Worst hurricane looms: ‘Frankenstorm’ threatens US East Coast

Tens of thousands of flights cancelled; all US stock markets closed and presidential campaigns halted.

WASHINGTON:

Barely eight days before the crunch Nov 6 vote, President Barack Obama warned of “severe consequences” as one of the biggest storms to hit the United States, began battering the densely populated East Coast on Monday, shutting down transportation, forcing evacuations in flood-prone areas and interrupting the presidential campaign.

Hurricane Sandy is expected to make landfall early Monday evening, the centre said in its latest bulletin. “Maximum sustained winds have increased to near 90 mph... with higher gusts,” the National Hurricane Centre said, citing data from its Hurricane Hunter aircraft.

Speaking to reporters at the White House, Obama said that the election would take care of itself next week. President Obama said that millions of people were going to be affected by the storm. He added that the storm could “potentially have severe consequences for those who haven’t evacuated.” The US president said that they expect power outages, flooding and transportation to be effected by the hurricane. President Obama and Republican candidate Mitt Romney have cancelled campaign activities for Monday and Tuesday.

Stock markets and schools shut

US stock markets closed for the first time since the attacks of Sept 11, 2001, the government in Washington shut down and school was cancelled up and down the East Coast. Stock markets may also be closed on Tuesday, the operator of the New York Stock Exchange said. About 150,000 customers were without power by midday and millions more could lose electricity.

“This is going to be a big and powerful storm and all across the Eastern Seaboard I think everybody is taking the appropriate preparations,” Obama said at the White House.

Thousands of flights grounded

Tens of thousands of people were stranded as Hurricane Sandy thwarted travel up and down the US East Coast and airlines warned it could be days before normal schedules resume.

More than 11,000 US flights have been cancelled and that number is expected to grow as the slow-moving ‘Frankenstorm’ churns its way up the coast whipping up strong winds, heavy rains and thick snow once it encounters a cold front coming down from Canada.

Some 1,300 flights were cancelled on Sunday as airlines prepared for the storm, according to the online aviation tracking service flightaware.com.

Another 6,814 were cancelled on Monday. A further 2,594 flights have already been cancelled for Tuesday and that number is expected to grow.

Super storm

New York and other cities and towns closed their transit systems and schools, ordering mass evacuations from low-lying areas ahead of a storm surge that could reach as high as 11 feet.

By early Monday, water was already topping the seawall in Manhattan’s Battery Park City, one of the areas evacuated by Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

He ordered 375,000 New Yorkers to evacuate and told those who remained to leave immediately. “Conditions are deteriorating rapidly and the window for you getting out safely is closing.”

Acute danger

State governors from Virginia to Massachusetts warned of the acute danger from the storm for the 60 million residents in its path. Nine states have declared a state of emergency. Experts said economic losses from the storm could reach $20 billion.

“There will undoubtedly be some deaths that are caused by the intensity of this storm, by the floods, by the tidal surge, by the waves. The more responsibly citizens act, the fewer people will die,” Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley told reporters.

Off North Carolina, the US Coast Guard rescued 14 of the 16 crew members who abandoned the replica tall ship HMS Bounty, using helicopters to lift them from life rafts. The Coast Guard continued to search for the two missing crew members.

In Fairfield, a Connecticut coastal town and major commuter point into Manhattan, police cruisers blocked the main road leading to the beaches and yellow police tape cordoned off rocky side entrances.

Beach pavilions were boarded up with plywood, and gusts of wind rocked parked cars.

“People are definitely not taking this seriously enough,” police officer Tiffany Barrett, 38, said. “Our worst fear is something like Katrina and we can’t get to people.”

Some 250 miles to the south, several feet of water flooded streets in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, which could be right in the target zone of the storm.

(WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM AGENCIES)


Published in The Express Tribune, October 30^th, 2012.