Eastern US braces for dangerous superstorm
NEW YORK (AP) — Big cities from Washington to Boston buttoned up on Sunday against the onslaught of a superstorm that could menace 50 million people in the most heavily populated corridor in the nation, with forecasters warning New York could be in particular peril.
"The time for preparing and talking is about over," Federal Emergency Management Administrator Craig Fugate warned as Hurricane Sandy made its way up the Atlantic on a collision course with two other weather systems that could turn it into one of the most fearsome storms on record in the U.S. "People need to be acting now."
Airlines canceled more than 5,000 flights and Amtrak began suspending train service across the Northeast. New York and Philadelphia moved to shut down their subways, buses and trains Sunday night and announced that schools would be closed on Monday. Boston, Washington and Baltimore also called off school.
As rain from the leading edges of the monster hurricane began to fall over the Northeast, tens of thousands of people in coastal areas from Maryland to Connecticut were under orders to clear out Sunday. That included 50,000 in Delaware alone and 30,000 in Atlantic City, N.J., where the city's 12 casinos were forced to shut down for only the fourth time in the 34-year history of legalized gambling there.
"We were told to get the heck out. I was going to stay, but it's better to be safe than sorry," said Hugh Phillips, who was one of the first in line when a Red Cross shelter in Lewes, Del., opened at noon.
"I think this one's going to do us in," said Mark Palazzolo, who boarded up his bait-and-tackle shop in Point Pleasant Beach, N.J., with the same wood he used in past storms, crossing out the names of Hurricanes Isaac and Irene and spray-painting "Sandy" next to them. "I got a call from a friend of mine from Florida last night who said, 'Mark. Get out! If it's not the storm, it'll be the aftermath. People are going to be fighting in the streets over gasoline and food.'"
Sandy, a Category 1 hurricane with sustained winds of 75 mph as of Sunday evening, was blamed for 65 deaths in the Caribbean before it began churning up the Eastern Seaboard. As of 5 p.m., it was centered about 530 miles southeast of New York City, moving at 15 mph, with hurricane-force winds extending an incredible 175 miles from its center.
It was expected to hook left toward the mid-Atlantic coast and come ashore late Monday or early Tuesday, most likely in New Jersey, colliding with a wintry storm moving in from the west and cold air streaming down from the Arctic.
Forecasters said the monster combination could bring close to a foot of rain, a potentially lethal storm surge 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.
Louis Uccellini, environmental prediction chief for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told The Associated Press that given Sandy's east-to-west track into New Jersey, the worst of the storm surge could be just to the north, in New York City, Long Island and northern New Jersey.
Forecasters said that because of giant waves and high tides made worse by a full moon, the metropolitan area of about 20 million people could get slammed with an 11-foot wall of water.
"This is the worst-case scenario," Uccellini said.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg warned people in low-lying areas of lower Manhattan and Queens to leave. "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 Gov. Chris Christie was less polite: "Don't be stupid. Get out."
New York called off school Monday for the city's 1.1 million students and announced it would suspend all train, bus and subway service Sunday night because of the risk of flooding, shutting down a system on which more than 5 million riders a day depend.
The New York Stock Exchange announced it will close its trading floor Monday but continue to trade electronically, despite fears from some experts that flooding could knock out the underground network of power, phone and high-speed Internet lines that are vital to the nation's financial capital.
Officials also postponed Monday's reopening of the Statue of Liberty, which had been closed for a year for $30 million in renovations.
In Washington, President Barack Obama 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.
He also pleaded for neighborliness: "In times like this, one of the things that Americans do is we pull together and we help out one another And so, there may be elderly populations in your area. Check on your neighbor, check on your friend. Make sure that they are prepared. If we do, then we're going to get through this storm just fine."
The storm forced the president and Mitt Romney to rearrange their campaign schedules in the crucial closing days of the presidential race. And early voting on Monday in Maryland was canceled.
At least twice as many train passengers as usual crowded the Amtrak waiting area Sunday morning at New York's Penn Station. Many were trying to leave New York earlier than planned.
