That’s not quite right.
You are completely right that Hurricane Sandy had diminished to a minor tropical storm - however, it then ran into a cold front and developed into a huge, and hugely-powerful non-hurricane. Its’ major effects reached into Illinois.
It was really huge.
http://www.sciencebuzz.org/blog/storm-sandy-makes-her-presence-felt
You are right of course, that this had nothing to do with global warming, as it wasn’t abnormally warm at any point along its path, and it only became a monster when it ran into a *cold* front. Hurricanes gain effect from differentials, anyways, not absolute temperature, along with a specific balance of wind-shear.
If wind shear is to little, they don’t spin up. If it is too much, it disrupts the hurricane.
I saw a recent report that another problem is that there has been a shift in the Jet Stream patterns which is contributing to the severity of these storms and rainfall. What is causing that? Do you know what percentage of power was lost because of the Manhattan power plant you mentioned. I thought a lot of power came from the Con Ed plant which is well up the Hudson on high ground near the NJ north border.
Regarding people staying to help. A lot of those who went were children and presumably family members. My son stayed and it was 3 months before his children were back in private school. It is planned to close many of the public schools because so many are gone. Apparently these stupid lazy people DO care about their kids’ education. He has electrical training and has been very busy working there. He is also upset that Home Depot is not sending an extra ration of electrical supplies, but is apparently keeping to it’s pre-Maria schedules of resupply. How stupid is that!! His Puerto Rican wife is continuing her work in a health service business. So yes people have left, often for their kids’ welfare, but many have stayed, and mainland stores are not doing a good job of finding out what people really need to fix things or get back on their feet daily living wise, and then seeing that their PR branches get those things. Like, for example, “winter coats” for Burlington Coat Factory: how dumb is that!!