East coast braced as Hurricane Sandy approaches

Hurricane Sandy in numbers:
– 375,000 evacuated in lower Manhattan and other parts of New York City
– 50,000 evacuated in Delaware
– 30,000 evacuated in Atlantic City, New Jersey
– 7,500 flights cancelled
– 800 miles of coastland expected to be affected
– 14 US Coast Guard crew members rescued off the coast of North Carolina
– 2 more crew members remain missing.

Hurricane Sandy is bearing down on the eastern seaboard’s largest cities, forcing thousands of people to leave their homes and shutting down mass public services. Over 7,000 flights were cancelled and airports were closed completely due to the storm, which is expected to last for days.

The storm is threatening 50 million people on America’s heavily populated east coast, and forecasters warned that New York could bear the brunt of the “superstorm”, which is expected to come ashore on Monday evening. Public transport in the city was suspended on Sunday evening and thousands of school children stayed at home after schools were closed on Monday.

Coastal residents have been fleeing their homes amid fears of a wall of water more than three metres tall, while the National Hurricane Center said that the storm has top sustained winds of 85mph, with higher gusts. Sandy is on track to collide with a wintry storm moving in from the west and cold air streaming down from the Arctic.

The storm’s arrival has forced the president and Republican rival Mitt Romney to rearrange their campaign schedules in the crucial closing days of the presidential race before election day on 6 November. Early voting on Monday in Washington and Maryland was cancelled.

The category one hurricane has already been blamed for 65 deaths in the Caribbean, and Americans are being urged to take warnings seriously amid fears that the “megastorm” could wreak havoc over 800 miles, from the east coast to the great lakes. Up to three feet of snow were even forecast in mountainous areas of West Virginia.

States of emergency were declared in six US states, from North Carolina to Connecticut.

In pictures: Preparing for Hurricane Sandy

Hurricane Sandy is bearing down on the eastern seaboard’s largest cities, forcing thousands of people to leave their homes and shutting down mass public services. Over 7,000 flights were cancelled and airports were closed completely due to the storm, which is expected to last for days.

The storm is threatening 50 million people on America’s heavily populated east coast, and forecasters warned that New York could bear the brunt of the “superstorm”, which is expected to come ashore on Monday evening. Public transport in the city was suspended on Sunday evening and thousands of school children stayed at home after schools were closed on Monday.

Coastal residents have been fleeing their homes amid fears of a wall of water more than three metres tall, while the National Hurricane Center said that the storm has top sustained winds of 85mph, with higher gusts. Sandy is on track to collide with a wintry storm moving in from the west and cold air streaming down from the Arctic.

The storm’s arrival has forced the president and Republican rival Mitt Romney to rearrange their campaign schedules in the crucial closing days of the presidential race before election day on 6 November. Early voting on Monday in Washington and Maryland was cancelled.

The category one hurricane has already been blamed for 65 deaths in the Caribbean, and Americans are being urged to take warnings seriously amid fears that the “megastorm” could wreak havoc over 800 miles, from the east coast to the great lakes. Up to three feet of snow were even forecast in mountainous areas of West Virginia.

States of emergency were declared in six US states, from North Carolina to Connecticut.

In pictures: Preparing for Hurricane Sandy

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg warned people in low-lying areas of lower Manhattan and Queens to get out. “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,” he said. “This is a serious and dangerous storm.”

New Jersey’s famously blunt Governor Chris Christie was less polite: “Don’t be stupid. Get out.”

Public services suspended

New York closed schools on Monday for the city’s 1.1 million students and announced it would suspend all train, bus and subway services on Sunday night because of the risk of flooding, shutting down a system on which more than five million daily commuters rely on.

The New York Stock Exchange announced it will close its trading floor Monday.

Officials also postponed Monday’s reopening of the Statue of Liberty, which had been closed for a year for a $30m renovation.

President Barack Obama cancelled campaign events in the key battleground state of Florida to hurry back to Washington and oversee the federal response to Hurricane Sandy

In Washington, he promised the government would “respond big and respond fast” after the storm hits.

“My message to the governors as well as to the mayors is anything they need, we will be there, and we will cut through red tape. We are not going to get bogged down with a lot of rules,” he said.

Both presidential candidates were forced to cancel campaign events in the run up to one of the closest presidential contests in recent US history. Parts of four competitive states were in the hurricane’s path: Virginia, North Carolina, Ohio and New Hampshire. Those states and five others – Florida, Iowa, Wisconsin, Nevada and Colorado – that don’t reliably vote Democrat or Republican will decide the close election.