SAN DIEGO - Superstorm Sandy dropped up to 12 inches of rain in some areas and the storm surge flooded so many communities. 10News on Tuesday spoke with a local climatologist about why the storm surge was so strong.

Communities from the Mid-Atlantic to New England were flooded because of Sandy. A Google map that shows New York City estimated how some areas were impacted by the storm surge. The storm surge made it well inland.

The peak storm surge for lower Manhattan was almost 14 feet at 9:24 p.m., while the storm surge at Kings Point, N.Y. reached 12 feet at 8 p.m. Eastern time.

UC San Diego Scripps Institute of Oceanography climatologist Sam Iacobellis said there are three reasons for the high storm surge in these storms.

"Wind will blow over the water of course and it'll push the water," said Iacobellis. "There's also the wave action that will bring the waves onshore and then also the low pressure within the center of the hurricane."

That is one reason the storm was so strong.              

Iacobellis says a lot of these superstorms may be the result of climate change.

"With increased fossil fuel burning we have more CO₂ gases in the atmosphere and other gases but CO₂ is the main one," he said. "That increases the greenhouse effect and that heats up the atmosphere and the oceans."

As a result, we may see more superstorms in the future. There may not necessarily be more storms but the storms that occur could be stronger.