Hurricane Sandy closed in on the United States Sunday as coastal communities along the East Coast scrambled to prepare for torrential rains, high winds, major flooding, power outages and heavy snow a week before the presidential election.
Forecasters said Sandy has the ingredients to transform into a “super storm” as it merges with an Arctic jet stream, which could make the storm unlike anything seen over the eastern United States in decades.
“We’re looking at impact of greater than 50 to 60 million people,” said Louis Uccellini, head of environmental prediction for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
States of emergency were declared in eight states from North Carolina to Massachusetts, as well as Washington, D.C., as Sandy made its way north after killing 41 people in the Caribbean. Governors of states in Sandy’s path and New York City’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg ordered mandatory evacuations of vulnerable areas.New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo also ordered New York City’s subway, bus and commuter railroads to shut down , beginning at 7 p.m. ET Sunday.
In an 8 a.m. Sunday advisory, the National Hurricane Center said Sandy was about 260 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras, N.C., and was moving northeast at 10 mph, down from 14 mph Saturday night
“Gale force winds are expected to arrive along portions of the Mid-Atlantic coast later today,” reaching Long Island and southern New England by Monday morning, it said. “The combination of an extremely dangerous storm surge and the tide will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters.” It said could occur in parts of North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Connecticut, Rhode Island and New York.
Forecasters said Sandy could make U.S. landfall anywhere between Maryland and southern New England, forecasters said. Some computer models show a likely landfall between Delaware and the New York/New Jersey area.
-NBC News
