ABSTRACT
On 26 October 2012, the tropical cyclone Hurricane Sandy, which had devastated communities
across the Caribbean, made landfall on the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States pushing
a major storm surge into the city of New York. The city’s scant flood walls and defences were
overwhelmed, flooding streets, tunnels, subway lines and, most notably, the city’s main energy
plants at Battery Park, which led to widespread electricity blackouts. This loss of power would
prove to be a ‘fracture-critical’ event, as hospitals lost power and much of the city was without
potable water, being reliant upon electricity for pumping.