The noon and 1 p.m. trains to Boston were sold out. Randall Ross, a bookseller from Shreveport, La., and his traveling companion, Mary McCombs, were waiting for an Amtrak train to Syracuse, the destination they chose after attempts to book flights through eight other cities failed.
"I just want to be somewhere else except New York City," said McCombs, who will stay with friends in Syracuse until she and Ross can get a flight. "I don't want to risk it."
Despite the dire warnings, some souls were refusing to budge.
Jonas Clark of Manchester Township, N.J. — right in the area where Sandy was projected to come ashore — stood outside a convenience store, calmly sipping a coffee and wondering why people were working themselves "into a tizzy."
"I've seen a lot of major storms in my time, and there's nothing you can do but take reasonable precautions and ride out things the best you can," said Clark, 73. "Nature's going to what it's going to do. It's great that there's so much information out there about what you can do to protect yourself and your home, but it all boils down basically to 'use your common sense.'"
In New Jersey, Denise Faulkner and her boyfriend showed up at the Atlantic City Convention Center with her 7-month-old daughter and two sons, ages 3 and 12, thinking there was a shelter there. She was dismayed to learn that it was just a gathering point for buses to somewhere else. Last year, they were out of their home for two days because of Hurricane Irene.
"I'm real overwhelmed," she said as baby Zahiriah, wrapped in a pink blanket with embroidered elephants, slept in a car seat. "We're at it again. Last year we had to do it. This year we have to do it. And you have to be around all sorts of people — strangers. It's a bit much."
"The time for preparing and talking is about over," Federal Emergency Management Administrator Craig Fugate warned as Hurricane Sandy made its way up the Atlantic on a collision course with two other weather systems that could turn it into one of the most fearsome storms on record in the U.S. "People need to be acting now."
Airlines canceled more than 5,000 flights and Amtrak began suspending train service across the Northeast. New York and Philadelphia moved to shut down their subways, buses and trains Sunday night and announced that schools would be closed on Monday. Boston, Washington and Baltimore also called off school.
As rain from the leading edges of the monster hurricane began to fall over the Northeast, tens of thousands of people in coastal areas from Maryland to Connecticut were under orders to clear out Sunday. That included 50,000 in Delaware alone and 30,000 in Atlantic City, N.J., where the city's 12 casinos were forced to shut down for only the fourth time in the 34-year history of legalized gambling there.
"We were told to get the heck out. I was going to stay, but it's better to be safe than sorry," said Hugh Phillips, who was one of the first in line when a Red Cross shelter in Lewes, Del., opened at noon.
"I think this one's going to do us in," said Mark Palazzolo, who boarded up his bait-and-tackle shop in Point Pleasant Beach, N.J., with the same wood he used in past storms, crossing out the names of Hurricanes Isaac and Irene and spray-painting "Sandy" next to them. "I got a call from a friend of mine from Florida last night who said, 'Mark. Get out! If it's not the storm, it'll be the aftermath. People are going to be fighting in the streets over gasoline and food.'"
Sandy, a Category 1 hurricane with sustained winds of 75 mph as of Sunday evening, was blamed for 65 deaths in the Caribbean before it began churning up the Eastern Seaboard. As of 5 p.m., it was centered about 530 miles southeast of New York City, moving at 15 mph, with hurricane-force winds extending an incredible 175 miles from its center.
It was expected to hook left toward the mid-Atlantic coast and come ashore late Monday or early Tuesday, most likely in New Jersey, colliding with a wintry storm moving in from the west and cold air streaming down from the Arctic.
Forecasters said the monster combination could bring close to a foot of rain, a potentially lethal storm surge 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.
Louis Uccellini, environmental prediction chief for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told The Associated Press that given Sandy's east-to-west track into New Jersey, the worst of the storm surge could be just to the north, in New York City, Long Island and northern New Jersey.
Forecasters said that because of giant waves and high tides made worse by a full moon, the metropolitan area of about 20 million people could get slammed with an 11-foot wall of water.
