Risk Management Solutions says Sandy's impact on the East Coast is much more severe than last years Hurricane Irene. As emergency personnel, modelers and insurers assess the ultimate damage, some have connected the storm to hot topics such as federal risk-management strategies, insurers' disaster responses, and climate change.

Disaster recovery is a challenge for any business, but when your business is helping others recover from their own disasters and your own business is located in the midst of that same disaster, well, thats what you call a double-edged sword.

Millions of people across the eastern United States awoke on Tuesday to scenes of destruction wrought by monster storm Sandy, which knocked out power to huge swathes of the nation's most densely populated region, swamped New York's subway system and submerged streets in Manhattan's financial district.