Plywood defenses lined Hurricane Sandy's path, with even Manhattan's tony 5th Avenue shops boarded up. Remodeling jobs, cabinetry, window and door replacement, are will follow in the wake of the storm's destruction.

With 16 dead and 1 million people displaced, recovery from megastorm Hurricane Sandy will take months. Home Depot, Lowe's and other home improvement centers marshaled resources to provide the board-up supplies in advance of the storm. Next will come repair and replacement materials as hundreds of thousands of damaged households begin repairs.

Lowe's said as many as 200 Lowe’s stores could be potentially impacted by the storm, though all its stores are equipped with emergency backup generators to reopen afterward. Lowe’s had planned to close as many as  74 stores in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania, but as of this morning had closed just one, in Rosedale, NY. 

Home Depot had closed 55 of its stores in storm-struck communities, and will begin assessments of repair supplies needed in the hard hit areas, reports the New York Times.

Estimates of damage from the storm ranged from $10 billion $25 billion, with insurance expected to cover about half that according to a USA Today report. As Hurricane Sandy approached, property analysts CoreLogic calculated that residential structures in the path of the storm surge were valued at $87 billion.