Amusement rides on the Fun Town pier remain scattered and damaged by Superstorm Sandy, on Nov. 24, 2012 in Seaside Heights, N.J.
Four weeks ago today, east coast residents were huddled in their homes with fresh batteries and bottles of water, hoping for the best as Hurricane Sandy bore down on the region. We now know that, for many, the storm was a worst case scenario: Thousands of homes flooded, millions lost power and more than one hundred people died. (Read TIME’s reports from the lower Manhattan blackout and the prolonged power outage in the Rockaways.)
The lost lives and razed neighborhoods provide the most tragic snapshot of the devastation. But now, one month after Sandy made landfall, there are other, less obvious numbers that offer a window onto the storm’s continued toll.
25,000,000,000
Estimated dollar value of the lost business activity as a result of Sandy, according to financial analysis firm IHS Global Insight.
8,100,000
Number of homes that lost power. The outages affected people in 17 states, as far west as Michigan.
1
Percentage of Jersey Central Power & Light customers who remained without power the evening before Thanksgiving, according to the company. Between October 28 and November 12, employees worked 16-hour shifts to respond to 1.3 million reported power outages.
10,000
Number of Thanksgiving turkeys meant for those in need saved when City Harvest, a food-distribution charity, implemented a last-minute evacuation of about-to-thaw birds from a Long Island City, Queens storage facility that lost power. All of the turkeys have all since been donated.
(PHOTOS: Aerial Views of Sandy’s Destruction)
15
Number of patrons at Jeremy’s Ale House, a bar inside New York City’s storm-ravaged South Street Seaport, on the night before Thanksgiving. Owner Jeremy Holin said the usual holiday eve crowd is around 110.
57,000
Number of utility workers from 30 states and Canada who came to New York to assist Consolidated Edison in returning power to the city.
1,008
Number of beds at a tent city for visiting relief workers in the parking lot of Rye Playland amusement park in Rye, N.Y.
10
How many Sandy-related photos per second were uploaded to Instagram on October 29th.
78,450
Number of comfort kits given out by the Red Cross in New York and New Jersey as of Tuesday night. The kits include shampoo, soap, a washcloth, shaving cream and a razor.
(PHOTOS: The Toil After the Storm: Life in Sandy’s Wake)
10,000
Estimated number of phone calls received by True Value Hardware in Hackensack, New Jersey from people hoping to buy generators in the days before Sandy hit, according to assistant manager Jeff Moskel. The store easily sold out of its stock of 20, as well as all of its batteries, flashlights and extensions cords. Customers are now stocking up on sheet rock, nails, paint and other tools for demolition and repair.
124
Number of years since the New York Stock Exchange was closed for two consecutive days because of weather; the last time was during the Blizzard of 1888.
820
Sandy’s size in miles, as measured by diameter of tropical storm-force sustained wind, as it made landfall just south of Atlantic City, New Jersey—more than double the landfall size of Hurricanes Issac and Irene combined.
78
Percentage of respondents to a Quinnipiac University poll who “believe we are experiencing large storms such as Sandy and Irene more frequently as a result of climate change.”
26,011
Number of service requests received by the New York City Parks Department for downed and hanging trees and limbs along city streets as of Wednesday. The department is still assessing the total damage inside the city’s parks.
49
Number of canceled Broadway performances. The theater mecca shut down for three days,costing it some $8 million in ticket sales.
(MORE: After Sandy: Why We Can’t Keep Rebuilding on the Water’s Edge)
15
Total number of days New York City’s system of gasoline rationing was in place. New Jersey imposed a rationing policy for 11 days and Long Island for nine.
20,000,000
Approximate number of tweets sent about Sandy between Oct. 27 and Nov. 1.
— With reporting by Christopher Matthews
VIDEO: After Sandy: Snow, and Slow Recovery on Staten Island