link (http://www.click2houston.com/news/Sandy-slams-Northeast-hard-at-least-11-dead/-/1735978/17171686/-/10ice4k/-/index.html)

Sandy Slams Northeast Hard; At Least 11 Dead
Storm hits near Atlantic City as post-tropical cyclone
Author: By Matt Smith CNN
Posted: Oct 29 2012 2:42 AM CDT Updated: Oct 29 2012 10:21 PM CDT

CNN) - Though no longer a hurricane, "post-tropical" superstorm Sandy packed a hurricane-sized punch as it slammed into the Jersey Shore on Monday, killing at least 11 people from West Virginia to North Carolina and Connecticut. Sandy whipped torrents of water over the streets of Atlantic City, stretching for blocks inland and ripping up part of the vacation spot's fabled boardwalk. The storm surge set records in Lower Manhattan, where flooded substations caused a widespread power outage. It swamped beachfronts on both sides of Long Island Sound and delivered hurricane-force winds from Virginia to Cape Cod as it came ashore.

The storm hit near Atlantic City about 8 p.m. ET, the National Hurricane Center reported. It packed 80-mph winds at landfall, down from the 90 mph clocked earlier Monday. "I've been down here for about 16 years, and it's shocking what I'm looking at now. It's unbelievable," said Montgomery Dahm, owner of the Tun Tavern in Atlantic City, which stayed open as Sandy neared the Jersey Shore. "I mean, there's cars that are just completely underwater in some of the places I would never believe that there would be water." Dahm's family cleared out of Atlantic City before the storm hit, but he says he stayed put to serve emergency personnel. At nightfall Monday, he said the water was lapping at the steps of his restaurant, where a generator was keeping the lights on.

The storm had already knocked down power lines and tree limbs while still 50 miles offshore and washed out a section of the boardwalk on the north end of town, Atlantic City Mayor Lorenzo Langford told CNN. He said there were still "too many people" who didn't heed instructions to evacuate, and he urged anyone still in town to "hunker down and try to wait this thing out." "When Mother Nature sends her wrath your way, we're at her mercy, and so all we can do is stay prayerful and do the best that we can," Langford said. And in Seaside Heights, about 30 miles north of Atlantic City, Police Chief Thomas Boyd told CNN, "The whole north side of my town is totally under water."

Mass transit grinds to a halt In New York, lower Manhattan's Battery Park recorded nearly 14-foot tide, smashing a record set by 1960's Hurricane Donna by more than 3 feet. The city had already halted service on its bus and train lines, closing schools and ordering about 400,000 people out of their homes in low-lying areas of Manhattan and elsewhere. Flooding forced the closure of all three of the major airports in the area, LaGuardia, John F. Kennedy and Newark Liberty. Water seeped into subway stations in Lower Manhattan and into the tunnel connecting Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn, while high winds damaged a crane perched atop a Midtown skyscraper under construction, forcing authorities to evacuate the surrounding area.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg told reporters there was an "extraordinary" amount of water in Lower Manhattan, as well as downed trees throughout the city and widespread power outages. "We knew that this was going to be a very dangerous storm, and the storm has met our expectations," he said. "The worst of the weather has come, and city certainly is feeling the impacts." The storm was blamed for more than 2.8 million outages across the Northeast. About 350,000 of them were in the New York city area, where utility provider Con Edison reported it had also cut power to customers in parts of Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan to protect underground equipment as the storm waters rose.

But as water crept into its substations, Con Ed said it had lost service to about 250,000 customers in Manhattan -- including most of the island south of 39th Street. Five things to know about Sandy At least five people had been killed in storm-related incidents in New York state, including three killed by trees falling on homes in Queens and in the town of New Salem, near Albany, city and state officials said. Falling trees were also blamed for three deaths reported in New Jersey and one in Connecticut, authorities there told CNN. In West Virginia, a woman was killed in a car accident after the storm dumped 5 inches of snow on the town of Davis, said Amy Shuler Goodwin, a spokeswoman for Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin's office.

