Hurricane Sandy Hits the East Coast
This is a continuation of our live blog updates from Monday, October 29. For the most recent news on the storm, please click here.
This is a continuation of our live blog updates from Monday, October 29. For the most recent news on the storm, please click here.
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MONDAY:
12:23 a.m. The worst parts of the storm seem to be over in New York City. The latest report (11 p.m. EST) from the National Hurricane Center has has maximum sustained winds of 75 m.p.h. This is the latest GIF of the storm:
Mayor Bloomberg says the storm surge at the Battery has gone down considerably.
Storm surge peaked at 13.88 ft at the Battery. Now 9.81 ft & going down. Power outages and other serious issues remain #NYC #Sandy
— Mike Bloomberg (@MikeBloomberg) October 30, 2012
The New York Times' Michael Schwartz reports the explosion at the 14th St. station knocked power out to 250,000 people alone:
The explosion occurred on Monday evening at a substation in the vicinity of 14th Street and the FDR Drive, Mr. Miksad said. The precise cause of the blast was unknown, but Mr. Miksad said flood waters or flying debris could have been involved. It knocked out power to about 250,000 people, he said.
The rest of the night is going to be about emergency responders being able to rescue people who are either trapped or were hurt in the storm. The best thing to do is stay inside, probably because it's after midnight and you should go to bed, but also to stay out of there way.
11:57 p.m. A lot of the patients from the evacuated hospitals are being transfered to the Mount Sinai Hospital right now. Reports from the site of NYU are saying the elevators aren't working and staff are carrying critical patients downstairs to the waiting fleet of ambulances:
RT @yeager1995: 50 ambulances outside the NYU hospital to evacuate patients due to a generator failure. twitter.com/Yeager1995/sta…
— Joseph Weisenthal (@TheStalwart) October 30, 2012
So we're just going to put this here and trust you guys will give what you can. Also, more updates from the MTA:
More details from MTA: Water in all 5 subway tubes from lower Manhattan to BK, also in Steinway tube to Queens. Plus more tunnel floods.
— Ted Mann (@thetrough) October 30, 2012
11:46 p.m. Latest numbers from Gov. Cuomo have it at 1.5 million:
#NYS POWER #OUTAGE report 11PM: 1,591,335 NYers wout power #Sandy
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) October 30, 2012
11:44 p.m. More bad news:
Prior largest storm related outage prior to this for ConEd was last year, with Irene: 200,000 customers - ConEd spokesperson
— Anthony De Rosa (@AntDeRosa) October 30, 2012
Currently trying to source current numbers. Last number we saw was over 1 million.
11:40 p.m. Things don't look great for getting power back any time soon:
ConEd official: "This will be the largest storm related outage in our history." #sandy
— Adrienne LaFrance (@AdrienneLaF) October 30, 2012
11:35 p.m. The New York Times got more information on the Oyster Creek nuclear plant where the threat level was raised to Alert earlier, which is the second lowest threat level:
The water level was more than six feet above normal. At seven feet, the plant would lose the ability to cool its spent fuel pool in the normal fashion, according to Neil Sheehan, a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
The plant would probably have to switch to using fire hoses to pump in extra water to make up for evaporation, Mr. Sheehan said, because it could no longer pull water out of Barnegat Bay and circulate it through a heat exchanger, to cool the water in the pool.
The plant was already shut down for maintenance already. There isn't too much to worry about here.
Gawker's Emma Carmichael tweeted this pretty picture of the Brooklyn Bridge:
Brooklyn Bridge, or what you can see of it. Water up to top step at dumbo park twitter.com/emmacargo/stat…
— Emma Carmichael (@emmacargo) October 30, 2012
11:16 p.m. Things are reportedly going okay with the evacuation of the NYU hospital.
11:15 p.m. This photo from Gawker's Ray Wert of a bunch of people drinking beer (?!???) and watching an SUV floating at a New York parking garage (?!??!?!?!?!) is a little nuts.
