As people clamoured for information in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, many turned to a new tool made by Google just for the event.In the hours leading up to storm making landfall, Google came out with an interactive crisis map — giving users up-to-the-minute information about storm surges, power outages, shelter locations and evacuation routes.The Superstorm Sandy 2012 map was created by Google’s Crisis Response Team to help residents of the battered East Coast, as well as their family and friend elsewhere, track the storm’s progress and destruction.The map also included:— Tracking data from the National Hurricane Center— Alerts, evacuation notices and other announcements from Weather.com and the US Geological Survey— Current radar and cloud images from the US Naval Research Laboratory— Live cameras and YouTube videos of the storm being posted in specific areasGoogle has also created a New York City-specific map which compiles information from city agencies and other organisations.To see the maps, go to: google.org/crisismap/2012-sandy or google.org/crisismap/2012-sandy-nyc