Sandy cuts deadly path: The Big Apple takes big hit

At least 38 reported dead across North America; storm damage put at over $20b; over 8.1m homes without power.

WASHINGTON:

After a long night of wreaking havoc in the US Northeast, Hurricane Sandy made its way through the state of New York before heading to Canada, leaving in its wake destruction and death.

At least 38 people were killed in the United States and Canada after Sandy made landfall on Monday night in New Jersey. The death toll is expected to climb further as several people were still missing, officials said. Up to 67 people were killed earlier as the storm swept through the Caribbean.

More than 8.1 million homes and businesses in the US and another 130,000 homes and facilities in Canada were without power on Tuesday About a quarter of New York City’s homes and businesses were without power 15 hours after Hurricane Sandy roared ashore.

The National Hurricane Centre announced that the hurricane was moving westward across Southern Pennsylvannia.

The centre warned of a storm surge, saying that the combination of the tide and storm surge could cause areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters, especially during the next high tide cycle.

President Barack Obama declared a “major disaster” in New York and New Jersey on Tuesday, an order that cleared the way for federal grants and loans to help storm victims acquire temporary housing and repair damage.

Damage from the mega-storm that blasted the US East Coast could hit $20 billion, disaster estimator Eqecat said, as economists put total losses to the economy at $30-50 billion.

Eqecat President Bill Keogh confirmed the company’s estimates of $5-10 billion in insured losses and $10-20 billion in total losses from Hurricane Sandy.

Seawater coursed between the iconic skyscrapers of New York’s financial district in lower Manhattan, flooding subways and road tunnels and shorting out the power grid.

The New York Metropolitan Transit Authority announced that water had entered into the subway system under the East River, with seven subway tunnels having been flooded. However, the MTA added that they could not confirm when the subway system would be re-opened.

Two nuclear plants – one in New York and one in New Jersey – were shut down in the aftermath of the storm, but operators stressed that neither posed any risk to the public.

NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg said that the two biggest challenges the city faced were restoring the mass transit system and power supply. In a statement to the press, Mayor Bloomberg said that a least 750,000 people in the city did not have power. He added that over 6,100 people were in shelters, and at least 10 people had been killed in the city as a result of Sandy.

New York University hospital was forced to evacuate more than 200 patients when the backup generator failed. Four newborns had to be carried down nine flights of stairs, while nurses manually squeezed bags to deliver air to each of the baby’s lungs, CNN reported.

Election race put on hold

The catastrophe overshadowed the US electoral race, forcing a halt to campaigning a week before Americans were due to go to the polls to choose between Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

Obama urged Americans to heed local evacuation orders as he stepped off the campaign trail and spent the day in the White House helping to coordinate the response to the disaster.

Although the president will not participate in campaign events in Ohio scheduled for Wednesday, he is scheduled to visit New Jersey on Wednesday to view the storm damage and talk to citizens affected by the storm. He is also expected to meet with first responders, according to a statement issued by the White House.

Both the Democratic incumbent and his Republican rival Romney were keen to display resolute leadership in the face of the storm, given the memory of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Romney also canceled some campaign appearances.

Pakistan flights

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) indefinitely postponed two of its six weekly scheduled flights to and from New York City’s John F Kennedy (JFK) International Airport in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.

“Flights PK-721 and PK-722 which were scheduled on October 30 to and from New York City were announced to be postponed indefinitely as we received intimation on JFK Airport’s closure Tuesday early morning,” said Syed Sultan Hasan, PIA’s public affairs general manager.

The interruption has altered the travel plans of over 600 travellers on PIA flights so far, said Hasan, adding that alternative travel arrangements for the affected passengers will be made as soon as the JFK Airport resumes operations.+

The airport was closed, with its runways under water, as of October 30 at 5am Pakistan Standard Time. The fate of flights PK-724 and PK-711, scheduled for November 1 and November 3, depends on the resumption of regular operations at JFK airport, added Hasan.

Flight PK-721 had to take off from Karachi with a compulsory stopover at Manchester Airport for security clearance. The Civil Aviation Authority’s spokesperson, Pervez George, said that calling off the flight was the only viable option as taking off from the stopover point would amount to leaving the passengers in the lurch for an indefinite period of time. (With additional input from Noman Ahmed in Karachi, wires)

Published in The Express Tribune, October 31^st, 2012.