OMG. Just took this photo of cars floating in the submerged parking garage at the South end of Stone Street. twitter.com/raywert/status…
— Ray Wert (@raywert) October 30, 2012
The Wall Street Journal's Jason Gay snapped this eerie pic of lower Manhattan about 20 minutes ago:
And the New York Times wasted no time getting an editorial out attacking Mitt Romney for his stance on abolishing FEMA.
11:07 p.m. Going to put up a couple tweets from people looking for help. If you're in the area, see what you can do.
View down from 3rd Fl in Staten Island home. Residents trapped. 1at responders not on scene. Pls RT twitter.com/joemfbrown/sta…
— joemfbrown (@joemfbrown) October 30, 2012
My friend has only so many hours left on his ventilator battery, at Broadway and Duane in Manhattan, anyone nearby have a generator?
— Liz Henry (@lizhenry) October 30, 2012
11:01 p.m. This is what emergency responders have to fight through just to get... anywhere. Don't get in there way:
8th Street & Avenue C. Alphabet City is underwater #sandy twitter.com/JustinBrannan/…
— Justin Brannan (@JustinBrannan) October 30, 2012
10:57 p.m. There are a few things we're keeping track of. The Wall Street Journal reports the waters at the Battery are now down a whole foot, which is the good news. The bad news: 19 Con Ed workers are apparently trapped at a Manhattan station, but it's unconfirmed whether it's the station where the explosion happened. Also, the FDNY are trying to make it to a Coney Island hospital to put out a reported fire there, but the flooding in Coney is making it extremely difficult. Oh, and the MTA are now confirming flooding in the tunnels under the East River.
Cory Booker is still out there being Cory Booker, though:
Back by Penn Station trying 2 convince remaining homeless Newarkers 2 come with me 2 shelter. They said no before but now seem more amenable
— Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) October 30, 2012
The New York Observer's Hunter Walker braved the storm to get pictures of the Gowanus canal flooding. In related news, the consensus on Twitter is that CNN's Ali Velshi deserves a raise and a long vacation after this is all over. He's been broadcasting live from Atlantic City all day.
This Reuters photo of the Empire State Building is inspiring, too. We'll get through this.
10:31 p.m. The NOAA charts show the surge in the Battery are starting to go down, finally. CNN's Ali Velshi reports the surge in Atlantic City is starting to go down too. We might be on the other side of this thing.
This video of the front of the building in Chelsea blowing off going viral right now, too:
Also, sorry if the time stamp at the top of the post has been weird. I'm blogging from a strange part of Canada, and it locked to my computer's time without me noticing.
10:21 p.m. Per Gov. Cuomo, there's more than a million people without power:
#NYS POWER #OUTAGE update 10PM: 1,374,312 NYers without power #Sandy
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) October 30, 2012
10:18 p.m. We cannot stress this enough. If you live in New York, do not go outside. Don't do it.
RT @tamerelg: Woman electrocuted to death in Queens after stepping into puddle of water at 135 st and 105 ave, per NYPD source. #sandy
— Joseph Weisenthal (@TheStalwart) October 30, 2012
10:16 p.m. Live from the floor of a (very dry) New York Stock Exchange:
Stop worrying about the money place twitter.com/pareene/status…
— Alex Pareene (@pareene) October 30, 2012
10:15 p.m. There are rumors going around that the floor of the NYSE is flooding, but multiple sources are saying that's false. Mayor Bloomberg just gave a short press conference urging everyone to stay off the roads, and offered this brief glimpse of hope:
NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg: "By midnight tonight we expect the surge to recede."
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) October 30, 2012
Something something a Dark Knight reference. He also urged people to stay off the roads to let emergency workers access those in need. The NYU hospital's power went out and the backup generator didn't kick in fast enough and patients are being evacuated now.
God bless David Letterman.
