Hurricane Sandy
NFIP flood claims
- Median paid claims of the storm run from $6,485 in Delaware to $49,971 in New York.
- By paid claims (132,021), Hurricane Sandy is the 2nd highest of 42 named storms covered here, and the 7th highest of 42 by median paid claim in 2024 dollars.
- In 2024 dollars (CPI-U), its median paid claim, $53,442, is 111.1% above the middle value of the storm medians ($25,316).
- New Jersey holds 51.3% of the storm’s paid claims and New York 40.8%; 10 states are listed.
Source: FEMA, OpenFEMA NfipClaims (v3, data as of 2026-09-09, retrieved 2026-10-12); CPI-U, U.S. city average, all items (CUUR0000SA0), annual average (BLS Public Data API v1, annual averages 2005-2025, retrieved 2026-10-12). Not an official federal report.
Landfall and storm report
The National Hurricane Center’s HURDAT2 best track of Hurricane Sandy (AL182012, retrieved 2026-10-12) records 3 landfalls, 1 of them in or near a US county. It came on 2012-10-29 at 23:30 UTC, as a extratropical cyclone with maximum sustained winds of 70 kt: HURDAT2 position 39.4N 74.4W, rounded to 0.1°; county containing or nearest it: Atlantic County, NJ.
| Date | Time (UTC) | Position | Strength | Wind (kt) | Pressure (mb) | County containing or nearest the position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012-10-24 | 19:00 | 17.9N 76.6W | category 1 hurricane | 75 | 971 | no US county |
| 2012-10-25 | 05:25 | 20.0N 76.0W | category 3 hurricane | 100 | 954 | no US county |
| 2012-10-29 | 23:30 | 39.4N 74.4W | extratropical cyclone | 70 | 945 | Atlantic County, NJ |
National Hurricane Center report
From the NHC Tropical Cyclone Report on Hurricane Sandy (retrieved 2026-10-12):
“Sandy was a classic late-season hurricane in the southwestern Caribbean Sea.”
“The cyclone made landfall as a category 1 hurricane (on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale) in Jamaica, and as a 100-kt category 3 hurricane in eastern Cuba before quickly weakening to a category 1 hurricane while moving through the central and northwestern Bahamas.”
NFIP paid building claims in Hurricane Sandy
NFIP claims: amounts paid, not repair cost. Window: event: Hurricane Sandy, year of loss 2012; 132,021 paid claims; median $39,115, half of them between $14,907 (Q1) and $77,528 (Q3), in nominal dollars. Median in 2024 dollars (CPI-U): $53,442, a monetary adjustment, not today’s cost of repair.
Paid claims by year of loss
| Year of loss | Paid claims |
|---|---|
| 2012 | 132,021 |
Paid claims by state
| State | Paid claims | Median paid |
|---|---|---|
| New Jersey | 67,671 | $34,387 |
| New York | 53,822 | $49,971 |
| Connecticut | 5,582 | $23,754 |
| Delaware | 1,256 | $6,485 |
| Maryland | 1,210 | $8,065 |
| Rhode Island | 844 | $18,329 |
| Virginia | 796 | $9,103 |
| North Carolina | 607 | $7,930 |
| Pennsylvania | 117 | $7,282 |
| Massachusetts | 110 | $8,952 |
Counties with the most paid claims
The storm’s paid claims are spread over many counties: the first, Ocean County, NJ, holds 26.1% of them, ahead of Nassau County, NY and Suffolk County, NY.
| County | FIPS | Paid claims |
|---|---|---|
| Ocean County | 34029 | 34,468 |
| Nassau County | 36059 | 25,586 |
| Suffolk County | 36103 | 12,108 |
| Atlantic County | 34001 | 10,347 |
| Monmouth County | 34025 | 9,220 |
| Cape May County | 34009 | 8,526 |
| Queens County | 36081 | 7,316 |
| Richmond County | 36085 | 3,982 |
| Kings County | 36047 | 3,355 |
| Fairfield County | 09001 | 2,892 |
Questions about Hurricane Sandy flood claims
How many flood insurance claims were paid after Hurricane Sandy?
132,021 NFIP building claims carrying FEMA’s Hurricane Sandy event label were paid (event: Hurricane Sandy, year of loss 2012), with a median of $39,115; half of them fall between $14,907 and $77,528. These are amounts paid, not repair cost.
Which counties had the most Hurricane Sandy flood claims?
Ocean County, NJ (34,468), Nassau County, NY (25,586) and Suffolk County, NY (12,108), across 10 states listed.
What is the median Hurricane Sandy flood claim in 2024 dollars?
$53,442 once each claim is adjusted with the CPI-U, against $39,115 in nominal dollars: a monetary adjustment, not today’s cost of repair.
Related tools
Paid claims of Hurricane Sandy are not repair estimates: to estimate the cleanup of a flooded basement from published cost-guide rates, use the basement water damage repair cost calculator; for water removal and drying after any water loss, the water damage and mitigation calculator.
To set these figures against every State on one claims window, amounts paid, not repair cost: NFIP paid building claims by state.
Before using these figures
A storm total counts NFIP-insured buildings with a paid claim, not all the damage of the storm. Method and limits.
Source and notice
- Storm = floodEvent "Hurricane Sandy" with yearOfLoss 2012; window of the extraction: yearOfLoss 2005-2025.
This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).