Profound condolences over the demise of people across USA, Canada and in the Carribean as well as Haiti . We feel a deep sympathy for the sufferings of people in the Sandy hit areas as the US east coast counts the cost of the devastating Frankenstorm or Superstorm Sandy.
Praise the Lord, The Frankenstorm (Superstorm Sandy ) has subsided.
Key updates on October 31st. 2012
President Barack Obama plans to tour Sandy-hit New Jersey later today alongside Governor Chris Christie, a backer of his Republican rival Mitt Romney.
Death toll reaches 48 across US and Canada
• Obama tells East Coast: America is with you
• Governor Christie: devastation 'unthinkable'
• New York's stock markets to reopen Wednesday
• More than 8.2 million households without power
– Barack Obama declares 'major disaster' in New York and
cancels Wednesday's campaign trip to Ohio in favour of travelling to New Jersey
to tour damaged areas with Republican Chris Christie
– Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York, says at least 18
dead in city alone
– Chris Christie, governor of New Jersey, says the storm has
caused 'unthinkable devastation' and praisesthe president for his handling of
the crisis
– Over 50 homes destroyed as firefighters battle raging
fires in the borough of Queens
– Around 8.2 million households reportedly left without
power after record storm
– Levee breaks in Northern New Jersey, flooding three towns
– 13 foot storm surge bursts the banks of the East and
Hudson rivers, submerging New York's road and subway tunnels
– New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority says it
is worst disaster in the history of the NYC subway system
– Alert issued at New Jersey Oyster Creek nuclear power
plant due to a record storm surge
– New York University hospital has to move patients to other
hospitals after it loses power and a backup generator
– Heavy snow is reported in parts of West Virginia, Maryland
and North Carolina as Sandy merges with the descending cold front from Canada
– Cities along the coast from Boston and New York down to
Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington are expected to remain partially
paralysed on Tuesday
– One dead and captain still missing from stricken HMS
Bounty replica
– President Barack Obama cuts short election campaigning in
Florida and rushes back to Washington to manage storm response
– Republican presidential challenger Mitt Romney cancels all
campaign events on Monday and Tuesday as pundits ponder how the storm will
influence the White House race just a week before election day
An Australian woman has described giving birth by torchlight as the superstorm hit New York. Sally Bertouch, 31, was staying with her husband James at a hotel close to NY Langone hospital when she went into labor just before the storm struck. Once at the hospital they described how lights were flickering before the power cut out completely. Eventually they were evacuated to Mount Sinai hospital where Sally gave birth to a baby girl named Sophie Deborah Here is an extract from the interview on news.com.au:
Unfortunately, the hospital was in the evacuation zone and it was being slammed by the storm.
“As we paced the corridors the lights started flickering, then the power went out completely at 8.15pm."
After 16 hours of labour in the middle of a superstorm, they were plunged into darkness.
“There were no monitors, no foetal monitors, all the doctors had glow sticks around their necks. I had a flashlight. Sal was lying in the bed in the dark and the wind,” Mr Bertouch said.
The doctors were forced to do an epidural by torchlight. They used stethoscopes to monitor the baby and Sally.
“It was pretty scary, crazy, apocalyptic weather outside but I felt confident because the doctors and nurses were so confident and in control. They did an amazing job.”
Last Updated at 11:30 a.m. ET
NEW YORK
A superstorm threatening 50 million people in the most heavily populated corridor in the nation gained strength Monday, packing winds of 90 mph just hours before it is expected to make landfall, forecasters said.
The National Hurricane Center said Monday morning that the Category 1 hurricane is moving north-northwest at 18 mph, and will soon turn northwestward. At 11:00 a.m. ET the storm was centered about 260 miles south-southeast of New York City. Hurricane-force winds extend up to 175 miles from the storm's center, with tropical storm-force winds extended outward up to 485 miles.
Maximum sustained winds of 90 mph, with gusts of up to 115 mph, were measured.
Gale force winds were reported over coastal North Carolina, southeastern Virginia, the Delmarva Peninsula and coastal New Jersey.
Hours before the storm made landfall, high winds had already knocked out power to more than 62,000 customers in several states Monday morning.
Sandy is expected to hook inland Monday, colliding with a wintry storm moving in from the west and cold air streaming down from the Arctic. Forecasters say the storm's center will make landfall along or just south of the Southern New Jersey coast Monday evening.
CBS News hurricane consultant David Bernard reports that wind gusts of 38 mph and 41 mph have already been reported in New York City and Boston, respectively.
Sandy is likely going to strengthen even more as it approaches the East Coast, Bernard reports, with hurricane-force winds reaching land by Monday afternoon. Flooding will be a huge threat, with many areas potentially seeing rainfall amounts between 5 and 8 inches over a 48-hour period.
The full moon will make storm surges worse, as high tides along the Eastern Seaboard will rise about 20 percent higher than normal. Correspondent Chip Reid reports from Ocean City, Md., that sea levels could rise 8 feet above normal - enough to flood much of the city.
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In addition to rains and flooding, about 2 to 3 feet of snow is forecast for mountainous parts of West Virginia.
The tempest could endanger up to 50 million people for days. "This is the worst-case scenario," said Louis Uccellini, environmental prediction chief for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
From Washington to Boston, big cities and small towns were buttoned up against the onslaught of Sandy, with forecasters warning that the New York area could get the worst of it -- an 11-foot wall of water.
"There's a lot of people that are going to be under the impacts of this," Federal Emergency Management Administrator Craig Fugate said on "CBS This Morning" Monday. "You know, we've got blizzard warnings as far west as West Virginia, Appalachian Mountains, but I think the biggest concern right now are the people in the evacuation areas. They're going to face the most immediate threats with the storm surge."
"The biggest challenge is going to be not knowing exactly where the heaviest-hit areas are going to be," said Fugate, "and the fact the storm's going to take several days to move through the area with heavy rain and wind, so that's going to slow down recovery activities like utility crews getting out and putting power back up."
The U.S. Coast Guard rescued 14 members of a crew forced to abandon a tall shipabout 90 miles off the North Carolina coast and continued to search for two other crew members. The storm lashed barrier islands and rendered several homes and businesses nearly inaccessible.
Forecasters said the hurricane could blow ashore Monday night along the New Jersey coast, then cut across into Pennsylvania and travel up through New York State on Wednesday.
Forecasters said the combination of Sandy with the storm from the west and the cold air from the Arctic could bring close to a foot of rain in places, a potentially lethal storm surge of 4 to 11 feet across much of the region, and punishing winds that could cause widespread power outages that last for days. The storm could also dump up to 2 feet of snow in Kentucky, North Carolina and West Virginia.
Source : http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57541877/hurricane-sandy-gains-strength-on-east-coast-path/
