Superstorm Sandy leaves NYC in water, fire and darkness; 18 dead along East Coast
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Expand Photo This NOAA satellite image taken Monday, Oct. 29, 2012 shows Hurricane Sandy off the Mid Atlantic coastline moving toward the north with maximum sustained winds of 90 mph. Hurricane Sandy wheeled toward land as forecasters feared Monday, raking cities along the Northeast corridor with rain and wind gusts, flooding shore towns, washing away a section of the Atlantic City Boardwalk, and threatening to cripple Wall Street and New York's subway system with a huge surge of corrosive seawater. (AP Photo/NOAA) Uncredited | NOAA
This NOAA satellite image taken Monday, Oct. 29, 2012 shows Hurricane Sandy off the Mid Atlantic coastline moving toward the north with maximum sustained winds of 90 mph. Hurricane Sandy wheeled toward land as forecasters feared Monday, raking cities along the Northeast corridor with rain and wind gusts, flooding shore towns, washing away a section of the Atlantic City Boardwalk, and threatening to cripple Wall Street and New York's subway system with a huge surge of corrosive seawater. (AP Photo/NOAA)
Expand Photo Streets are flooded under the Manhattan Bridge in the Dumbo section of Brooklyn, N.Y., Monday, Oct. 29, 2012. Sandy continued on its path Monday, as the storm forced the shutdown of mass transit, schools and financial markets, sending coastal residents fleeing, and threatening a dangerous mix of high winds and soaking rain. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews) Bebeto Matthews | AP
Streets are flooded under the Manhattan Bridge in the Dumbo section of Brooklyn, N.Y., Monday, Oct. 29, 2012. Sandy continued on its path Monday, as the storm forced the shutdown of mass transit, schools and financial markets, sending coastal residents fleeing, and threatening a dangerous mix of high winds and soaking rain. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
Expand Photo A house is inundated by flood water as Hurricane Sandy approaches, Monday, Oct. 29, 2012, in Center Moriches, N.Y. Hurricane Sandy continued on its path Monday, as the storm forced the shutdown of mass transit, schools and financial markets, sending coastal residents fleeing, and threatening a dangerous mix of high winds and soaking rain. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow) Jason DeCrow | FR103966 AP
A house is inundated by flood water as Hurricane Sandy approaches, Monday, Oct. 29, 2012, in Center Moriches, N.Y. Hurricane Sandy continued on its path Monday, as the storm forced the shutdown of mass transit, schools and financial markets, sending coastal residents fleeing, and threatening a dangerous mix of high winds and soaking rain. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)
Expand Photo A man reacts to waves crashing over a seawall in Narragansett, R.I., Monday, Oct. 29, 2012. A fast-strengthening Hurricane Sandy churned north Monday, raking ghost-town cities along the Northeast corridor with rain and wind gusts. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) Steven Senne | AP
A man reacts to waves crashing over a seawall in Narragansett, R.I., Monday, Oct. 29, 2012. A fast-strengthening Hurricane Sandy churned north Monday, raking ghost-town cities along the Northeast corridor with rain and wind gusts. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Expand Photo A car crushed by a fallen tree sits along Montauk Highway as Hurricane Sandy approaches, Monday, Oct. 29, 2012, in Bay Shore, N.Y. Hurricane Sandy continued on its path Monday, forcing the shutdown of mass transit, schools and financial markets, sending coastal residents fleeing, and threatening a dangerous mix of high winds and soaking rain. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow) Jason DeCrow | FR103966 AP
A car crushed by a fallen tree sits along Montauk Highway as Hurricane Sandy approaches, Monday, Oct. 29, 2012, in Bay Shore, N.Y. Hurricane Sandy continued on its path Monday, forcing the shutdown of mass transit, schools and financial markets, sending coastal residents fleeing, and threatening a dangerous mix of high winds and soaking rain. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)
Expand Photo A sign informs motorists along U.S. Route 50 that Maryland's Chesapeake Bay Bridge, which connects the state's eastern and western shores, is closed because of winds from Hurricane Sandy Monday, Oct. 29, 2012. Hurricane Sandy continued on its path Monday, as the storm forced the shutdown of mass transit, schools and financial markets, sending coastal residents fleeing, and threatening a dangerous mix of high winds and soaking rain. (AP Photo/Steve Ruark) Steve Ruark | FR96543 AP
A sign informs motorists along U.S. Route 50 that Maryland's Chesapeake Bay Bridge, which connects the state's eastern and western shores, is closed because of winds from Hurricane Sandy Monday, Oct. 29, 2012. Hurricane Sandy continued on its path Monday, as the storm forced the shutdown of mass transit, schools and financial markets, sending coastal residents fleeing, and threatening a dangerous mix of high winds and soaking rain. (AP Photo/Steve Ruark)
Expand Photo A downed limb lies in a flooded street as Hurricane Sandy approaches, Monday, Oct. 29, 2012, in Center Moriches, N.Y. Hurricane Sandy continued on its path Monday, as the storm forced the shutdown of mass transit, schools and financial markets, sending coastal residents fleeing, and threatening a dangerous mix of high winds and soaking rain. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow) Jason DeCrow | FR103966 AP
