Sandy to be remembered for horrible fires, as well as wind and flooding

(WWLP) - When we think of hurricanes, we usually expect the damage to be caused by the rain and the wind, but Hurricane Sandy is being blamed for some very destructive fires.

Indeed, your house burning down is probably one of the last things you'd expect to happen during a hurricane, but it happened in a number of areas that were hit by Sandy.

The worst fires happened in flooded areas like Breezy Point, Queens , where firefighters were unable to reach the homes to put the flames out. The fires were made even more devastating as the flames were carried to neighboring homes by winds gusting over 80 miles per hour.

With no way to extinguish the flames, the fires spread rapidly, and in some areas the homes were wiped out.

The recent disaster has people thinking about hurricanes in a very different way. “You don't realize all the repercussions from every aspect of it,” Pat McAndrew of Holyoke said. “Not only the wind and the rain, but the flooding and the fires. This is truly a disaster.”

Many of the fires were likely caused by sparking power lines and flooded basements that shorted out the homes' circuit boxes.