And before hitting land, it overwhelmed the sailing ship HMS Bounty, a replica of the historic British vessel, off North Carolina. Fourteen of the ship's crew of 16 were rescued, but the body of one deckhand was found Monday evening and the ship's captain was still missing Monday night, the Coast Guard said. Sandy had already claimed at least 67 lives in the Caribbean, including 51 in Haiti. Sandy's storm surges were boosted by a full moon, which already brings the highest tides of the month. And forecasters said the storm was likely to collide with a cold front and spawn a superstorm that could generate flash floods and snowstorms. "It could be bad," said U.S. Coast Guard Rear Adm. Steven Rattior, "or it could be devastation."

Mass transit shut down across the densely populated Northeast, landmarks stood empty and schools and government offices were closed. The National Grid, which provides power to millions of customers, said 60 million people could be affected before it's over.
On Fire Island, off Long Island, the water rose above promenades and docks on Monday afternoon, homeowner Karen Boss said. Boss stayed on the island with her husband despite a mandatory evacuation order. She said they own several properties and a business there and had weathered previous storms. "I'm concerned that it might come into the first floor," she said. "If that's the case, I'll just move into another house that's higher up."

Based on pressure readings, it's likely to be the strongest storm to make landfall north of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, CNN senior meteorologist Dave Hennen said. The benchmark storm, the 1938 "Long Island Express" Hurricane, contained a low pressure reading of 946 millibars; Sandy had a minimum pressure of 943 millibars. Generally speaking, the lower the pressure, the stronger the storm. In Sea Bright, New Jersey, Yvette Cafaro scrawled a plea on the plywood that covered her burger restaurant: "Be kind to us Sandy." The seaside area largely dodged last year's Hurricane Irene, but Cafaro was not optimistic that Sea Bright would be spared Sandy. "Everything that we've been watching on the news looks like this one will really get us," she said. "We're definitely worried about it."

Its arrival, eight days before the U.S. presidential election, forced President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, to alter or cancel several campaign stops. Obama flew back to Washington from Florida, telling reporters at the White House that assets were in place for an effective response to the storm. "The most important message I have for the public right now is please listen to what your state and local officials are saying," Obama said. "When they tell you to evacuate, you need to evacuate." And in Ohio, Romney asked supporters to drop off items and cash at his "victory centers" to be donated to victims of the storm. "There are families in harm's way that will be hurt -- either in their possessions or perhaps in something more severe," Romney said.

By Monday afternoon, 23 states were under a warning or advisory for wind related to Sandy. Thousands of flights had been canceled, and hundreds of roads and highways were expected to flood. And according to a government model, Sandy's wind damage alone could cause more than $7 billion in economic loss. Sandy was expected to weaken once it moves inland, but the center was expected to move slowly northward, meaning gusty winds and heavy rain would continue through Wednesday. On the western side of the storm, the mountains of West Virginia expected up to 3 feet of snow and the mountains of southwestern Virginia to the Kentucky state line could see up to 2 feet. Twelve to 18 inches of snow were expected in the mountains near the North Carolina-Tennessee border. "This is not a typical storm," said Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett. "Essentially, this is a hurricane wrapped in a 'nor'easter.'"

Copyright 2012 by CNN NewSource. All rights reserved.

I did hear that CT. was supposed to be get 90mph winds last night. I dont know if that happened or not. Hopefully, maybe somebody will find out for me. I can believe all the damage because its not only NY, CT and NJ but its NC, West Virginia etc. I guess if there is a silver lining and I dont know if there is, is that the majority of the storm is gone.

During the night we here in mid- Michigan woke up to a snow covered landscape.(It's melting fast) Boy was that a shock! Not a lot of snow but enough for ground cover. I think that this unusual weather is caused by the backside of the hurricane. It was also very windy yesterday and my sister who lives near Lake Huron said that there were 20-35 ft. waves. There is a flood watch out for that area.

