From 1500 miles away it's hard to know what the situation on the ground really is in the areas affected by Sandy.
Good point, but you don't need to be 1500 miles away to not know what is going on. With regard to riots/looting, you may not know what is happening a block or two away. These things are highly local, and come and go quickly.
From my observation/experiences in the DC riots of 1968 and the demonstrations/riots of the anti-war protests, you could have a major incident going on, and a block or two away, everything was normal.
Up to date intel is critical.