Disarray, millions without power in Sandy's wake

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The most devastating storm in decades to hit the country's most densely populated region upended man and nature as it rolled back the clock on 21st-century lives, cutting off modern communication and leaving millions without power Tuesday as thousands who fled their water-menaced homes wondered when — if — life would return to normal.

A weakening Sandy, the hurricane turned fearsome superstorm, killed at least 50 people, many hit by falling trees, and still wasn't finished. It inched inland across Pennsylvania, ready to bank toward western New York to dump more of its water and likely cause more havoc Tuesday night. Behind it: a dazed, inundated New York City, a waterlogged Atlantic Coast and a moonscape of disarray and debris — from unmoored shore-town boardwalks to submerged mass-transit systems to delicate presidential politics.

More than 8.2 million households were without power in 17 states as far west as Michigan. Nearly 2 million of those were in New York, where large swaths of lower Manhattan lost electricity and entire streets ended up underwater — as did seven subway tunnels between Manhattan and Brooklyn at one point, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said.

The New York Stock Exchange was closed for a second day from weather, the first time that has happened since a blizzard in 1888. The shutdown of mass transit crippled a city where more than 8.3 million bus, subway and local rail trips are taken each day, and 800,000 vehicles cross bridges run by the transit agency.

Photos: Superstorm Sandy wreaks havoc

Photo By LUCAS JACKSON/REUTERS10 hrs ago

A damaged house is seen after Hurricane Sandy passed through in the greatly affected community of Atlantique on Fire Island, New York October 30, 2012. Millions of people were left reeling in the aftermath of the whipping winds and heavy rains of the massive storm Sandy on Tuesday as New York City and many parts of the eastern U.S. struggled with epic flooding and extensive power outages. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson (UNITED STATES - Tags: ENVIRONMENT DISASTER)

Consolidated Edison said electricity in and around New York could take a

Consolidated Edison said electricity in and around New York could takeweek to restore.

"Everybody knew it was coming. Unfortunately, it was everything they said it was," said Sal Novello, a construction executive who rode out the storm with his wife, Lori, in the Long Island town of Lindenhurst, and ended up with 7 feet of water in the basement.

The scope of the storm's damage wasn't known yet. Though early predictions of river flooding in Sandy's inland path were petering out, colder temperatures made snow the main product of Sandy's slow march from the sea. Parts of the West Virginia mountains were blanketed with 2 feet of snow by Tuesday afternoon, and drifts 4 feet deep were reported at Great Smoky Mountains National Park on the Tennessee-North Carolina border.

With Election Day a week away, the storm also threatened to affect the presidential campaign. Federal disaster response, always a dicey political issue, has become even thornier since government mismanagement of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. And poll access and voter turnout, both of which hinge upon how people are impacted by the storm, could help shift the outcome in an extremely close race.

As organized civilization came roaring back Tuesday in the form of emergency response, recharged cellphones and the reassurance of daylight, harrowing stories and pastiches emerged from Maryland north to Rhode Island in the hours after Sandy's howling winds and tidal surges shoved water over seaside barriers, into low-lying streets and up from coastal storm drains.

Images from around the storm-affected areas depicted scenes reminiscent of big-budget disaster movies. In Atlantic City, N.J., a gaping hole remained where once a stretch of boardwalk sat by the sea. In Queens, N.Y., rubble from a fire that destroyed as many as 100 houses in an evacuated beachfront neighborhood jutted into the air at ugly angles against a gray sky. In heavily flooded Hoboken, N.J., across the Hudson River from Manhattan, dozens of yellow cabs sat parked in rows, submerged in murky water to their windshields. At the ground zero construction site in lower Manhattan, seawater rushed into a gaping hole under harsh floodlights.

Watch video here

One of the most dramatic tales came from lower Manhattan, where a failed backup generator forced New York University's Langone Medical Center to relocate more than 200 patients, including 20 babies from neonatal intensive care. Dozens of ambulances lined up in the rainy night and the tiny patients were gingerly moved out, some attached to battery-powered respirators as gusts of wind blew their blankets.

In Moonachie, N.J., 10 miles north of Manhattan, water rose to 5 feet within 45 minutes and trapped residents who thought the worst of the storm had passed. Mobile-home park resident Juan Allen said water overflowed a 2-foot wall along a nearby creek, filling the area with 2 to 3 feet of water within 15 minutes. "I saw trees not just knocked down but ripped right out of the ground," he said. "I watched a tree crush a guy's house like a wet sponge."