10:10 p.m. Okay, a lot is happening right now. Patience is appreciated.
This AP photo of the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel flooding is going viral:
And this is the Ground Zero construction site:
NYPD members already checked on the walls at the bottom of the memorial:
Descending into depths of WTC beneath memorial to check integrity. twitter.com/hglaser1/statu…
— Howard Glaser (@hglaser1) October 30, 2012
Thankfully, things are okay. The walls are holding and there are parts of the area that were underwater that aren't anymore.
10:00 p.m. Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy is comparing this to Katrina:
Gov Malloy tells people flooded-in to move to highest point of house, "best and safest option" and calls it "Katrina-like response" #sandy
— Jo Ling Kent (@JoNBCNews) October 30, 2012
NY1 is reporting 500,000 are without power:
Coned via NY1: 500,000 without power in NYC
— Dashiell Bennett (@dashb0t) October 30, 2012
9:54 p.m. This is a photo of a Hoboken subway station that's being passed around:
The MTA's Twitter feed is becoming increasingly impatient with doom sayers. They're denying any reports speculating how long subways will be out. They would confirm that four feet of flooding was observed in lower Manhattan.
9:48 p.m. Via John Herrman, this is a video of the explosion at the ConEd power station on 14th and Avenue D that is causing much of the power outages:
9:35 p.m. According to Alex Wagner, WNBC reports there are three confirmed deaths because of the storm right now. There are also reports coming out of the NBC headquarters at 30 Rock that window panes are flying off and down onto the street. If you're in that area, please be extra careful.
9:26 p.m. George Weld somehow caught the 14th St. transformer going out, which could be the cause of a lot of the power outages:
Buzzfeed, Gawker, and Huffpo are all down because the building that hosts their servers is flooded. They're making contingency plans. You should really be following the Times' constantly updating photo page right now. You can see half of the city in darkness.
9:17 p.m. The MTA is already denying the WSJ's report:
Rumors are wrong. The MTA cannot assess damage until Tuesday. It is way too early for a subway reopening timetable.
— MTA (@MTAInsider) October 30, 2012
9:15 p.m. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the flooding in Manhattan might be enough to knock the subway system out for a week. New York City Council member Jimmy Van Bramer just passed along this picture of the waterfront:
Please be safe, everyone.
9:00 p.m. The Wall Street Journal's Ben Cohen snapped a picture of the generator lights still on at the Empire State Building. John Podhertz reports the Upper West Side still has power. The MTA has closed all tunnels and bridges in New York. The dangling crane is still there, though it seems like there's some debris coming off the unfinished building. Shamir Karkal passes along this terrifying picture of a submerged intersection at 34th and 1st Street. There is at least one FDNY station being evacuated by boat right now, while Time passes along this harrowing photo of firefighters searching for people trapped in their cars. And then there's this picture from Hoboken Girl of cars being moved around by the flooding:
8:45 p.m. OK, so, programming update. Huge portions of NYC are either without power, without internet, under water, or a combination of all of the above. Comfortably Smug just tweeted this photo of Manhattan, where it seems all power has gone out. Only the Freedom Tower is still lit:
The most shared photo (before all of Manhattan went down) was Nick Summers' instagram of a dark West Village:
7:53 p.m. The situation is starting to look pretty dire for the New York City subway system. The water continues to rise quickly at the Battery and now sits at 12.54 feet, "a solid 2 feet beyond what could possibly flood the NYC subway," according to the Weather Underground. If the water rises past the breaking point, Columbia Professor Klaus Jacob predicts that the all of the East River tunnels would be underwater within 40 minutes and it could take at least 29 to get the trains up and running again.
Meanwhile, not to scare you or anything, but here's the latest National Weather Service bulletin: "...HISTORIC AND LIFE THREATENING COASTAL FLOODING EXPECTED THROUGH TUESDAY MORNING..." (emphasis theirs)
7:42 p.m. The Gowanus Canal has continued to rise and is now making its way up the neighboring city streets in between Brooklyn's Carroll Gardens and Park Slope.
