JayMatt:
This gemara you quoted has nothing to do with any of this.
Again, you’re taking Kivan sheNitan to an illogical extreme and, in doing so, attempting to “prove” that this chazal can’t be true, CH”V. Oy laRasha and kivan sheNitan do not mean that every time anything happens to anyone that others/many others are also necessarily impacted.
However, if an entire city/cities or significant portion thereof is impacted, then at least one of these precepts apply. So, again, Storm Sandy which caused massive destruction would be a very likely candidate for the above rabbinic precepts.
You’re welcome and Baruch Tihye re: your last post. I wish I remember the source for that pshat, and there’s more to that story, too.