New York, October 30: Hurricane Sandy threatened some 50 million people on the heavily populated East Coast on Monday, and forecasters warned that New York could bear the brunt of the one-of-a-kind superstorm.
Sandy forced the shutdown of mass transit, schools and financial markets, sending coastal residents fleeing for higher ground, and threatening a dangerous mix of high winds, soaking rain and a surging wall of water up to 11 feet (3.35 meters).
The storm stayed on a predicted path that could take it over Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York on its way to a collision course with two other weather systems, creating a superstorm with the potential for havoc over 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) from the East Coast to the Great Lakes region.
Many workers planned to stay home on Monday as subways, buses and trains shut down under the threat of flooding that could inundate tracks and tunnels. Airports also closed, and authorities warned that the time for evacuation was running out or already past. Utilities brought in extra crews in anticipation of widespread power failures.
The center of the storm was positioned to come ashore on Monday night in New Jersey, meaning the worst of the surge could be in the northern part of that state and in neighboring New York City and on Long Island. Higher tides brought by a full moon compounded the threat to the metropolitan area of about 20 million people.
"This is the worst-case scenario," said Louis Uccellini, environmental prediction chief for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
As rain from the leading edges began to fall over the Northeast on Sunday, hundreds of thousands of people from Maryland to Connecticut were ordered to leave low-lying coastal areas, including 375,000 in lower Manhattan and other parts of New York City and 30,000 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, where the city's 12 casinos shut down for only the fourth time ever.
"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, New Jersey, 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."'
President Barack Obama declared emergencies in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, authorizing federal relief work to begin well ahead of time. 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," Obama said. "We are not going to get bogged down with a lot of rules."
Authorities warned that New York could get hit with a surge of seawater that could swamp parts of lower Manhattan, flood subway tunnels and cripple the network of electrical and communications lines that are vital to the nation's financial center.
Major US financial markets, including the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq and CME Group in Chicago, planned a rare shutdown Monday. The NYSE shut down on Sept. 27, 1985, for Hurricane Gloria. The United Nations also shut down and canceled all meetings at its New York headquarters.
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. More than 5 million riders a day depend on the transit system.
"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," Mayor Michael Bloomberg warned. "This is a serious and dangerous storm."
New Jersey governor Chris Christie was typically blunt: "Don't be stupid. Get out."
Wary of being seen as putting their political pursuits ahead of public safety, Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney reshuffled campaign plans as the storm approached.
Sandy, a Category 1 hurricane with sustained winds of 85 mph (136 kph) early Monday, was blamed for 65 deaths in the Caribbean before it began traveling northward, parallel to the Eastern Seaboard. As of 5am on Monday, it was centered about 385 miles (620 kilometers) south-southeast of New York City, moving to the north at 15 mph (24 kph), with hurricane-force winds extending an unusual 175 miles (280 kilometers) from its center.
Sandy was expected to hook inland on Monday, colliding with a wintry storm moving in from the west and cold air streaming down from the Arctic, and then cut across into Pennsylvania and travel up through New York state.
Forecasters said the combination could bring close to a foot of rain in places, a potentially lethal storm surge 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 (0.6 meters) of snow in Kentucky, North Carolina and West Virginia.
Airlines canceled nearly 7,500 flights and Amtrak began suspending train service across the Northeast. New York, Philadelphia, Washington and Baltimore moved to shut down their subways, buses and trains. Those cities shut down their schools, as did Boston. Non-essential government offices closed in the nation's capital.
Nearly 100 miles (160 kilometers) off the coast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, a replica of the tall ship made famous in the film "Munity on the Bounty" was taking on water and without propulsion with 17 people aboard. The Coast Guard was monitoring the situation early Monday.
Despite the dire warnings, some souls refused to budge.
Jonas Clark of Manchester Township, New Jersey — right in Sandy's projected path — 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.
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