Hoping the forecast models are off, but they were certainly spot-on with this storm. New models have the system moving up into the North Atlantic and crossing over to Europe within the next five-seven days. A low pressure system off Europe is expected to give the storm more intensification, creating a similar weather event across Northern Europe. Expect hurricane force winds, storm surge, power outages and coastal flooding.

:eek:

It was mentioned on the news that the death toll is now at 94, terrible.

Oh my god.

I noticed some conflicting reports here:

http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_11_02/Sandy-death-toll-at-94-in-U-S/

-This one says 39 died in New York City

http://fox4kc.com/2012/10/30/sandy-state-by-state/

-But this one says 26 in the U.S. died and 68 in the Caribbean died. I'm not sure which is correct.

I'm demanding a complete list of Hurricane Sandy victims right now.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/01/us/tropical-weather-sandy/index.html

Sandy survivors push toward normalcy and search for the missing
By CNN's Tom Watkins and Chelsea J. Carter
updated 11:01 PM EDT, Thu November 1, 2012

(CNN) -- The death toll mounted Thursday as survivors struggled to regain a semblance of the normalcy that Superstorm Sandy swept away this week when it struck the Northeast.
In some cases, tempers grew short.

"We're gonna die down here!" wailed Donna Solli to Sen. Chuck Schumer as he toured her waterlogged neighborhood in New York's Staten Island with a group of reporters. "When is the government coming?" Solli said residents needed gas, food and clothes. "We're gonna freeze," she said on a day when the 50-degree temperature was predicted to drop to the low 40s. "We've got 90-year-old people!"

The Democratic senator from New York said he understood and hugged her.
Solli said her basement was flooded and her refrigerator was upside down. "I stayed here because I have an elderly dog," she told a reporter. "We nearly drowned." Solli added that she had had little to eat. "One slice of pizza in 48 hours." As he surveyed the damage in the neighborhood, the politician told a reporter, "This is the worst thing I've ever seen, and it's killing me what these people have to go through. We'll get whatever federal help we can, that's for sure."

Afterward, a senior administration official told CNN that a convoy of 10 Red Cross trucks filled with food, water and medicine arrived Thursday evening on Staten Island. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and FEMA Deputy Administrator Richard Serino were to travel Friday to Staten Island to meet with state and local officials and view the response and recovery efforts, the White House said.

Some people were not complaining. About 90 miles north of Staten Island, the mayor of Danbury, Connecticut, Mark D. Boughton, was visiting a special-needs shelter on Wednesday night when he met a 106-year-old woman who had cancer and was in hospice. "She's happy to be alive," he tweeted. "Every day is a gift."

Contacted by telephone, Boughton said the cheerfulness of the lifelong resident of Danbury had inspired him. "The essence of it was, look, you gotta make each day count," he said. "You don't know when your time comes." In Sandy's wake, at least 157 people died, at least 88 of them in the United States, two in Canada and 67 in the Caribbean. Among them were two children whose bodies were found Thursday. The boys, ages 2 and 4, had been riding with their mother, Glenda Moore, on Staten Island when the storm surge swamped their SUV, authorities said.

Police said Moore gave them this account: When her Ford Explorer was blown into a hole, she got out, took out her children and carried them to a nearby tree. There, she held on to the boys, Brandon and Connor, as rain poured and hurricane-strength winds gusted. After hours, she walked with her children to a nearby house to seek help. A man opened the door but refused to let them in. Desperate, she went to his back porch and threw a flower pot at the window in an attempt to get inside. But she was not able to do so. Meanwhile, her children were swept away.

Their bodies were found nearby on Thursday. Relatives said Moore was too distraught to speak with CNN. The owner of the house, who asked that he not be identified, disputed Moore's account, saying he saw only a man. "He didn't come to the door, he came on the stairs at the back of the house, and he was standing at the bottom of the stairs," said the man. "He took a concrete flower pot and threw it through the door."