A downed limb lies in a flooded street as Hurricane Sandy approaches, Monday, Oct. 29, 2012, in Center Moriches, N.Y. Hurricane Sandy continued on its path Monday, as the storm forced the shutdown of mass transit, schools and financial markets, sending coastal residents fleeing, and threatening a dangerous mix of high winds and soaking rain. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)
Expand Photo A car is submerged in the Dumbo section of the Brooklyn borough of New York, as the East River overflows during hurricane Sandy, on Monday, Oct. 29, 2012. Authorities warned that New York City and Long Island could get the worst of the storm surge: an 11-foot onslaught of seawater that could swamp lower areas of the city. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews) Bebeto Matthews | AP
A car is submerged in the Dumbo section of the Brooklyn borough of New York, as the East River overflows during hurricane Sandy, on Monday, Oct. 29, 2012. Authorities warned that New York City and Long Island could get the worst of the storm surge: an 11-foot onslaught of seawater that could swamp lower areas of the city. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
NEW YORK - New York City awakened Tuesday to a flooded subway system, shuttered financial markets and hundreds of thousands of people without power a day after a wall of seawater and high winds slammed into the city, destroying buildings and flooding tunnels.
Scenes of the damage were everywhere. At least 50 flooded homes in Queens caught fire and were destroyed. A hospital removed patients on stretchers and 20 babies from neonatal intensive care, some on respirators operating on battery power.
Where usually bustling crowds and traffic jams streamed through sidewalks, streets and subways, they were largely empty. And high above midtown, the broken boom of a crane continued to dangle precariously over a neighborhood.
"We knew that this was going to be a very dangerous storm, and the storm has met our expectations," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. "This is a once-in-a-long-time storm."
The storm was once Hurricane Sandy but combined with two wintry systems to become a huge hybrid storm whose center smashed ashore late Monday in New Jersey. New York City was perfectly positioned to absorb the worst of its storm surge - a record 13 feet.
Water lapped over the seawall in Battery Park City, flooding rail yards, subway tracks, tunnels and roads. Rescue workers floated bright orange rafts down flooded downtown streets, while police officers rolled slowly down the street with loudspeakers telling people to go home.
In Queens, nearly 200 firefighters tried to contain an enormous blaze that consumed 50 homes in the Breezy Point neighborhood. They had to use a boat to make rescues, firefighters told WABC-TV. They climbed an awning to reach about 25 trapped people and take them down to a boat.
Officials weren't immediately able to pin down the cause of the blaze.
The rains and howling winds left a crane hanging off a luxury high-rise in midtown Manhattan, causing the evacuation of hundreds from a posh hotel and other buildings. Inspectors were climbing 74 flights of stairs to examine the crane hanging from the $1.5 billion building.
After a backup generator failed, New York University's Tisch Hospital began evacuating more than 200 patients to other facilities, including 20 babies from neonatal intensive care, some of them on respirators operating on battery power.
Without power, the hospital had no elevator service, meaning patients had to be carefully carried down staircases and outside into the weather. Gusts of wind blew their blankets as nurses held IVs and other equipment.
About 670,000 homes and businesses were without power late Monday in the city and suburban Westchester County.
"This will be one for the record books," said John Miksad, senior vice president for electric operations at Consolidated Edison. "This will be the largest storm-related outage in our history."
The facade of a four-story Manhattan building in the Chelsea neighborhood crumbled and collapsed suddenly, leaving the lights, couches, cabinets and desks inside visible from the street. No one was hurt, although some of the falling debris hit a car.
The city shut all three of its airports, its subways, schools, stock exchanges, Broadway theaters and closed several bridges and tunnels Monday as the weather worsened. By evening, a record 13-foot storm surge was threatening Manhattan's southern tip and utilities deliberately darkened part of the borough to avoid storm damage.
"It's really a complete ghost town now," said Stephen Weisbrot, from a powerless 10th-floor apartment.
It could be several days to a week before all residents who lost power during the storm get their lights back, Miksad said.
Water surged into two major commuter tunnels - the Brooklyn Battery and the Queens Midtown - along with seven subway tunnels under the East River. The agency is assessing damage and will restore the system as quickly as it can, MTA Chairman Joseph Lhota said.
On Tuesday, the New York Stock Exchange was to be closed again - the first time it's been closed for two consecutive days due to weather since 1888, when a blizzard struck the city.
