8 years ago
Monday, October 29, 2012
Sandy kills 13 in U.S. as storm pummels
The Associated Press reported the U.S. deaths happened in New Jersey,
New York, Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Connecticut.The cause of death was not immediately clear in most cases, but at
least two of the deaths were in Queens, New York. One man died when a
tree hit a house, and a woman died in the some borough after stepping in
an electrified puddle, Reuters reported.
Meanwhile, 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., at around 8
p.m. ET, but Environment Canada said the storm's effects were being felt
as far as 1,000 kilometres away.Thousands of flights were cancelled, train service was disrupted,
roads were closed and schools and offices were shut down before the
storm arrived.
Though the exact details of the damage being caused by Sandy are
still unclear, the impact is huge: More than 5 million people are in
darkness, and a record-breaking four-metre storm surge hit New Jersey
and New York City, flooding streets and subway tunnels.
"The West Side Highway is no longer a highway — it's a river with a
current," CBC reporter David Common said late Monday night from New York
City, noting that water had been reported on roadways in Queens,
Brooklyn, Manhattan and beyond.
America's oldest nuclear power plant is also on alert, as officials
monitor high water levels at the Oyster Creek plant in Lacey Township,
N.J.
They say water levels near Oyster Creek, which is along the Atlantic
Ocean, will likely recede within a few hours. Oyster Creek went online
in 1969 and provides 9 per cent of New Jersey's electricity.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.
"There are about 60 blocks in Manhattan now totally without power,"
Common said late Monday. "We understand that exists not only across New
York City, but right up and down the northeast coast — huge numbers of
people without power."A New York City hospital is moving out more than 200 patients 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 out.The storm was tracking inland around 11 p.m. ET, the U.S. National
Hurricane Center said, with maximum sustained winds still clocking in
around 120 km/h.
In Atlantic City, a popular New Jersey tourist destination, the storm washed away a section of the boardwalk."This storm is causing a great deal of damage. Especially on the New
Jersey coastline," New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said on Twitter
earlier in the evening.
Christie said he spoke with U.S. President Barack Obama earlier in
the day to discuss the state's needs as the storm approached. Christie,
an outspoken Republican, said he appreciated Obama's leadership in
contacting him.
Christie also expressed concern that some people in coastal areas had not followed orders to evacuate.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.
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.
The storm is heading inland, and Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett said
late Monday that Sandy's path is expected to pass "directly across the
Philadelphia area," NBC Philadelphia reported.
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