Superstorm Sandy Impacts on the North Coast - Ohio

Superstorm Sandy impacts on the North Coast – Ohio. Thomas W. Schmidlin, CCM, Department of Geography, Kent State University, Kent OH 44242, tschmidl@kent.edu.

Extratropical Storm Sandy brought high winds and waves to Lake Erie and damaging winds and heavy rains to northern Ohio on 29-30 October 2012. North winds of 40-50 kts across the lake caused waves of 15-18 ft. This stopped most shipping, caused a 2 ft rise in water along the Ohio shore, and extensive damage to shore infrastructure from battering surf. Cleveland Airport, about 8 km inland, had sustained winds of 61 mph and gusts to 68 mph. Winds caused extensive tree damage, structural damage to buildings, and electrical outages to 218,000 customers. Rainfall of 5-7 in caused flooding and resulted in evacuation of hundreds of residents. Many businesses, schools, and roads were closed on 30-31 October due to lack of electricity, wind damage, or flooding. Up to 4.5 in of snow fell in central Ohio. This was the most damaging remnant hurricane in Ohio since Hurricane Ike in 2008.