Hurricane Sandy Predicted to Bring ?Life-Threatening? Surge

Hurricane Sandy grew stronger before dawn on Monday as it churned northward through the Atlantic Ocean en route to what forecasters agreed would be a devastating landfall, possibly within 100 miles of New York City.

At 5 a.m., the huge storm was producing sustained winds of 85 miles an hour after turning due north, according to the National Hurricane Center. It was expected to veer again to the northwest later Monday morning and take dead aim at the coastline of New Jersey.

With a wary eye on its expected path, residents and emergency management officials braced for the impact of the storm in more than half a dozen states, including Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina and Connecticut. Far in advance of the hurricane?s expected landfall, residents were ordered to evacuate, with many seeking refuge in shelters. Mass transit systems ground to a halt and people stocked up on water and food supplies.

Forecasters say the storm is on a scale that weather historians say has little precedent along the East Coast. Landfall is predicted on Monday night somewhere between central New Jersey and southern Delaware. But most of the eastern United States will feel Sandy?s effects, making the exact landfall spot less important than the overall trajectory.

"One of the biggest storms of our lifetimes is unfolding right now," said the anchor Kelly Cass as The Weather Channel started its fourth day of nonstop coverage.

Hurricane force winds extend up to 175 miles from the center of the storm; tropical storm force winds extend up to 485 miles from the center. This means that portions of the coast between Virginia and Massachusetts will feel hurricane force winds as the storm moves toward land, according to forecasters. Tropical-storm-force winds could stretch all the way north to Canada and all the way west to the Great Lakes, where flood warnings were issued on Sunday.

Some states expected snow with blizzard warnings issued for mountainous stretches of West Virginia, Virginia and Maryland.

Officials warned that the powerful surge the storm was creating in the ocean, combined with the strong winds, could wreak destruction in the Northeast for days. As many as 10 million people were expected to lose electricity as Sandy toppled trees and light poles and ripped down power lines.

As the storm bore down on some of the nation?s most densely populated areas, city and state officials went into emergency mode. The New York City subway system and all of the region?s commuter trains and buses were shut down. The major stock exchanges called off all trading for Monday and Broadway theaters canceled their shows on Sunday evening and Monday.

Warning that the flooding would be ?life-threatening,? forecasters and government officials implored residents in the areas designated for evacuation not to try to ride this storm out.

?We?re going to have a lot of impact, starting with the storm surge,? said Craig Fugate, the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. ?Think, ?Big.? ?

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg ordered the evacuation of more than 370,000 people in low-lying communities from Coney Island in Brooklyn to Battery Park City in Manhattan and gave 1.1 million schoolchildren a day off on Monday. The city opened evacuation shelters at 76 public schools. In New York City, the subway closing began at 7 p.m. to darken every one of the city?s 468 stations for the second time in 14 months, as officials encouraged the public to stay indoors and worked to prevent a storm surge from damaging tracks and signal equipment in the tunnels.

The closing this year seemed more ominous. The shutdown before Tropical Storm Irene last year began at noon on a Saturday, and service resumed before the workweek started on Monday. This time, officials warned, it might be Wednesday before trains were running again. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority?s commuter rail lines, which sustained the heaviest damage during Tropical Storm Irene, were suspended, and New Jersey Transit shutdown by 2 a.m.

James Barron reported from New York and Brian Stelter from Rehoboth Beach, Del. Reporting was contributed by Patrick McGeehan, Matt Flegenheimer, Christine Hauser, John Leland, Colin Moynihan, Sharon Otterman, William K. Rashbaum, Marc Santora, Sam Sifton, Nate Schweber, Michael Schwirtz, Kate Taylor and Vivian Yee from New York; Angela Macropoulos from Fire Island, N.Y.; Jeff Lebowitz and Michael Winerip from Long Beach, N.Y.; Sarah Maslin Nir from East Hampton, N.Y.; Elizabeth Maker from Milford, Conn.; Kristin Hussey from Stamford, Conn.; Stacey Stowe from Yonkers; Matthew L. Wald from Washington; Jon Hurdle from Philadelphia; Sarah Trefethen from New Bern, N.C., and Thomas Kaplan from Cape May, N.J.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/30/us/hurricane-sandy-churns-up-east-coast.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

sag awards 2012 kyra sedgwick honor killings mary tyler moore x games pro bowl pro bowl 2012