveheights and a historic storm surge. The storm barreled into an areaof the country where those types of impacts are rare” said JamesWaller, research meteorologist for GC Analytics.

GC assessors spent nearly a month studying the mostseverely-affected areas in Rhode Island, New York and New Jerseyfrom December 2012 to January 2013—areas that were inaccessibleimmediately following the storm. Here is the worst of what theyfound.

Mantaloking, NJ

Guy Carpenter said “damage in this area is consistent withclassical storm surge signature”, which affected 75 percent of allhomes in the area. Catastrophic structural damage was observed over50 percent to 75 percent of beach-facing homes, and to 30 percentof houses away from the immediate coast. About half of all homesfacing the Atlantic—mostly single-family summer residences withwood frame construction—were entirely missing, or found across thestreet where they had collapsed onto other structures.

Breezy Point, Queens,NY

Breezy Point, especially the zone along Rockaway Point Blvd.between Breezy Point Park and Fort Tilden, sustained the mostconcentrated damage in the Long Island area. 20 percent of homessustained structural disruption, and one out of 10 homes wereseverely damaged; some were completely dislodged from theirfoundations. Many of the wood-framed properties were found burnedor burned to the ground—possibly from blown/burning transformers ortipped candles whose flames were spread by Sandy's winds, made“worse still without heavy rainfall”. All utilities were disrupted.

Long Beach Island,NJ

Evidence of interior home damage due to water inundation spannedthe island, including Long Beach, Beach Haven Heights, Holgate,Ship Bottom, Surf City, and Bamegat Light. The Forsy NationalWildlife Reserve was also affected. Maximum wind gusts in theselocation reached 60 to 80 mph during the storm. One home was leftfloating 42 feet from its foundation and toppled onto its side.Other homes exhibited watermarks all the way to their ceilings. Thebeach along Highway 72 on the Jersey Shore was severely eroded,exhibiting a drop of three to five feet beyond the sand dunes,making the coast more vulnerable to future surges.

Staten Island,NY

Guy Carpenter couldn't send its staff into Staten Island, wherestorm tides reportedly reached up to 16 feet and inundation spannednearly a mile onshore, until early January 2013. When they entered,they photographed properties that were not only broken, butcompletely disintegrated. The island is mostly a clay bed,consisting of low, flood-prone marshland, which amplifies floodeffects due to its tendency to hold water. The moisture had causedtwo sinkholes two open along a road, buckling adjacent roadways,sidewalks, traffic lights, streetlights and utility lines.

Lower Manhattan

New York City was not left unscathed—residents in the island'slower area were unable to heat homes due to damaged gas lines.Basements, where diesel or oil tanks are often stored, were floodedin every structure along Water St. Mold and mildew grew and many ofthe structures were inaccessible due to health and safety concernsresulting from compromised water and sanitaryinfrastructure.