Before-After Aerial Photography Shows Damage, Shoreline Changes from Hurricane Sandy

Sky Truth

NOAA has published their first round of post-Hurricane Sandy aerial survey photography, covering the Atlantic coastlines of parts of Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey.  You can view this detailed, high-resolution color imagery in a convenient, easy to use map viewer.  You can choose a street map or recent Google imagery for a backdrop; and you can flicker between that backdrop and the new aerial imagery by toggling the check boxes next to the aerial imagery layers shown along the left side of the map, to get a direct "before and after" comparison.

In many places, the damage is quite stark.  Homes and businesses have vanished.  The shoreline has changed dramatically, and new inlets have opened up.  Here are a few examples that we found after just a few minutes of review.  The post-Sandy images in these examples were shot yesterday (October 31):

BEFORE: Bridge south of Point Pleasant, NJ.

AFTER: New inlet; damaged/destroyed houses; flooding. October 31, 2012.

BEFORE:  Amusement park, Seaside Heights, NJ.

AFTER:  Partial collapse of amusement park pier; wreckage of roller coaster lying in surf (see photo below); mounds of debris piled up on beach. October 31, 2012.

Roller coaster at Seaside Heights amusement park, October 31, 2012.  Photo: Mario Tama, Getty Images / 2012 Getty Images. SOURCE: Stamford Advocate.

BEFORE: Barrier island near Great Bay, NJ.

AFTER: Severe erosion, dune washover, shoreline change. October 31, 2012.

We'll be looking for more NOAA aerial survey photography in coming days, covering additional parts of the affected coastline.  Let us know if you see anything you find particularly interesting.