Much of Manhattan was blacked out after a spectacular explosion at an
electricity sub-station and several hospitals had to be evacuated. At New
York University Hospital a back up generator failed and four babies had to
be taken down nine flights of stairs in darkness, with nurses operating
respirators by hand.
New York’s three major airports – Newark, JFK and LaGuardia – were closed,
with runways flooded, a giant tanker was picked up from a marina and dumped
near a road on Staten Island, and 60 people were reported stranded on
outlying Fire Island.
In New Jersey, where the storm first made landfall, 85 per cent of Atlantic
City, which has a population of 40,000, was left underwater and part of its
famous boardwalk was destroyed.
Half of Hoboken, New Jersey, which has a population of 50,000, was also
swamped after being breached by the Hudson River. Mayor Dawn Zimmer said her
city was “like a bathtub”. Hundreds of people in the towns of
Moonachie, Little Ferry and Carlstatdt, had to be rescued by boats, rafts
and trucks after the Hackensack River overflowed. Some drenched residents
climbed on to the top of trailers they were living in. One described how the
wind peeled back roofs of houses “like a can opener.”
Evacuee Juan Allen, told the Associated Press: “I watched a tree crush a
guy’s house like a wet sponge.”
Meanwhile, three nuclear power reactors in New York and New Jersey reportedly
closed down because of electricity issues caused by the storm. A fourth,
Oyster Creek in New Jersey, issued an alert because of rising water levels.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg yesterday gave a bleak assessment of the
carnage, saying the storm claimed 10 lives in the city overnight and warning
that the total would rise.
He said there had been 23 fires, 6,100 people were in 76 shelters and 750,000
were without power. There had been more than 4,000 calls reporting downed
trees.
“This was a devastating storm, maybe the worst that we have ever
experienced,” he said. “We will get through the days ahead by
doing what we always do in tough times, by standing together.”
Mr Bloomberg said a gigantic, partially collapsed crane hanging precariously
from a 90-storey skyscraper over Manhattan continued to be “stable.”
At the scene of the flash fire in the beach community of Breezy Point, New
York, one resident told CNN: “There’s one cluster of three blocks
devastated. There was nothing left, even the sidewalk was ripped up.”
Andrew Cuomo, the Governor of New York state, said: “Sandy packed a
punch. I don’t think words like catastrophic or historic are too strong to
explain the impact.”
He said at least 15 people in the state had been killed by the storm.
The disaster was the worst to hit New York’s subway system in its 108-year
history and early reports suggested it may take four days to clear seven
tunnels that were underwater.
Deaths in New York included two boys Jack Baumler, 11, and Michael Robson, 13,
who were killed when a tree crashed into the family room of a house.
The younger boy’s uncle Daniel Seymour told The Journal News: “Heaven got
two all-stars too soon. Our faith will comfort us.”
Deaths were also reported in Massachusetts, Maryland, Connecticut, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania and West Virginia. A woman was also killed by flying debris in
Toronto, Canada. The American Red Cross said 11,000 people stayed overnight
in 258 of its shelters in 16 states. The New York Stock Exchange said it
would reopen on Wednesday having been closed for two days.
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