More than 7 million people are without power throughout the eastern U.S. as post-tropical storm Sandy leaves a path of destruction, at least 18 dead, and a record-breaking storm surge that has flooded parts of the Eastern Seaboard, including New York City.
Exact details of the damage caused by Sandy have yet to be determined, but the impact is huge: Seventeen people are dead in the U.S., plus one in Canada, millions of people have no electrical power, and a record-breaking four-metre storm surge hit New Jersey and New York City, flooding streets and subway tunnels.
U.S. President Barack Obama has declared a major disaster in parts of New Jersey, New York City and Long Island.
The declaration makes federal funding available to people in the area, which bore the brunt of the sea surge from the superstorm.
Standing along the banks of the Hudson River near Battery Park in Lower Manhattan, CBC's David Common said seven subway tunnels are full of water but the pumping process cannot begin due to power outages.
"This is really an island cut off right now," Common said.
The Associated Press reported the U.S. deaths happened in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Maryland, North Carolina and West Virginia. Three of the dead were children, including an eight-year-old. Many of the deaths were attributed to falling trees. A woman in Toronto was killed by a falling sign that came apart in high winds.
After days of dire forecasts, warnings and mass evacuations in coastal areas, Sandy came ashore near Atlantic City, N.J., around 8 p.m. ET. Environment Canada said the storm's effects were felt as far as 1,000 kilometres away.
As of 5 a.m. ET Tuesday, the storm was approximately 145 kilometres west of Philadelphia, the U.S. National Weather Service said.
"Standing water combined with downed power lines will pose a threat for the coast, heavy rain across the northeast will bring the risk of flooding and west of the Appalachians heavy snow will continue to fall in places like West Virginia," CBC meteorologist Jay Scotland said.
The remnants of Sandy are expected to move to the west-northwest and then turn north into New York state Tuesday night. The storm's centre is expected to move into Canada on Wednesday.
Environment Canada said Sandy was expected to weaken "very rapidly" as it moves toward the eastern Great Lakes.
U.S. forecasters warned there was still potential for six-metre waves bashing into the Chicago lakefront and up to 90 centimetres of snow in West Virginia.
About 12,000 flights cancelled
About 12,000 flights were cancelled, train service was disrupted, roads were closed and schools and offices were shut down before the storm ever arrived.
Storm damage is already projected at $10 billion to $20 billion US, meaning it could prove to be one of the costliest natural disasters in U.S. history.
Dozens of homes were devastated by fire in the Breezy Point section of the Queens borough of New York. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters) A fire in the Queens neighbourhood of Breezy Point, which juts into the Atlantic, destroyed between 80 and 100 flooded homes. The area was in the flood zone, but it wasn't immediately clear if the storm directly caused the blaze. At least threepeople were injured.
CBC reporter Melissa Kent said police were out to prevent looting in lower Manhattan, where everything below 39th Street was still without power. Officials said it could be a week before power is restored.
A New York City hospital was forced to move out more than 200 patients, including 20 infants from neonatal intensive care, after its backup generator failed when the power was knocked out by the superstorm.
Dozens of ambulances lined up outside NYU Tisch Hospital on Monday night as doctors and nurses began the slow process of taking people to other hospitals.
Medical workers assist a patient into an ambulance during an evacuation of New York University's Tisch Hospital. (John Minchillo/AP) Most of the power outages in lower Manhattan, where the hospital is located, were due to an explosion at an electrical substation, officials at Consolidated Edison said.
Other damage around New York included a construction crane atop a high-rise in mid-town Manhattan that collapsed, and a four-storey building in Chelsea that lost its facade.
At the height of the chaos, New York's 911 system was receiving 20,000 calls an hour, Common said.
"This is not yet in the clean-up phase," he said from Lower Manhattan. "This is still in the emergency phase."
The New York Stock Exchange remained closed Tuesday, the first weather-related two-day suspension of trading exchange since an 1888 blizzard.
Kent said officials with the Metropolitan Transport Authority expect the flooded subway tunnels to remain closed for anywhere from 14 hours up to four days. The MTA's chief, Joe Lhota, called it the worst disaster in the subway's 108-year-old history.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said late Monday that the worst of the rain had passed for the city, and that the high tide that sent water sloshing into Manhattan from three sides was receding.
New Jersey hit hard
In New Jersey, part of America's oldest nuclear power plant was put on alert after waters from superstorm Sandy rose 1.8 metres above sea level.
Officials said water levels near Oyster Creek, which is along the Atlantic Ocean, will likely recede within a few hours. The Oyster Creek nuclear plant went online in 1969 and provides 9 per cent of New Jersey's electricity. The plant was already out of service for scheduled refueling.
In addition, one of the units of the Indian Point nuclear plant, which is about 72 kilometres north of New York City, was shut down around 10:45 p.m. ET Monday, due to external electrical grid issues, said Entergy Corp., the plant's operator.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said 5,500 people were being housed in shelters, while the Red Cross was moving in to help provide meals for people.
Christie said 2.4 million households — double the number affected by Hurricane Irene — were without power.
He also advised against unnecessary travel, adding that 24 rail cars had been pushed by the tidal surge on to the New Jersey Turnpike.
Christie said it currently unsafe for homeowners to go back to the state's barrier island.
"The level of devastation at the Jersey Shore is unthinkable," he said.
In the town of Moonachie, N.J., a berm overflowed, sending about 1.5 metres of water into the community within 45 minutes. As many as 1,000 people may have to leave the town. Residents in a trailer park had to climb onto the roofs of their trailers to await rescue.
In Atlantic City, a popular New Jersey tourist destination, the storm washed away a section of the boardwalk. Parts of a seaside amusement park were also washed into the ocean.
Christie said he spoke with U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday to discuss the state's needs as the storm approached. Christie, an outspoken Republican, said he appreciated Obama's leadership in contacting him.
In Connecticut, the governor ordered non-essential state employees to stay home from work Tuesday.
According to WBUR, a public radio station in Boston, Sandy brought rough weather and strong surf to some coastal areas in Massachusetts. Hundreds of thousands of people in the state were without power late Monday, part of the sweeping outages that were leaving people in the dark in storm-affected areas.
People in parts of Pennsylvania were also being cautioned about power outages and wild weather.
Obama and Mitt Romney suspended their campaigning with just over a week to go before election day.
Obama declared emergencies in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, authorizing federal relief work to begin well ahead of time. He promised the government would "respond big and respond fast" after the storm hits.
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