BoatUS has estimated that Hurricane Sandy caused more than US$650m in damages to boats across the US. The US boater association also expects that more than 65,000 recreational boats were damaged or lost as a result of the storm.

"We've never seen anything like it,” said Scott Croft, BoatUS AVP of Public Affairs, in a statement. “The scope of the damage to boats is unprecedented, affecting large areas from the Atlantic seaboard as far inland as the Great Lakes, with the majority of damage in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut. The combination of boats stored ashore at low elevations and record high surge levels caused hundreds, if not thousands, of boats to float away into neighborhoods, parks and marshes. The tri-state coastline left no place for the surge to go, but up.”

BoatUS estimates that more than 32,000 boats were damaged in New York, followed by New Jersey's 25,000, Connecticut's 2,500 and 6,000 remaining in various states. Dollar damage to recreational boats in New York is estimated at US$324m, followed by $242m in in New Jersey and $23m in Connecticut. In the 2005 storm season, the combined damages caused by Hurricanes Wilma and Katrina were estimated at more than US$700m.Croft said the hurricane was the single-larges industry loss since BoatUS started keeping track in 1966.

"If there is a story to tell, it's about how the boating industry got together immediately after the storm to help each other out and get boats back in their place," said BoatUS Catastrophe Team Member Jack Hornor in the statement. “While some New Jersey barrier islands continue to restrict access delaying boat recovery efforts, some marinas, boat clubs and yards have recovered their customers' boats and put them back on blocks to undergo damage assessments.”

Hornor said that marina, yacht club and other infrastructure damage on New Jersey’s coast, Staten Island and western Long Island could impact the 2013 boating season. A video of the BoatUS Catastrophe response team on the ground in New York and New Jersey can be found at http://youtu.be/TGoCBe6ObpA.

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