Image via @mellowvision
Image via @hunterw who says "the situation on the Carroll Gardens side of Gowanus is bad."
7:29 p.m. ConEdison started shutting off power to residents of Lower Manhattan in what The New York Times called an "unprecedented step." As water surged to record heights -- the water at the Battery had just hit 11.25 feet, beating the previous record of 11.2 feet -- the utility company decided to shut down the equipment to keep it from getting damaged. The first wave of outages happened at 6:42, affecting 2,500 customers, and another wave happened 20 minutes later, taking out power for 4,000 customers.
At around the same time, Gawker, BuzzFeed and The Huffington Post went down. They each came back after about 15 minutes, and at least in Gawker's case, the outage was related to ConEd's cutting the power, since their servers were in the affected zone.
7:11 p.m. The National Hurricane Center has downgraded the storm from a hurricane to a post-tropical cyclone since "Sandy has continued to lose tropical characteristics." The National Weather Service calls it "Superstorm Sandy." Meanwhile, winds remain at 85 miles per hour, and landfall is expected around 8 p.m.
6:58 p.m. The entire facade of a tenement building on 8th Ave. between 14th St. and 15th St. collapsed, presumably due to high winds. Nobody was hurt, and nobody went missing. To the left is the residential building before the hurricane, and to the right is the building after the collapse:
Image via @DAVEKUSH
5:55 p.m. Con-Ed CEO Kevin Burke is addressing what all of New York City is concerned about: power outages. He says that Con-Ed will likely be shutting down two underground Manhattan networks: the Fulton network and the Bowling Green network which service the areas between Broadway, the East River and south of the Brooklyn Bridge. And he also says they may be shutting down power in the Brighton Beach area of New York City. He also states that if the flooding is terrible, they may be shutting steam service below 14th street.
5:48 p.m. Bloomberg has addressed the crane, and saying that the buildings in the vicinity of the crane have been evacuated. "We'd like to continue what we've experienced so far, and that's no fatalities whatsoever," says Bloomberg.
5:46 p.m. Mayor Bloomberg is speaking live now:
5:35 p.m. Chris Christie is speaking right now, and has stated that there are people stranded in Atlantic City. There's a bit of drama here as Chris Christie is calling out Atlantic City mayor Lorenzo Langford for ignoring Christie's evacuation orders and telling residents that it would be okay to stay. Christie is telling those in Atlantic City (where Sandy is about to hit) and surrounding areas that he will not be sending first responders to the city until at least daylight tomorrow and that those people are now Langford's responsibility. He says that there around 348,000 without power in New Jersey at the moment.
we have announced road closures- when road says its closed that means its closed #DontBeStupid
— Governor Christie (@GovChristie) October 29, 2012
I am very disappointed in those who did not listen to my order to evacuate.
— Governor Christie (@GovChristie) October 29, 2012
5:31 p.m. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie are expected to speak soon.
5:26 p.m. Sandy is almost here. At around 5 p.m. the National Hurricane Center, in its latest update, said that Sandy was: "ABOUT 30 MI...45 KM ESE OF CAPE MAY NEW JERSEY" and "ABOUT 40 MI...65 KM S OF ATLANTIC CITY NEW JERSEY." Earlier this afternoon, it was reported she was traveling at about 28 m.p.h., which, if you do the math, would mean Sandy is about one episode of Friends away from landfall.
5:14 p.m. In case power goes out and you still have a charge on your smart phone, please check out Twitter's extensive and very helpful list of hurricane resources (state and federal) and their respective Twitter accounts.