At 4 a.m., few people were out on the streets. Times Square was lit but empty of people. Round-the-clock restaurants and bars that would have been wrapping up after last call were closed. Only a handful of taxis plied the streets - but there was an abundance of emergency and police vehicles.
Uptown, windows of apartments and businesses glowed. But to cross through midtown was to be swallowed by darkness. Only a few emergency or backup lights appeared in buildings.
Late Monday, an explosion at a substation at 14th Street and FDR Drive contributed to the power outages. No one was injured, and ConEd did not know whether the explosion was caused by flooding or by flying debris.
Earlier in the day, another 1 million customers lost power in New York City, the northern suburbs and coastal Long Island, where floodwaters swamped cars, downed trees and put neighborhoods under water.
At least five people were killed in the New York City area, most by falling trees.
On coastal Long Island, floodwaters swamped cars, downed trees and put neighborhoods under water as beachfronts and fishing villages bore the brunt of the storm. A police car was lost rescuing 14 people from the popular resort Fire Island.
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The massive storm that started out as Hurricane Sandy didn't just wreak havoc in New York City. The storm slammed into the East Coast and morphed into a huge and problematic system, putting more than 7.5 million homes and businesses in the dark and causing at least 18 deaths.
Here's a snapshot of what is happening, state by state.
CAROLINAS
North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue expanded a state of emergency to western North Carolina, which could see a foot of snow. A woman who was pulled from the Atlantic after abandoning a tall ship died. Power outages: 6,600.
CONNECTICUT
The Long Island Sound flooded roads as the storm toppled trees and power lines Two people died, including an Easton firefighter who was killed when a tree fell on his truck. Power outages: More than 615,000.
DELAWARE
Nearly all residents of flood-prone coastal communities in Kent County heeded calls to evacuate. The Rehoboth Beach and Dewey Beach resort communities were flooded. Power outages: More than 45,000.
ILLINOIS
High wind warnings and a lakeshore flood warning are in effect Tuesday and Wednesday in Chicago. City officials said Lake Shore Drive is expected to remain open.
KENTUCKY
A winter storm warning is in effect for three southeastern counties until Wednesday. In some areas, winds could gust up to 50 mph through Tuesday.
MAINE
Wind gusts topped 60 mph, shutting down the port of Portland and knocking out power to homes and businesses. Power outages: More than 86,000.
MARYLAND
Floodwaters swamped touristy Ocean City. In western Maryland, snow tied up traffic. A falling tree killed a man in Pasadena. Power outages: 290,000.
MASSACHUSETTS
Strong winds and heavy surf led to mandatory evacuations in sections of coastal Dartmouth and Fall River and voluntary evacuations in other coastal communities. Power outages: More than 300,000.
MICHIGAN
High winds knocked out power to at least 60,000 homes and businesses.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Politicians canceled visits to the presidential swing state on Monday. Power outages: 179,000.
NEW JERSEY
The center of the storm came ashore Monday evening near Atlantic City, which was cut off from the mainland by the storm surge along with other barrier islands, stranding residents who ignored warnings to evacuate. Hundreds of people were being evacuated after a levee broke in the northern New Jersey town of Moonachie. At least three deaths were reported. Power outages: More than 2.3 million.
NEW YORK
A record storm surge that was higher than predicted along with high winds damaged the electrical system and plunged millions of people into darkness. Utilities say it could be up to a week before power is fully restored. The governor's office said there were five storm-related deaths. A fire burned 50 houses in one flooded section of Queens. Power outages: More than 1.8 million.
OHIO
The Cleveland area and northeast Ohio were being slammed with rain and high winds. Snow was reported in some parts south of Cleveland and south of Columbus. Power outages: More than 250,000.
PENNSYLVANIA
Wind and flooding closing more than 200 bridges and roads. Four people died, including an 8-year-old boy who was killed when a tree limb fell on him. Power outages: 1.2 million.
RHODE ISLAND
Howling winds and storm surges forced mandatory and voluntary evacuations in low-lying and coastal communities. Providence's hurricane barrier performed well in one of its biggest tests. Power outages: 115,000.
TENNESSEE
Snow expected in higher elevations, where a freeze warning has been issued. High winds expected in many areas.
VERMONT
Winds knocked down trees and power lines, and schools were closed. Power outages: More than 10,000.
VIRGINIA
Utilities brought in crews to help restore power after high winds and snow. A curfew was ordered Monday on Chincoteague Island. Power outages: More than 131,000.
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Federal and local governments will remain closed Tuesday along with the courts, public schools and the Metro system that serves 1.2 million weekday customers. Widespread cancellations are expected at the region's three major airports. Power outages: 25,000.
WEST VIRGINIA
Some areas are buried under more than a foot of snow. A woman was killed in a traffic crash. Power outages: More than 128,000.
WISCONSIN
A village along Lake Michigan suggested residents evacuate Tuesday morning because of the possibility of dangerously high waves and flooding.
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