Sandy Leaves Billions in Damage Across East Coast

The cost of superstorm Sandy could run to $50 billion, or even higher as the full extent of damage is revealed. Businesses are rebuilding and, with federal aid, could come out ahead in the long run.

Published

6 months ago

Categories

US

Topics

United States

Places

United States of America, New York City, New Jersey

Transcript

SCRIPT: They're rebuilding this gourmet food shop in lower Manhattan. Nearly two weeks ago, Hurricane Sandy brought a wall of water through the door.

 SOUNDBITE 1 Marco Pasanella (man), Owner, Pasanella gourmet food shop (English, 17 sec):
 "The water came through the other side, the residential door, pushed this wall right into this space, and took all of the wine that we had stored behind this door up 3 feet, wrapped in plastic, and then took it out here and then spread it."

 Pasanella lost 10,000 bottles of wine in the storm. That, and the cost of fixing up the shop, will probably set him back around a quarter of a million dollars. But he's more worried about the storm's long-term impact on people's lives -- and on his business.

 SOUNDBITE 2 Marco Pasanella (man), Owner, Pasanella gourmet food shop (English, 14 sec):
 "If you look around in the neighborhood, we've been relatively lucky. But many of our neighbors won't be able to come for maybe a year or more to return back. And without residents, without people around the corner, who's going to buy wine?"

 Entire neighborhoods in New York and New Jersey were devastated in one night by Hurricane Sandy. 

 More than one million households and businesses had no electricity for more than a week. Some businesses have shut down completely. Transportation was crippled, with repairs ongoing. Damage in New York state alone has been estimated at 33 billion dollars, and economists estimate costs will continue to rise across the East Coast.

 SOUNDBITE 3 Yelena Shulyatyeva (woman), Economist (English, 22 sec):
 "Current estimates are in the order of 50 billion for the area itself. Why do we think that it will roll to 75, a hundred? Because the whole coast, the whole East Coast, was affected, from Georgia to Maine, and these are the most populated areas."

 There is a silver lining, though. Capital investments, much with federal help, to rebuild after Sandy could boost economic growth and help businesses rebound -- but only starting next year. SHOTLIST: NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 7, 2012, SOURCE: AFPTV - medium shot of workers removing dry wall from a contractor's van - wide shot of a wine boutique with three trucks in front - pan down of front door while Marco Pasanella walks in - shot of Marco Pasanella entering shop - SOUNDBITE 1 Marco Pasanella - follwoing shot of Marco Pasanella who opens a plastic curtain to reveal wine - pan of unsellable wine - various shots of Marco Pasanella in his shop with workers - SOUNDBITE 2 Marco Pasanella ROCKAWAYS, QUEENS, NEW YORK, OCTOBER 30, 2012, SOURCE: AFPTV - various shots of destroyed shops - shot of destroyed boardwalk NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 1, 2012, SOURCE: AFPTV - various shots of night time traffic in New York - various shots of people waiting for the bus NEW YORK, BNP PARIBAS HEADQUARTERS, NOVEMBER 8, 2012, SOURCE: AFPTV - pan of the exterior of a building - shot of Yelena Shulyatyeva walking around the trading floor - SOUNDBITE 3 Yelena Shulyatyeva NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 7, 2012, SOURCE: AFPTV - pan of a brick wall damaged by flooding - various shots of the boutique - various shots of a new wall