"This is the worst-case scenario," Uccellini said.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg warned people in low-lying areas of lower Manhattan and Queens to leave. "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 Gov. Chris Christie was less polite: "Don't be stupid. Get out."
New York called off school Monday for the city's 1.1 million students and announced it would suspend all train, bus and subway service Sunday night because of the risk of flooding, shutting down a system on which more than 5 million riders a day depend.
The New York Stock Exchange announced it will close its trading floor Monday but continue to trade electronically, despite fears from some experts that flooding could knock out the underground network of power, phone and high-speed Internet lines that are vital to the nation's financial capital.
Officials also postponed Monday's reopening of the Statue of Liberty, which had been closed for a year for $30 million in renovations.
In Washington, President Barack Obama 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.
He also pleaded for neighborliness: "In times like this, one of the things that Americans do is we pull together and we help out one another And so, there may be elderly populations in your area. Check on your neighbor, check on your friend. Make sure that they are prepared. If we do, then we're going to get through this storm just fine."
The storm forced the president and Mitt Romney to rearrange their campaign schedules in the crucial closing days of the presidential race. And early voting on Monday in Maryland was canceled.
At least twice as many train passengers as usual crowded the Amtrak waiting area Sunday morning at New York's Penn Station. Many were trying to leave New York earlier than planned.
The noon and 1 p.m. trains to Boston were sold out. Randall Ross, a bookseller from Shreveport, La., and his traveling companion, Mary McCombs, were waiting for an Amtrak train to Syracuse, the destination they chose after attempts to book flights through eight other cities failed.
"I just want to be somewhere else except New York City," said McCombs, who will stay with friends in Syracuse until she and Ross can get a flight. "I don't want to risk it."
Despite the dire warnings, some souls were refusing to budge.
Jonas Clark of Manchester Township, N.J. — right in the area where Sandy was projected to come ashore — stood outside a convenience store, calmly sipping a coffee and wondering why people were working themselves "into a tizzy."
"I've seen a lot of major storms in my time, and there's nothing you can do but take reasonable precautions and ride out things the best you can," said Clark, 73. "Nature's going to what it's going to do. It's great that there's so much information out there about what you can do to protect yourself and your home, but it all boils down basically to 'use your common sense.'"
In New Jersey, Denise Faulkner and her boyfriend showed up at the Atlantic City Convention Center with her 7-month-old daughter and two sons, ages 3 and 12, thinking there was a shelter there. She was dismayed to learn that it was just a gathering point for buses to somewhere else. Last year, they were out of their home for two days because of Hurricane Irene.
"I'm real overwhelmed," she said as baby Zahiriah, wrapped in a pink blanket with embroidered elephants, slept in a car seat. "We're at it again. Last year we had to do it. This year we have to do it. And you have to be around all sorts of people — strangers. It's a bit much."
I wonder if this has anything to do with the rain here? The front could be pushing back against our front and keeping it from moving on. My anemometer shows no wind and a few gusts up to 2mph. Not a lot pushing this front east.
 @RalphCramden Never thought of that but I wouldn't doubt it. Although if that is the case and the temp drops up on the mountain I am sure the skiers of our area will be happy.
 @WillowÂ
Skiers would be thrilled to see a few feet of new snow. The mountain was looking pretty bare this summer.
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There is a stagnant front in the middle of the US and it isn't moving. I am just guessing but it looks like that has everything backed up all the way to us.
Wonder if the mess will be cleaned up by Election Day?
 @jpk If it is as bad as they are predicting I doubt it. Can almost guarantee it if the sea water gets into the subways of the major cities along the Eastern seaboard.
Sandy demands a sacrifice, and the people of New Jersey must throw Snooki into the ocean to appease the storm gods!! I don't actually know if that will work or not, but it's a good idea regardless. =)
 @badcat You'd think a sacrifice of Snooki would just make the storm gods more enraged.
 @badcat I think that would just make them more angry and make the storm worse!
 @scoreboard You have a point ... I was thinking that if the Jersey Shore was less wicked, the storm gods wouldn't have to purge and punish it as much. You know, it's the 700 Club solution to natural disasters. Actually, if we're throwing Jersey residents into the ocean, we don't want to forget about Donald Trump.