5:08 p.m. Here's an update on outages from New York State from Governor Cuomo's office:
POWER OUTAGES: Central Hudson 19,178; Con Edison 65,539; LIPA 186,896; Nat. Grid 2,179; NYSEG 27,069; Orange & Rockland 10,082; RG&E 1,482
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) October 29, 2012
4:43 p.m. There were reports earlier concerning a crane at One World Trade Center. Here's a picture showing the damage that the construction netting at the site has suffered:
Construction netting ripping off WTC twitter.com/26hundred/stat…
— tiopio (@26hundred) October 29, 2012
4:38 p.m. The lights are out in Princeton, New Jersey.
And the power has gone out in Princeton. #goodbyeworld
— Shama Hussain (@shama_ny) October 29, 2012
According to the AP's latest report there were about 95,000 in New Jersey without power. Meanwhile, in Baltimore, around 29,000 customers were without power when the Baltimore Sun checked in at 3:30 p.m.
4:28 p.m. The NOAA has issued its 4 p.m. update and says that it is expecting Sandy to make landfall at Cape May, New Jersey "early this evening." They add: "ON THIS TRACK...THE CENTER OF SANDY IS EXPECTED TO REACH THE COAST OF EXTREME SOUTHERN NEW JERSEY OR CENTRAL DELAWARE WITHIN THE NEXT 3 TO 5 HOURS.
4:23 p.m. We have some not-so-good for those of you in lower Manhattan and really like your electricity:
ConEd spokesman says most at-risk area of power down is south of Wall St. and east of Broadway.
— Stephen Brown (@LEVStephen) October 29, 2012
4:13 p.m. Governor Cuomo in his press conference has announced that the they're expecting Sandy to make landfall between 5:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. and announced the closure of New York City's (George Washington, Verrazano, etc.) bridges at 7 p.m. and said that the Lincoln and Midtown tunnels along with the RFK Bridge, and Triborough Bridge will stay open but could be closed if conditions call for it.
4:10 p.m. Manhattan's Midtown crane is now being discussed as a 3-alarm emergency.
U/D Manhattan: *3 Alarm* Box 916 at 157 West 57 St 3 Alarm being transmitted for the Crane that is about the fall onto the street.
— NY Scanner (@NYScanner) October 29, 2012
4:06 p.m. Regarding the power outages in New York City, Con-Ed will apparently be making that call tonight:
New Yorkers: ConEd tells me it will make the call on shutting down service in lower Manhattan/Brooklyn between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.
— Adrienne LaFrance (@AdrienneLaF) October 29, 2012
3:59 p.m. Here's a picture of the boardwalk and a crazy amount of sea foam from Seaside Heights, New Jersey:
Sea foam is moving closer. Look at the splatter on the businesses. Winds almost too strong to stand in. #SandyABC7 twitter.com/plipof7/status…
— Phil Lipof (@plipof7) October 29, 2012
3:56 p.m. The government has announced that federal offices will remain closed on Tuesday.
3:46 p.m. Some good news. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has sent out a tweet assuring us that there is no crane issue at One World Trade Center.
Despite a recent news report, there is currently NO crane issue at One World Trade Center or at the WTC site. #Sandy
— Port Authority NY&NJ (@PANYNJ) October 29, 2012
The reports of the black, construction netting being torn could explain the confusion.
3:35: p.m. There's more scary news regarding Manhattan skyscrapers and their cranes. Apparently, there are reports that the crane at One World Trade Center has broken.
Manhattan: FDNY at the One World Trade Center with a Crane on top of freedom tower broken.
— NY Scanner (@NYScanner) October 29, 2012
According to Skyscraper Page's forums, some of its users have said that the black netting has broken but the crane, for now, is secure.
3:17 p.m. According to local reports from ABC and CBS, police are evacuating buildings around the dangling crane. The scary thing about that crane is that it's some 70-stories up in the air and that means that the wind speeds are much higher up there. For some perspective: "[T]ake the NYC estimate of 75-80 mph at 8pm. That would yield 95-100 mph winds at the 31st floor of a building, and 115-120 mph winds at the 61st floor of the same building." wrote meteorologist Rob White.
