Hurricane Sandy was a legal Act of God that leaves Lord & Taylor on the hook for nearly 2,000 water-soaked cardigan sweaters worth more than $200,000, a federal judge has ruled.

Southern District Judge Analisa Torres said that the shipping company that stored the cartons of sweaters at a container terminal on Staten Island does not have to pay for the cardigans ruined during the massive storm on Oct. 29, 2012.

“Because Sandy was unusually destructive and because the relevant forecasts predicting this destruction did not arrive until late in the weekend when nothing more could have been done,” the shipping company can invoke the Act of God defense under the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act and is not liable, the judge said in Lord & Taylor v. Zim Integrated Shipping Services, 13-cv-03478.