More than three decades before Superstorm Sandy, a state law and a series of legislative reports began warning New York politicians to prepare for a storm of historic proportions, spelling out scenarios eerily similar to what actually happened: a towering storm surge. Overwhelming flooding. Swamped subway lines. Widespread power outages. The Rockaways peninsula was deemed among the ‘most at risk.’

But most of the warnings went mostly unheeded, either because of tight budgets or the lack of political will to prepare for a hypothetical storm that may never hit.

And the storm did hit – causing widespread flooding and power outages across the East Coast. In addition to claiming at least 125 lives, damage was tremendous and now President Barack Obama is seeking $60 billion in aid from Congress to help the ravaged region.

Some of the thorniest problems after Sandy, including a gasoline shortage, the lack of temporary housing and the flooding of commuter tunnels, ended up being dealt with largely on the fly after the hurricane barreled down on October 29.

‘I don’t know that anyone believed,’ acknowledged Gov. Andrew Cuomo this past week. ‘We had never seen a storm like this. So it is very hard to anticipate something that you have never experienced.’