3:11 p.m. And NBC News has a live stream on that very terrifying dangling crane some 1,000+ feet in the air:
3:04 p.m. Here's more on that dangling crane near Columbus Circle. Apparently, police are taking precautions and are anticipating for the crane/making preparations in case the crane comes down:
U/D Manhattan: *2 Alarm* Box 916 at 157 West 57 St Crane is about the fall onto the street. twitpic.com/b8khed
— NY Scanner (@NYScanner) October 29, 2012
2:50 p.m: The National Hurricane Center is now stating that Sandy has picked up speed and will be making landfall earlier than expected. Experts are thinking it could make landfall closer to 6:00 p.m.
#sandy is moving much FASTER 28mph now landfall closer to 6P !!
— Sam Champion (@SamChampion) October 29, 2012
The NOAA stated in its latest bulletin that it is still expecting to hit somewhere south of southern New Jersey, and was initially forecasted to hit "late Monday night." Late Monday night obviously isn't 6:00 p.m.
2:47 p.m. Here's another frightening shot of that crane from Wald:
2:41 p.m. There's some scary news concerning the tallest (and one of the most expensive) residential building in Manhattan One57 on 57th street. Apparently, a crane at the site has buckled over in the heavy winds and is damaged and dangling. Here's the shot from Jonathan Wald, who runs the Piers Morgan show:
Here's a better shot of #Sandy-damaged crane on new 57th St. hi-rise danglingin wind. instagr.am/p/RYGSPsKWiS/
— Jonathan Wald (@jonathanwald) October 29, 2012
2:34 p.m. The spooky pictures of New York City's empty transportation hubs now include this one of the usually busy, but now shut-down Holland Tunnel:
Holland Tunnel shut down twitter.com/PatBattle4NY/s…
— Pat Battle (@PatBattle4NY) October 29, 2012
2:19 p.m. WNYC has compiled a great Google Map on the flood conditions in Sandy's path. It updates every two minutes:
2:05 p.m. Amtrak has canceled all ACELA and Northeast Regional trains on Tuesday.
2:00 p.m. The NOAA's 2 p.m. bulletin on Hurricane Sandy is here. There aren't any massive changes to the report as Sandy's sustained winds are still under 90 mph and it's still predicted to make landfall this evening just south of the Southern New Jersey Coast. They write:
REPORTS FROM THE HURRICANE HUNTER AIRCRAFT INDICATE THAT THE MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS REMAIN NEAR 90 MPH...150 KM/H...WITH HIGHER GUSTS. SANDY IS EXPECTED TO TRANSITION INTO A FRONTAL OR WINTERTIME LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM LATER TODAY OR TONIGHT. HOWEVER...THIS TRANSITION WILL NOT BE ACCOMPANIED BY A WEAKENING OF THE SYSTEM
1:58 p.m. The BLS has announced that the much-anticipated October jobs report will not be delayed by the hurricane—as per the usual, they'll be here on Friday.
1:51 p.m. There are about 7,200 customers without power in Virginia right now, according to Dominion Virginia Power spokesman Dan Genest. That isn't good. "He said the outages were relatively limited so far as the storm was only beginning to increase in intensity but much worse was expected later Monday night," reports The Washington Post's Mark Berman. Genest had briefed reporters like Berman at 1:30.
1:32 p.m. The NOAA will be briefing us (and reporters) at 2 p.m. regarding Hurricane Sandy, and we'll keep you up to date on what they will be saying. Meanwhile, here's a helpful Google Crisis map showing Sandy's current path:
1:28 p.m. Let's take a minute to remind you what's closed in New York City tomorrow. According to Mayor Bloomberg's office, all New York City public schools will remained closed tomorrow and the MTA service will remain suspended until further notice. The New York Stock Exchange will remain closed tomorrow as well.
