5 things to know about the Hurricane Sandy

Netflix's new drama, titled Kaleidoscope, is loosely based on the disappearance of $70 Billion from a vault owned by the Depository Trust and Clearing Corp in New York City during Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

Hurricane Sandy lasted from October 22 to November 2, 2012, resulting in the damage of almost $70 billion worth of property. Unofficially known as Superstorm Sandy, it was a destructive and strong Atlantic hurricane with tropical-storm-force winds spanning 1,150 miles (1,850 km). Moreover, it was the largest Atlantic hurricane on record measured by diameter, killing 233 people across eight countries from the Caribbean to Canada.

With the recent release of Kaleidoscope on Netflix, here are five things to know about the hurricane that partially destroyed North America.

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Hurricane Sandy was the second major hurricane of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season after Nadine

5) The formation of Hurricane Sandy

A tropical depression formed off the northeast coast of Nicaragua in the Caribbean Sea and solidified into a Category 1 hurricane two days later. Following this, it moved northeast over Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti.

Haiti saw heavy showers and mudslides, taking the lives of at least 50 people. The hurricane then moved to Puerto Rico and consumed the historic city of Santiago de Cuba.

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4) Hurricane Sandy's entry into the USA

Hurricane Sandy weakened after reaching the Bahamas on October 27 but regained strength again and turned into a Category 1 hurricane. The radius of the hurricane stretched up to 100 miles.

It then progressed to the US East Coast and passed over the Carolinas. The hurricane then moved past Delaware and finally hit New Jersey and New York with all its might. The city's subway system was affected, and eight million people lost power during the disaster.

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3) Hurricane Sandy was the fourth costliest hurricane in the US history

An excess of $70 Billion worth of property was consumed by the dreadful hurricane. Considered among the costliest hurricanes in the country's history, the catastrophe is on the same list as Hurricanes Katrina, and Harvey and Maria, which hit in the years 2005 and 2017, respectively.

Hurricane Sandy was one of the nineteen hurricanes that constituted the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season, becoming the second major one after Hurricane Nadine.

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2) A New York underground vault was flooding because of the hurricane

The underground vault of the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp, a Wall Street-owned organization that contained more than 1.7 million paper certificates for shares, bonds, and other financial instruments, was severely flooded.

The vaults were unlocked two weeks later, and the effects were finally discovered. Even though the exact amount of damage was not revealed by the company, their spokeswoman, Judy Inosanto, said it was a minute amount of the $39.5 trillion of stocks and bonds that the company stores since most of them were handled electronically.

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1) Kaleidoscope is a dramatization of the events that could have happened during Hurricane Sandy

Kaleidoscope creator Eric Garcia claims that the idea of a heist drama amidst a destructive catastrophe was inspired by the disappearance of the $70 Billion bonds during Hurricane Sandy.

In an interview, he said:

"It's loosely based on something that might have happened. After Hurricane Sandy, $70 billion worth of bonds got flooded in the basement of the DTCC, which is a large clearing effort that's owned by a bunch of the big banks. To my mind, I was like, 'Well, that's a perfect coverup for a heist!"

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Kaleidoscope is streaming on Netflix worldwide.