People stand on the Ocean City
Music Pier watching heavy surf caused by Hurricane Sandy, on October 28, 2012
in Ocean City, New Jersey
The ‘Frankenstorm’ Sandy is set to be
unprecedented in size once it hits the US mainland Monday night. Tens of
millions of people could be affected as the hybrid hurricane wreaks havoc from
the East Coast to the Great Lakes on Halloween week.
Increasingly dire warnings of powerful winds,
power outages, widespread flooding, torrential downpours and even snow are
being sounded in New York and other major population centers as Hurricane Sandy
continues its trek up from the Caribbean.
President Obama signed an emergency
declaration for the states of New York and Massachusetts and District of
Columbia on Sunday evening.
Forecasters said Sandy is set to transform
into "super storm," as the tropical storm merges with a winter storm
and a cold front, threatening up to 12 inches of rainfall in some areas and
heavy snow inland.
"We're looking at impact of greater than
50 to 60 million people," says Louis Uccellini, head of environmental
prediction for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Set to approach the coasts of the
mid-Atlantic states by Monday, Sandy is likely to make landfall in the New York
metropolitan area, home to about 22 million people, on Monday night.
The Category 1 storm’s sustained winds of 75
mile per hour are nothing extraordinary, but with hurricane force winds
reaching out 105 miles from its center and weaker tropical storm-force winds
extending 700 miles, forecasters are on edge about its potential impact.
The powerful gusts are expected to stretch as
far inland as Pennsylvania.
“These winds are just amazing in terms of
their high speed. I cannot recall ever seeing model forecasts of such an
expansive areal wind field with values so high for so long a time. We are
breaking new ground here,” a National Weather Service meteorologist in the
agency’s Washington, DC/Baltimore office said on Saturday night.
"The size of this [Sandy] alone,
affecting a heavily populated area, is going to be history making," said
Jeff Masters, a hurricane specialist who writes a blog for Weather Underground.
Hurricane Sandy off the US East
coast
Those far away from costal areas still have
cause for alarm, as forecasters predict that inland flooding from the storm
surge could pose a much greater risk than the winds.
Utilities officials have also warned that
rain-saturated grounds could send trees plummeting into power lines, leaving
residents at home without electricity for days.
Officials have urged residents to stock up on
food, water and batteries, with grocery stores being swamped in anticipation of
the potential power outages.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg ordered
a mandatory evacuation of Gotham's low-lying areas, home to some 375,000 people
in total.
"If you don't evacuate, you are not only
endangering your life, you are also endangering the lives of the first
responders who are going in to rescue you," Bloomberg said at a news
conference Sunday.
The city's school system will also be closed
on Monday, the mayor continued.
New York’s Metropolitan Transportation
Authority (MTA) had previously noted that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo had
directed "an orderly shutdown and suspension of all subway, bus and
commuter railroad service" beginning at
7 pm Sunday.
Cuomo also said the decision to shut down the
state's bridges and tunnels would be made on a case-by-case basis.
The city closed the subways before Hurricane
Irene last year, with a Columbia University study predicting that an Irene
surge just one foot higher could have shut down lower Manhattan.
Bloomberg's stark warning to residents
regarding evacuation might have been spurred by fears that complacency had set
in once Hurricane Irene turned out to be far weaker than initially predicted.
Irene, which struck the eastern US in August
2011, was responsible for 56 deaths and $15.6 billion dollars in damage, making
it the fifth costliest storm in the country's history.
"The National Weather service believes
there is increasing potential for high winds, coastal flooding and heavy rains
across a broad area for a lengthy period of time Sunday through Tuesday,"
said Howard Glaser, director of New York State Operations.
Next door in New Jersey, hundreds of coastal
residents started moving inland after Governor Chris Christie declared a state
of emergency on Saturday. A dozen Atlantic City casinos were closed following
the declaration, as the gambling hub is located on a barrier island. The town’s
nearly 40,000 residents will be evacuated Sunday, city officials said.
Atlantic City is likely to flood, as National
Weather Service Forecasters in New Jersey predicted “larger mainstream flooding
for Tuesday through much of the week.”
A sign reads "Danger Ocean
Closed" at the entrance to the beach, due to approaching Hurricane Sandy,
on October 28, 2012 in Ocean City, New Jersey (Mark Wilson / Getty Images /
AFP)
A man surfs as Hurrican Sandy
approaches on October 28, 2012 in Long Beach, New York (Mike Stobe / Getty
Images / AFP)
As of 8:00 am EST, Hurricane Sandy was
located roughly 395 miles south of New York City and is moving over the
Atlantic parallel to the coast at a clip of 14 mph. It is expected to make a
sharp westerly turn towards the coast on Sunday night.
Sandy is expected to transform into “a large
and intense post-tropical cyclone as it turns toward the northwest,"
Environment Canada said early Sunday morning.
"It is possible that this transition
could intensify the storm slightly further prior to moving inland somewhere
along the New Jersey coast late Monday night or Tuesday morning," the
agency continued.
"As many as 23 million Canadians stand
to be affected by this storm. That's 70% of the country," meteorologist
Mark Robinson at The Weather Network warned on Saturday.
Sandy has already been felt on the campaign
trail, as President Barack Obama was forced to cancel campaign stops in
Virginia on Monday and Colorado on Tuesday, while Republican contender Mitt
Romney canceled all his scheduled events in Virginia and moved to the crucial
swing state of Ohio instead, where he is currently neck and neck with the
president.
Obama said he was working with state and
local officials to make sure they had ample resources to prepare for the
potential disaster, which could leave millions of Americans in its wake.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is
readying water, meals, blankets and other resources at support bases, the White
house announced on Saturday.
A sign announces "Danger Rip
Current" as Hurricane Sandy approaches on October 28, 2012 in Atlantic
City, New Jersey
A loader makes a sand barrier on
the beach to help stop storm surge from approaching Hurricane Sandy on October
28, 2012 in Atlantic City, New Jersey
Carpenters Frank Jiacopello (L)
and Ron Skinner put plywood over the doors at the Bally's Casino on the
boardwalk as Hurricane Sandy approaches on October 28, 2012 in Atlantic City,
New Jersey
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