There should have been no tidal wave or storm surge. There was no indication of a hurricane in the Atlantic South of New York. There was no indication of a large scale earthquake that could have caused a tidal wave. There was that huge storm in Canada, though. All major storms north of the equator rotate counter-clockwise. Therefore, since the eye was North of New York, the tremendous wind would have been blowing offshore. Given a storm with a 50 mile wide eye, the average wind speed would probably be well over 150 mph throughout much of the storm's influence and at the eye over 200mph. There was never an indication of wind this fast though there should have. People would not be able to walk; they would be airborne missiles. Dennis Quaid would never have been able to walk to NY. The water on shore would actually have been blown offshore. Two years ago, a two day storm with 50mph winds moved East across Lake Erie. The wind pushed the water toward Buffalo and in Detroit (where I live), the Detroit River dropped several feet and most tributary rivers were drained completely of water. The director really should have hired someone from the Weather Channel. It was great entertainment though!