At Battery Park, on Manhattan’s south end, the surge height reached 4.2 meters, flooding homes and businesses and plunging millions into darkness. Waves also reached extreme heights, with a buoy near the entrance to New York Harbor measuring a peak wave ten meters high, from crest to trough.
飓风桑迪在袭击美国时已退化为热带气旋，但其风圈仍覆盖了方圆1800公里，掀起了极端风暴潮，摧毁了泽西海岸，夷平了居民区，毁掉了当地经济赖以生存的赌场和游步道。在曼哈顿南端的炮台公园，风暴潮高度达到了4.2米，洪水吞噬了家园和企业，令数百万人陷入黑暗。潮水也达到了极端高度，纽约港附近的一个航标测得的极端潮高达到了10米（从波谷到波峰）。