The man at the door, he said, didn't ask to enter the house, but instead asked the owner of the house to leave it in order to help. "What could I do to help him?" he asked. "I'm wearing the same clothes ... the same shorts and flip-flops I had that night. And I was going to come out?" The man told CNN he sat up for the rest of the night, with his back against the door in the kitchen. He said the deaths were a tragedy, but that the woman was at fault. "She shouldn't have been out," he continued. "She shouldn't have been out on the road."

There was nothing he could have done, he added. "I'm not a rescue worker ... If I would have been outside, I would have been dead." Sandy claimed at least 37 lives in New York City, Mayor Michael Bloomberg told reporters Thursday. Victims fall to Mother Nature's wrath Authorities in nine states worked to restore basic services such as public transit and electricity.

In New York City, nearly 500,000 customers were without power. In Manhattan, many of the 220,000 customers without electricity were south of Midtown's 34th Street. Parts of Queens and Staten Island also had no electricity Thursday. "Restoring power will take a lot of time," the mayor said.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo, in a letter to utilities, warned of consequences if authorities discover that they failed to prepare properly. "Under such circumstances, I would direct the Public Service Commission to commence a proceeding to revoke your certificates," he wrote.

That message was not lost on its intended targets. "We're doing our damnedest to get our power back as quickly as possible," said John Miksad, senior vice president of electric operations at Con Ed. New York's vast transit network remains hobbled. The Metropolitan Transit Authority said 14 of the city's 23 subway lines were running and a flotilla of 4,000 buses was attempting to take up the slack. For some, Thursday's commute into Manhattan from the outer boroughs took five hours.

Bloomberg predicted that would ease as tunnels are cleared of water, power is restored to subway lines and ferries resume service. Getting water out of the tunnels is "one of the main orders of business right now," Cuomo said.
Broadway theaters reopened Thursday, and organizers vowed to hold the New York City Marathon as scheduled on Sunday. Event organizer Mary Wittenberg said the race wouldn't divert resources from the recovery.

Three days after Sandy barreled ashore in southern New Jersey, search-and-rescue crews were going door-to-door in some neighborhoods looking for people, particularly the elderly, who may have been stranded by the power outages, the debris and remaining floodwater. Sandy killed at least six people in New Jersey, said Gov. Chris Christie, who had warned people in low-lying areas to evacuate.

Christie asked for patience as crews worked to restore electricity to more than 2 million power company customers. The federal government shipped 1 million meals Thursday to New York, where National Guard troops were distributing them to people in need, Cuomo told reporters. Mobile networks team up to help. The storm dumped up to 3 feet of snow in West Virginia and Maryland, leaving thousands without power.

Nearly 3.5 million customers across the eastern United States were still in the dark Thursday, down from nearly 8 million in its immediate aftermath. By Thursday, Sandy's remnants had headed into Canada. The National Weather Service predicted a nor'easter next week from the mid-Atlantic states into New England. But the forecast said the storm would be far weaker than Sandy.

CNN's Chelsea J. Carter, Tom Watkins, Joe Sterling and Melissa Gray contributed to this report.

Jenny, I heard that at least 7 people are dead in Brooklyn, and 19 in Staten Island are dead.

Just out of curiosity, do you know who they are? I only know Jessie Streich-Kest and Jacob Vogelman of Brooklyn and two young brothers in Staten Island.

It is total chaos in the NJ/NYC area right now. Half of the area is still without power, a huge amount of traffic lights are out so driving is basically a free-for-all, a gas shortage combined with a lack of open gas stations means 3 hour lines at the pump (there are people lining up already for gas in the morning). People are literally beating each other over outlets in the mall to charge their phones. Meanwhile in NYC, people are throwing each other off of crowded buses that take 3 hours to get from Brooklyn to Manhattan. There's absolutely no way into NYC from Jersey right now other than driving which has a 3 passenger minimum so anyone who works in Manhattan but lives in NJ is basically just **** out of luck (assuming their work has power and isn't flooded anyway).