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Sandy's trail of devastation: 29 dead, millions without power -- and it's not over
By Holly Yan and Catherine E. Shoichet, CNN
October 30, 2012 -- Updated 1810 GMT (0210 HKT)
Building facade collapses in New York
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: Sandy has claimed at least 29 lives across the United States
- More than 7.5 million customers are without power
- Hundreds are trapped after a berm breaks in New Jersey
- Transit official: The New York subway system "has never faced a disaster as devastating"
(CNN) -- Floodwaters rushed into New York's subway
tunnels and left neighborhood streets across the Northeast looking like
rivers. Homes washed off their foundations and onto a New Jersey state
highway. Heavy winds sent power lines and trees crashing to the ground.
As they began surveying
damage Tuesday, officials said it was impossible to measure the
destruction Superstorm Sandy left behind.
"I don't think words like
'catastrophic' or 'historic' are too strong to explain the impact," New
York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie described
the devastation as "unthinkable."
More than 7.5 million customers shivered without electricity in 15 states and the District of Columbia in Sandy's chilly wake.
The storm also claimed at
least 29 lives across the United States, bringing the total number of
deaths to at least 97 after the storm wreaked havoc in the Caribbean.
Hundreds of people were
stranded in one New Jersey town alone Tuesday. And Connecticut's
governor offered ominous advice in a Twitter post: "If u find urself
surrounded by water, call 4 help if u can, then get 2 highest level of
home. Hang a white sheet out a street-side window."
Authorities scrambled in
boats to rescue hundreds trapped in several towns after a berm broke in
Moonachie, New Jersey. Some residents waited on rooftops for rescuers to
arrive.
"Within 30 minutes, those
towns were under 4 or 5 feet of water," said Jeanne Baratta, chief of
staff for the Bergen County executive.
Meanwhile, the stench of
smoke blew across flooded streets as fierce winds and rising waters
shorted out power lines and sparked fires in places such as Lindenhurst,
New York.
At least 80
homes burned to the ground in the Breezy Point neighborhood of Queens,
fire officials said. The cause of the blaze was not immediately
released. More than 200 firefighters battled the leaping flames.
Elsewhere in New York
City, emergency backup power failed and 10 feet of water flooded the
basement of NYU Langone Medical Center, prompting the evacuation of 260
patients. Nurses carried sick newborn babies down nine flights of stairs, manually pumping air into the lungs of those on respirators.
On Tuesday, nearly
three-quarters of a million people in the city were without power, New
York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said, describing the damage Sandy
caused as "enormous."
Photos: Sandy's destructive path
New Jersey's stranded rescued
Blood shortage due to Sandy
Sandy spawns blizzard in West Virginia
"The path of destruction that she left in her wake is going to be felt for quite some time," he told reporters.
When the storm hit,
water poured into the ground zero construction site at a "massive rate,"
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a Twitter post.
Floodwaters rushed into
the city's subway tunnels. Authorities said Tuesday they didn't know how
long it would take to get the trains up and running again.
"The New York City
subway system is 108 years old, but it has never faced a disaster as
devastating as what we experienced last night," said Joseph Lhota,
chairman of New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority. "Hurricane
Sandy wreaked havoc on our entire transportation system, in every
borough and county of the region."
'It's unbelievable'
Atlantic City, New
Jersey, became an extension of the Atlantic Ocean. Seaweed and ocean
debris swirled in the knee-deep water covering downtown streets.
Floodwaters ripped up part of the city's fabled boardwalk.
Like many New Jersey residents, Montgomery Dahm stared in awe at the water that deluged Atlantic City.
"I've been down here for
about 16 years, and it's shocking what I'm looking at now. It's
unbelievable," he said. "I mean, there's cars that are just completely
underwater in some of the places I would never believe that there would
be water."
The normally loquacious New Jersey governor struggled to find the words Tuesday morning to describe the images of devastation captured by helicopters surveying the damage along the Jersey Shore.
The roller coaster and
log plume from a popular amusement park were in the ocean, Christie
said, and homes were in the middle of Route 35.
"We're talking months to recover from this," he said.
A wide reach
The Northeast corridor of the United States bore the brunt of Sandy, but the storm affected a much broader area.
Sandy floods NYC, New Jersey subways
Fires force evacuations in Queens
High winds from Sandy knock out power
N.J. governor: Sandy impact 'terrifying'
Fierce winds blew from
northern Georgia into Canada and as far west as Lake Michigan on
Tuesday. Meanwhile, heavy rains soaked New England and parts of the
Midwest.
And in West Virginia, a blizzard spawned by Sandy knocked out power, toppled trees and covered streets with masses of wet snow.
"It's 3 feet of heavy
snow. It's like concrete," said meteorologist Reed Timmer, who was
riding out the storm in Elkins, West Virginia.
The full scale of
Sandy's wrath has yet to be determined. But according to a government
prediction, the storm's wind damage alone could result in more than $7
billion in economic loss.
One estimate Tuesday
from Kinetic Analysis Corp., which conducts weather hazard assessments,
said the storm's economic impact could be up to $25 billion.
Roaring in
After killing at least
67 people in the Caribbean, Sandy made landfall Monday night in southern
New Jersey, sending waves of water into major cities along the East
Coast.
Officials blame Sandy
for at least 29 deaths in the United States, including 10 in New York
City. Several victims, including an 8-year-old boy in Pennsylvania, died
after being hit by a tree or tree limb. Another death was reported in
Canada, where flying debris struck a woman.
As the devastation spread, President Barack Obama signed major disaster declarations for New Jersey and New York on Tuesday.
Towns flooded after possible levee break
iReporters share Hurricane Sandy images
Crane dangles off NYC high-rise
Hardik Rajput of Nassau County, New York, couldn't believe the sight of waves crashing over the height of cars.
"To be honest, I was just stunned," he said. "I've never seen that. Just to see it on the street level was astounding."
In New York, Manhattan's
Battery Park recorded a nearly 14-foot tide, smashing a record set by
1960's Hurricane Donna by several feet.
As residents in New York
and New Jersey surveyed the flooding left by Sandy, many discovered
their high-rise apartment buildings became islands.
"I am looking outside of
my sixth-floor apartment, and I see that a new lake has formed in the
parking lot adjacent (to) my building," New Yorker William Yaeck said.
"I would be concerned, but now my building has a view of the river."
CNN's Elizabeth Cohen, Josh Levs, David
Ariosto, Joe Sterling, Katy Byron, Martin Savidge, Chris Youd, Soledad
O'Brien, Elizabeth Cohen, Eden Pontz, Ed Payne, Ivan Cabrera, Chandler
Friedman, Amanda Watts, Ali Velshi and Henry Hanks contributed to this
report.
COPY http://edition.cnn.com
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