1:21 p.m. Checking in with Milford, Connecticut and it looks to be suffering the same kind of flooding that's hitting New Jersey. Here's a picture courtesy of Buzzfeed's Andrew Kaczynski (and Reuters).
Wow, Milford, CT is really flooded. via Reuters twitter.com/BuzzFeedAndrew…
— Andrew Kaczynski (@BuzzFeedAndrew) October 29, 2012
1:07 p.m.: Another Ocean City picture. New Jersey is getting slammed hard and the worst is yet to come.
Ocean City, NJ looking very much like one:twitpic.com/b8jccr #sandy via @kenshane
— John Baiata (@JBaiata) October 29, 2012
1:00 p.m.: Officials, including the president, anticipate that the storm will reach it's peak around 8 or 9 p.m. tonight. Not only will the heart of the storm begin to move on land at that point—most likely somewhere around Atlantic City—but that's also the time of high tide along much of the area between there and Long Island, New York.
12:53 p.m.: President Obama did not add much in the way of new information, but urged citizens to listen to instructions from local authorities and not put them at risk by taking unnecessary chances. He also that Americans will "pull together" and clean up after the disaster.
12:45 p.m: President Obama is speaking now. Watch below:
12:01 p.m.: Here's another incredible photo via Facebook. Hurricane or no hurricane, the guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Solider at Arlington National Cemetary aren't going anywhere. Correction: the photo of guards in the pouring rain is from September. Here is, from their Facebook page, the guard on duty today as Sandy bears down.
11:57 a.m.: This photo of Hurricane Sandy was taken at 9:10 a.m. this morning by a NASA/NOAA's weather satellite. You can see a larger version of it on Flickr.
11:45 a.m.: Rough surf of the Atlantic Ocean breaks over the dunes Monday morning, Oct. 29, 2012, in Cape May, N.J.. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)
11:30 a.m.: A portion of the FDR highway on the Eastern edge of Manhattan is underwater:
This is the FDR Drive. It is underwater.twitpic.com/b8io4t
— Mike Ryan (@mikeryan) October 29, 2012
11:20 a.m.: The first U.S. casualty of Hurricane Sandy may a Connecticut kayaker who went for a ride off Long Island Sunday. Two men in their twenties (who were not wearing life jackets) were thrown from their kayaks in rough waters. One man was rescued, but the search was called off for the other on Sunday afternoon to focus on preparations for the storm.
11:11 a.m.: Add Ocean City, New Jersey, to the list of communities devastated by flooding. And Sandy has not even arrived on shore yet.
Catasphrophe. MT @kathyorrcbs3: Officials Ocean City,NJ "ocean has met the bay, have never seen anything like this". twitter.com/KathyOrrCBS3/s…
— Fred Campagna (@FredCampagna) October 29, 2012
11:06 a.m.: The Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn—which is actually a SuperFund site, due to decades of toxic chemical and sewage runoff—is also reaching flood stage and threatening to flood several neighborhoods. (The surround neighborhoods are filled with journalists and bloggers, who are documenting the water rise as well.)
And here's the Gowanus Canal flooding on Degraw twitter.com/hunterw/status…
— Hunter Walker (@hunterw) October 29, 2012
10:40 a.m.: There is now severe flooding in throughout all of Atlantic City, New Jersey. Most of the streets are now under several feet of water.
Atlantic City is totally flooding right now. instagr.am/p/RXoEkohmER/
— Samir Mezrahi (@samir) October 29, 2012
10:33 a.m.: New York Governor Andrew Cuomo just announced that the Holland and Brooklyn Battery Tunnels (two major arteries out of New York City), will close at 2 p.m. The Bridges will close if winds reach 60 m.p.h., which they almost certainly will later this evening. Boston has also announced that their transit system will shut down at 2 p.m.
10:09 a.m.: The WSJ says Sandy is now the "most intense hurricane ever north of North Carolina" (in terms of barometric pressure) in history.
