850,000 Without Electric In NYC, 7.5 Million Powerless On East Coast
Hurricane Sandy plowed through New York City Monday night with 90 mph winds, turning off the lights for millions and leaving flooded streets all over the East Coast. 16 people have died as a result of the huge storm.
375,000 were ordered to evacuate lower Manhattan and other low lying parts of New York City. Evacuations were ordered for 50,000 in Delaware and 30,000 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, while all 12 casinos were shut down.
Now an extratropical cyclone, the 900-mile wide mass of wind and water has now reached as far as Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois with wind, water, and snow.
Sea water cascaded into the giant construction hole at the World Trade Center. The NYU Medical Center was evacuated after generators failed. East Coast airports are closed as well as the New York Stock Exchange.
The only way in and out of Manhattan is via the Lincoln Tunnel as all other bridges and tunnels are closed. 13.8 feet tides were experienced last night in New York City, and some water seeped into the 108-year old MTA subway system stations and onto tracks. Seven subway tunnels were flooded.
A full moon 8-foot tide is expected this morning bringing more flood waters to low lying areas of the city.
In Moonachie, New Jersey in Bergen county, a levee broke about midnight, reportedly flooding the entire town and several communities nearby.
Hoboken, New Jersey is inaccessible due to flooding surrounding the city. Hoboken has many areas below or at sea level and subject to flooding during times of heavy rains coinciding with a high tide as experienced yesterday.
At Rockaway, New York about 50 homes were ablaze as 200 fire fighters attempted to wade through high water on streets to reach them.
On Monday afternoon, 14 sailors were rescued by the Coast Guard as the replica sailing ship Bounty sank after the crew abandoned ship. Crew member Claudene Christian was reported unresponsive when rescued and pronounced dead later at the hospital. The vessel's captain, 63-year old Robin Walbridge has not been found. The Bounty was enroute from Connecticut to St. Petersburg, Florida.
While most everything is shut down due to loss electric all over the East Coast, morning radio broadcasts are on the air from New York including the Elvis Duran Show, heard locally in Southwest Florida on WINK 96.9.
No comments:
Post a Comment