 @badcatÂ
That may just make the storm gods angrier. Think about it. You are a storm god going to reek havoc and destruction on New Jersey and are forced to look that her. What would you do?
 @badcat Usually a sacrifice to the Gods requires at least a marginal sense of purity and cleanliness in our offering. If we throw Snooky on the alter the storm will increase exponentially.Â
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Since we can both agree the sacrifice will be "low "rent", tying her to a dock pier and calling it an "alter"Â my awaken the gods sense of humor.
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You need two thumbs up for that one..
I'll believe it when I see it.
I was born on Long Island, and New York has had quite a few bad storms. The worst thus far was one called the White Hurricane. It happened in 1888 and came along sometime around Easter...middle March I think. It was a huge storm and covered New Jersey, NY, Connecticut, and Mass. 50 inches fell in 2 days, and records at that time tell of more than 400 people were killed. Snowdrifts were in excess of 50 feet, and in those days, people were locked in their apartments, most freezing to death. It was quite a big deal. After I was born, my mom told me of a bad hurricane that came thru. We lived in Fort Totten, and my dad was an MP and gone when it hit. We lived in a new, tiny (but quite poshy for the time) little trailer on the base. Mom said she hung onto me and herself for dear life :) Anyway...the Atlantic can stir up megastorms.
 @fracas I was born in Brooklyn, and grew up in Jersey and only remember one storm when I was 8 or so back in 86 when a hurricane came close or hit after being down graded. Lots of wind and broken trees, but nothing like this. I know it is bad if they closed NYC school, since in 1996 when they closed for one day was like a major thing to put 1.1million kids home for the day. I just hope everyone makes it though and is not injured and that you are able to keep in contact with any family members out there.
@Willow @fracas  But you know...they've been predicting this storm for a couple of years now. Can't remember what show, but they had the scenario of New York City getting drowned. Gosh....I'm wondering how they're handling the animals at the Bronx Zoo and Central Park...do they even have that zoo anymore? Just wondering...I feel for the animals. They don't know what's going on and have to rely on us :(
The wind is picking up along the east coast. It's pulling cold air down from Canada and will make a lot of snow with the moisture that it's bringing in off the coast. If the storm is strong enough it will override the cold air from Canada and just dump a lot of rain. But it is likely there will be snow at the edge of the storms influence.
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You can see the wind patterns here. http://hint.fm/wind/index.html
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I wish I was there. I love a good storm.
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President Obama's "Katrina". I know that he is up to the job of keeping Americans safe.
 @Mai P. Burns "I know that he is up to the job of keeping Americans safe." Ha! Good one! One of the funniest comments ever!
Glad you caught the sarcasm in my previos post.
@HenryBowman @Mai P. Burns Yup! Adding smoke and mirrors to hope and change equals impenetrable fog!
 @Mai P. Burns Yea, just like he did in Libya.
That's right people, when they say evacuate, that means get the heck outta there. We don't need another Katrina where idiots didn't listen.
 @scoreboard Most of the people who stayed could not afford to leave when Katrina hit or had no where to go. I lived in Louisiana for a while and a lot of people in New Orleans have been there for generations. They are not wealthy trend setters, but happy and content average people. To call them idiots shows a lack of intellect on your part, or a lack of humility. These people were further injured because of a screwed up system to keep water away from the city.
@Willow @scoreboard My dad was stationed a Camp Polk for awhile, and we lived off base in Baton Rouge with family. Absolutely loved Louisiana...awesome folks and fantastic food.
 @scoreboard I wonder if they'll be confiscating guns from those that stay, like they did in Katrina.
@Jamie @scoreboard Those people are wonderful folks...and we up here have our "idiots" too...anyone remember Harry Truman who said Mt St Helens would never blow so he didn't leave? I guess he was an "idiot" too.
 @Jamie  @scoreboard  Only from people of pallor. With the election coming up in a week, the Black Panthers will need theirs for intimidating white voters.