In a measure of its massive size, waves on southern Lake Michigan rose to a record-tying 20.3 feet. High winds spinning off Sandy's edges clobbered the Cleveland area early Tuesday, uprooting trees, closing schools and flooding major roads along Lake Erie.

Most along the East Coast, though, grappled with an experience like Bertha Weismann of Bridgeport, Conn.— frightening, inconvenient and financially problematic but, overall, endurable. Her garage was flooded and she lost power, but she was grateful. "I feel like we are blessed," she said. "It could have been worse."

The presidential candidates' campaign maneuverings Tuesday revealed the delicacy of the need to look presidential in a crisis without appearing to capitalize on a disaster. President Barack Obama canceled a third straight day of campaigning, scratching events scheduled for Wednesday in swing-state Ohio, in Sandy's path. Republican Mitt Romney resumed his campaign with plans for an Ohio rally billed as a "storm relief event."

Watch video here

And the weather posed challenges a week out for how to get everyone out to vote. On the hard-hit New Jersey coastline, a county elections chief said some polling places on barrier islands will be unusable and have to be moved.

"This is the biggest challenge we've ever had," said George R. Gilmore, chairman of the Ocean County Board of Elections.

By Tuesday afternoon, there were still only hints of the economic impact of the storm.

Forecasting firm IHS Global Insight predicted the storm will end up causing about $20 billion in damages and $10 billion to $30 billion in lost business. Another firm, AIR Worldwide, estimated losses up to $15 billion — big numbers probably offset by reconstruction and repairs that will contribute to longer-term growth.

"The biggest problem is not the first few days but the coming months," said Alan Rubin, an expert in nature disaster recovery.

Airports were shut across the East Coast and far beyond as tens of thousands of travelers found they couldn't get where they were going. John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York and Newark International Airport in New Jersey will reopen at 7 a.m. Wednesday with limited service, but LaGuardia Airport will stay closed, officials said.

Sandy began in the Atlantic and knocked around the Caribbean — killing nearly 70 people — and strengthened into a hurricane as it chugged across the southeastern coast of the United States. By Tuesday night it had ebbed in strength but was joining up with another, more wintry storm — an expected confluence of weather systems that earned it nicknames like "superstorm" and, on Halloween eve, "Frankenstorm."

It became, pretty much everyone agreed Tuesday, the weather event of a lifetime — and one shared vigorously on social media by people in Sandy's path who took eye-popping photographs as the storm blew through, then shared them with the world by the blue light of their smartphones.

On Twitter, Facebook and the photo-sharing service Instagram, people tried to connect, reassure relatives and make sense of what was happening — and, in many cases, work to authenticate reports of destruction and storm surges. They posted and passed around images and real-time updates at a dizzying rate, wishing each other well and gaping, virtually, at scenes of calamity moments after they unfolded. Among the top terms on Facebook through the night and well into Tuesday, according to the social network: "we are OK," ''made it" and "fine."

By Tuesday evening, the remnants of Sandy were about 50 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, pushing westward with winds of 45 mph. It was expected to turn toward New York State and Canada during the night.

Although weakening as it goes, the storm will continue to bring heavy rain and flooding, said Daniel Brown of the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Atlantic City's fabled Boardwalk, the first in the nation, lost several blocks when Sandy came through, though the majority of it remained intact even as other Jersey Shore boardwalks were dismantled. What damage could be seen on the coastline Tuesday was, in some locations, staggering — "unthinkable," New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said of what unfolded along the Jersey Shore, where houses were swept from their foundations and amusement park rides were washed into the ocean. "Beyond anything I thought I would ever see."

Resident Carol Mason returned to her bayfront home to carpets that squished as she stepped on them. She made her final mortgage payment just last week. Facing a mandatory evacuation order, she had tried to ride out the storm at first but then saw the waters rising outside her bathroom window and quickly reconsidered.

"I looked at the bay and saw the fury in it," she said. "I knew it was time to go."

___

Contributing to this report were Katie Zezima in Atlantic City, N.J.; Alicia Caldwell and Martin Crutsinger in Washington; Colleen Long, Jennifer Peltz, Tom Hays, Larry Neumeister, Ralph Russo and Scott Mayerowitz in New York; Meghan Barr in Mastic Beach, N.Y.; Christopher S. Rugaber in Arlington, Va.; Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pa.: John Christoffersen in Bridgeport, Conn.; Vicki Smith in Elkins, W.Va.; David Porter in Newark, N.J.; Joe Mandak in Pittsburgh; and Dave Collins in Hartford, Conn.

