The now historic storm, Hurricane Sandy, swept through the North East and devastated many coastal and inland communities. New York subway stations are flooded, casinos in Atlantic City are closed, and many people along the east coast are still without power. Though this storm has left residents upset and distraught, at least it has somewhat affected the one thing that I’m sure has caused everyone in the US much headache in a positive way – gas prices!

Since the hurricane has shut down highways and air travel across the east coast, according to oil analyst Tom
Kloza, "We’re going to see prices move lower". RBOB gasoline futures were down a half percent in afternoon trading yesterday and the national average for unleaded regular gasoline was $3.53. Although $3.53 is only a penny lower than Monday, it is 11 cents cheaper than last week and Kloza believes prices will continue to be lower than what they were a year ago at this time.

The storm hit South Jersey Monday evening and then turned upward to New York and then New England. The storm also merged with another storm and impacted Maryland, Delaware and some areas of the Midwest. This caused a halt in traffic on Monday as many city governments pleaded with the public to stay indoors until the storm passed. As a result, many schools and businesses were closed on Monday and Tuesday. Toppled trees and flooded highways also contributed to this. The decrease in travel demands ultimately led to a decrease in fuel costs. According to the Huffington Post, Sandy also hit during a time of year when gas prices are relatively lower than other months like July and August.

With Thanksgiving weeks away, demand for travel and gas will probably not see much of an increase until then. Even with a spike in price, analysts believe they will be short lives. We all hope so.
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Victoria Baston

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  1. Apart from irrecoverable human loss (may God bless them). The storm recovery would be a harder task, apart from the transportation systems and property damages; there were also many non tangible damages caused due to this superstorm. According to 'Reuters', Hurricane Sandy appears to have easily caused twice or even three times the losses of last year's Hurricane Irene. Whereas, Bloomberg reports that Hurricane Sandy threatens $20 Billion in Economic Damage.

    Besides significant property damage, Hurricane Sandy will cost billions of dollars in lost business, and partial or complete data loss from companies' physical datacenters.

    This made me thought that though it's an unfortunate lesson to have to learn the hard way, especially this hard way. But, natural disasters like hurricanes, floods or superstorms are dramatic examples of the value of cloud solutions when it comes to resiliency in the face of a catastrophe, and the ability to recover and resume operations as quickly as possible.

    Here is an article that talks about some of the ways that how cloud Technology can help rebound after the unforeseen / Sandy hurricane:

    http://www.dincloud.com/blog/cloud-backup-disaster-recovery-vs-hurricane-superstorm-and-more

    It’s a unique way to look at cloud technology, and I think you’ll find this approach more in line with running a resilient business.

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