Unless he's talking about the lack of municipal preparedness there is no comparison at all.
From Capital New York:
Mayor Michael Bloomberg this morning compared the number of New Yorkers made homeless by superstorm Sandy to Hurricane Katrina.The climatological set-up is the same as that in the 1950's-'60's: A cold Pacific Decadal Oscillation and a warm Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation. The warm AMO helps supply the energy for more hurricanes while the cold PDO, through some teleconnection that isn't completely understood, seems to steer the 'canes further north on the Eastern Seaboard.
According to Bloomberg, some 30,000 to 40,000 New York City residents will need a place to stay while the city rebuilds, temperatures fall, and the region braces for this week's nor'easter.
In part that's because some of the city's public housing developments have been badly damaged and will be out of service, in Bloomberg's words, "for a very long time."
"My recollection is the numbers may have been the same in Katrina," said Bloomberg, who joined Governor Andrew Cuomo in a rare joint appearance in Manhattan this morning.
(The numbers from Katrina were actually much larger.)
As of this morning, 730,000 people remain without power, including 266,000 in Nassau County, and 145,000 in New York City, including 86,000 in Queens, 20,000 in Brooklyn and 20,000 in Staten Island....MORE
In August 1954 Hurricane Carol hit Long Island with 120mph winds. Six weeks later Hurricane Hazel hit with the strongest winds ever measured in Manhattan.
In 1955 it was Hurricanes Connie and Diane back-to-back.
In those two years a total of six hurricanes hit the Eastern U.S.
This stuff is not all that difficult.
On this blog we've posted "Historic Hurricanes from New Jersey to New England: 1634-2011" in 2011 which began "More than you care to know, all in one place" and continued
"THE BIG ONEIn 2010 we posted "Hurricane Earl Forecast: Storm Increasingly Likely for New York" with a couple scenarios.
Experts say it's only a matter of time before a major hurricane
Imagine the following: It's a beautiful Labor Day weekend. Sunny, cloudless, 80 degrees. Backyard barbecues are fired up all over the metropolitan area, and the beaches of New York City, New Jersey and southern Long Island are jam-packed with bathers...."
In 2009 it was "More on the Possibility of a Hurricane Striking New York City":
We ended "Atlantic Hurricane Season Will Be Less Active, AccuWeather Says" with a link to an interesting paper on Long Island, Jersey, NYC hurricanes and the comments:As far back as 2007 it was "Sedimentary evidence of hurricane strikes in western Long Island, New York".
...The AMO, ENSO combination indicates slightly fewer hurricanes with those that do arise having a better than average chance of an east coast landfall* vs. Gulf of Mexico strikes....
...*Can you imagine the headlines when the next New York hurricane hits?.......MORE
Last year after Irene there was a major warning: "The 2011 Report That Predicted New York's Subway Flooding Disaster".
And speaking of Irene, as early as October 24 we were posting "Hurricane Watch: Sandy Looks Set to Re-trace Irene's Path to New England".
Maybe if the Super Nanny had his eye on the ball rather than on the size of people's soft drinks there wouldn't be headlines like these:
B’klyn bat man: Run, looters!
Queens residents arm themselves in the post-storm blackout from looters
Devastated Rockaways residents lash out at Bloomberg during unannounced visit
...“When are we gonna get some help?” blasted one desperate woman, who had to be held back by the mayor’s security detail as Bloomberg stood by with a deer-in-the-headlights look.
“When are we gonna get some f--king help?” she demanded....
