On Instagram, 10 Photos a Second of #sandy

As Hurricane Sandy churns its way through the Atlantic, those in its path are turning to their smartphones, and specifically Instagram, to document and share their experiences. Their output runs the gamut, from shocking to silly.

People are posting shots of deserted city centers, waterlogged streets, self-portraits in scuba gear and images borrowed from the apocalyptic film “The Day After Tomorrow.”

The easiest way to see many of the storm-related photos is through a site called Instacane that is pulling together all images that are tagged with terms like “Sandy” and “hurricane.”

The site, according to Instagram, was originally created by two developers named Peter Ng and Chris Ackermann. It was first set up last August as a way to collect images related to Hurricane Irene.

Last winter, people used Instagram to capture the blizzard that blanketed parts of the country, revealing a kaleidoscoped view of the storm, parsed into thousa nds of vantage points. But the service has grown tremendously over the last year, pushing past 100 million users and billions of photographs.

Kevin Systrom, the founder and chief executive of Instagram, said via e-mail that there were 10 pictures per second tagged with “sandy” flowing through the service. In total, more than 230,000 images are using that hashtag - but there could be more related to the storm.

“Most are images of people prepping for the storm and images of scenes outdoors,” Mr. Systrom said. “I think this demonstrates how Instagram is quickly becoming a useful tool to see the world as it happens â€" especially for important world events like this.”

Instagram has played a role in other news events lately. Last month, an Instagram user saw, and photographed, an attempted suicide on the Brooklyn Bridge. And during the shooting at the Empire State Building in August, some of the first photographs from the scene appeared on Insta gram. Although both instances prompted controversy online, Instagram and services like it feel especially valuable in an era when news is not always delivered first by the television but through social networks and the people on them.