1. Hurricane Sandy was a post-tropical cyclone that swept through the Caribbean and up the East Coast of the United States in October of 2012.

2. The hurricane began as a tropical wave in the Caribbean and quickly turned into a tropical storm in just 6 hours. It was upgraded to a hurricane on Oct. 24 when it reached 74 mph winds

3. The National Hurricane Center says that the tropical force winds extended 820 miles at their widest.

4. Sandy’s pure kinetic energy for storm surge and wave destruction potential reached a 5.8 out of 6 on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s scale.

5. The total death toll reached 285, including at least 125 deaths in the United States.