FYI: Why Does Salt Water Make Hurricane Damage So Much Worse?
Damage To New York Transit Metropolitan Transportation Authority of the State of New York via FlickrThe white stuff can stick around and ruin, well, pretty much everything. That puts the officials trying to fix it on a ticking clock. Sandy crippled the NYC subway system this week, knocking out power, damaging switches, and dumping gallons of storm water into the city's aging tunnel infrastructure. Officials estimated that it would take several days for the subway to return to normal (some lines have already resumed service), and a 2011 study on similar disasters suggested it could take even longer, up to several months. A big part of the problem? Salt. Unlike a rainstorm, a hurricane--or superstorm, which Sandy was demoted to--scoops up salt from oceans and estuaries the way a kid scoops up sand at a beach. The "brackish" water (salty but not extremely salty) and the saltwater (about 35...