NY, NJ reeling from devastating aftermath of Hurricane Sandy

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said in a CNN interview Tuesday in a solemn tone on the damage wreaked by Hurricane Sandy, "It is beyond anything I thought I`d ever seen," adding restoration efforts will start as soon as possible.

With more damage being reported, however, full recovery is expected to take a considerable period of time.

The mega storm faded in the worst-hit areas of New York and New Jersey, but new damage reports are steadily coming in. Some 80 Long Island homes caught fire reportedly due to electrical wires being mixed due to strong winds.

U.S. media reported that New York was like a state damaged by war. Rep. Bob Turner (Republican-New York) was one victim of Sandy.

As predicted by weather experts, Sandy went beyond bringing accompanying winds, heavy rains and tidal waves in causing heavy snow as early as late October. Rain clouds met cold air in the northeastern region to produce snow, with Alpine Lake in West Virginia seeing 66 centimeters (26 inches) of snow and Red House in Maryland 60 centimeters (23.6 inches). Sandy is about to break the previous record for wave height of 7 meters (23 feet) recorded in Lake Michigan. The U.S. National Weather Service expected waves to shoot up to 7.6 meters (25 feet).

The devastating storm has also affected the global stock markets, insurance and airline industries and travelers. Stock trader Yves Marcais of Global Equities said, "Wall Street, the engine that drives the global stock markets, remained closed for two consecutive days. When New York is closed, there can be roughly 40 percent less volume in Paris."

With 15,000 flights suspended, when the hub airports of John F. Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark will resume operations is uncertain. The airline and travel sectors will also be hugely affected.

The amount of damage and recovery costs is also likely to rise. Catastrophe risk modeling company Eqecat and economic analysis specialist IHS Global Insight had forecast that Sandy would cause up to 20 billion U.S. dollars in damage, but the latter company on Wednesday said direct and indirect costs would reach 70 billion dollars. Due to Sandy, U.S. GDP growth in 4th quarter was lowered an additional 0.6 percentage point by IHS, which had initially predicted to fall 0.2 percentage points.

Washington and the New York state government are showing prompt teamwork. President Barack Obama visited the Red Cross to urge federal authorities to minimize the support procedures on restoring the state government. He urged them to ponder how it can be done instead of why it cannot be done.

witness@donga.com