10:03 a.m.: Update on the HMS Bounty: 14 of the people who abandoned the ship have been rescued, but two others are still missing and maybe in the water. (The initial report of 17 people appears to be incorrect.) The 180-foot, three-mast sailing ship completely sank about 90-miles off of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.
9:50 a.m.: Two new images of piers taking a beating along the coast. The first is in Ocean City, Maryland. The second (via tattooed_prez on Instagram) is another buckled boardwalk in Atlantic City.
So long Ocean City pier... #nofilter instagr.am/p/RXj5nWE__e/
— Sarah Reardon (@i_will_overcome) October 29, 2012
9:20 a.m.: The Hudson River is now up over its banks on the West side of New York City.
The Hudson River has breached it's banks 8.53 am #sandy instagr.am/p/RXe1ZdPNEg/
— Nigel Barker (@NigelBarker) October 29, 2012
9:06 a.m.: More flooding in New York city. Here's a Google map of the potential storm surge, and a photo from the Red Hook neighborhood (on the leading edge of the city shore.)
@startingptcnn Thank you for your amazing coverage Soledad! Here we are marooned in Red Hook, Brooklyn!! #Sandy twitter.com/greenpainting/…
— Nick Cope (@greenpainting) October 29, 2012
8:58 a.m.: Further inland, in the Mountains of West Virginia, Hurricane Sandy means snow:
Should be called "Hurrciane Snowy" RT @wsaznews: Snow starts to fall in southern West Virginia. Take a look: twitter.com/WSAZnews/statu… #sandy
— Ray Wert (@raywert) October 29, 2012
8:42 a.m.: The Battery Park esplanade in Lower Manhattan is also underwater now. As is the Belt Parkway in southern Brooklyn. It is near high tide in New York.
8:27 a.m.: A scary image out of Atlantic City. A huge chunk of the boardwalk has broken free and is now floating down the street.
80 feet of boardwalk floating free at Atlantic and New Hampshire Ave. #sandy #acpress twitter.com/JitneyGuy/stat…
— Jitney Guy (@JitneyGuy) October 29, 2012
8:00 a.m.: The National Hurricane Center has issued it's 8:00 a.m. storm advisory, but there are no changes to the storm situation. Wind speeds and expected path remain unchanged.
7:43 a.m.: Flooding is already begining in low-lying areas of New York:
Tide rising, water seeping into houses on 19th Bay in Ocean View. #wavysandy twitter.com/AnneWAVY/statu…
— Anne McNamara (@AnneWAVY) October 29, 2012
A jet skier takes advantage of building surf from approaching Hurricane Sandy at Coney Island beach in New York Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012. Areas along the Northeast Coast were seeing the effects of the hurricane and preparing for a possible flooding storm surge. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
7:23 a.m.: Here are some links to power outages maps that will show you what areas are being affected: PEPCO in the Washington, DC area. ConEdison in New York. PECO in Philadelphia.
7:05 a.m.: The Coast Guard has just launched a rescue operation off the coast of North Carolina, as 17 people have abandoned a tall-ship (which is a replica of the famous HMS Bounty) that lost power and was taking on water. The crew and passengers have entered lifeboats and the Coast Guard is figuring out how to get to them.
7:00 a.m.: Here are some updates on what's happening this morning.
- The entire U.S. financial system is shut down today as all of lower Manhattan has been closed, leading major exchanges to shut both their physical and electronic trading systems. High tide in Manhattan will be around 9:30 a.m.
- All public roads have been closed in the state of Delaware.
- Waves in New Jersey, where the storm's impact is expected to be the harshest, are already at 19 feet. All boardwalk casinos have been shuttered in Atlantic City.
- President Obama has canceled all campaign events and will stay in Washington to monitor the storm from the White House. Both campaigns will try to avoid email solicitations in states affected by the storm.
- Residents on DC's notoriously fragile power grid are already experiencing outages.
Photo taken this morning from The New York Times dedicated storm cam.