___

Follow Ted Anthony on Twitter at http://twitter.com/anthonyted

Climate and cost concerns mount in wake of "superstorm"

Aerial views shows the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy to the New Jersey coast taken during a search and rescue mission by 1-150 Assault Helicopter Battalion, New Jersey Army National Guard on October 30, 2012. REUTERS/Mark C. Olsen/U.S. Air Force/Handout

WASHINGTON, Oct 31 (Reuters Point Carbon) - Monday's mammoth storm that caused severe flooding, damage and fatalities to the eastern U.S. will raise pressure on Congress and the next president to address the impacts of climate change as the price tag for extreme weather disasters escalates.

Hurricane Sandy devastated the east coast of the United States, claiming dozens of lives so far, cutting power to over 8 million people and damaging major roadways, buildings and infrastructure, such as New York's 108-year old subway system.

Eqecat, one of the three primary firms used by the insurance industry to calculate disaster exposures, said Sandy could cause anywhere from $5 billion to $10 billion in insured losses and from $10 billion to $20 billion in economic losses, Reuters reported.

This would outdo the roughly $4.5 billion in insured losses caused by last year's Hurricane Irene, which also hit the northeast.

Sharlene Leurig, senior manager for insurance and water programs at Ceres, warned that in addition to the physical damage caused by Monday's storm, there would also be damage "on the balance sheet of taxpayers in the U.S.," raising pressure on Congress to take action on climate change.

"The sort of storm we just saw is likely to be more common in some of the most populated and valuable areas of the country," she said.

She said the government's national flood insurance program (NFIP) is already in nearly $20 billion in debt since 2005's Hurricane Katrina and would likely cost taxpayers more as such storms become more frequent.

Some taxpayer groups have called on Congress to further reform the flood insurance program and said that reinsurance companies are better positioned to absorb the costs and risks related to extreme weather occurrences.

"It appears likely that Sandy will exhaust the NFIP's remaining $3 billion of statutory borrowing authority, meaning it will need to request more money from Congress to pay its claims," said R.J. Lehmann, a senior fellow at free market policy research group R Street.

The R Street Institute is the insurance spinoff of the Heartland Institute, a group which has funded several high-profile campaigns questioning manmade climate change, but Lehmann has said the group does not promote "climate skepticism."

"In the short term, we would insist the NFIP use its existing authority to raise rates, buy reinsurance and issue catastrophe bonds, so that the private market, rather than taxpayers, assume the risk of these sorts of catastrophes in the future.

Sustainablity-focused investor group Ceres said that while 2012 private insured losses were lower so far this year than last year, when floods, heat waves, tornadoes and other extreme weather events gripped the U.S., total economic losses are likely to be significant.

On top of Hurricane Sandy, this year's drought alone is expected to cost insurers $20 billion, with most of those costs being shouldered by the federal crop insurance program.

"This storm, taken into consideration alongside one of the most economically damaging droughts in the last century, alongside wildfires that reached catastrophic proportions in the west… really point to the need for members of Congress to start taking seriously the reality that climate change is already upon us," said Leurig.

Environmental groups and some political analysts said the exclusion of the climate change issue in this year's presidential and vice presidential debates was a missed opportunity to bring the issue back into the national debate.

Although the House of Representatives passed a comprehensive climate change bill in 2009, similar efforts failed in the Senate.

The issue became a taboo subject after the Tea Party and some stiffly opposed Republicans ramped up efforts to derail climate legislation and regulatory programs to slash greenhouse gas emissions.

Jennifer Morgan and Kevin Kennedy of the World Resources Institute, wrote in a blog post Tuesday that the silence on climate change on the campaign trail was "extremely troubling" given the recent spate of extreme weather events and their economic impacts.

"We need our elected officials to break their silence on climate change. Whether climate change comes up in the final days of the campaign or not, the next president and Congress will need to step up and do more on this issue," they wrote.

Former President Bill Clinton, who has been campaigning on President Barack Obama's behalf, took aim at a quip made by Republican challenger Mitt Romney at the Republican convention that the president cared more about the rise of ocean levels than families.

At a campaign speech in Minnesota on Tuesday, Clinton addressed the climate impacts of Hurricane Sandy.

"All up and down the East Coast, there are mayors, many of them Republicans, who are being told, ‘You've got to move these houses back away from the ocean. You've got to lift them up," he told the crowd.

"Climate change is going to raise the water levels on a permanent basis. If you want your town insured, you have to do this," Clinton said.

(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici)

Region hit by Sandy struggles to resume daily life

NEW YORK (AP) — Two major airports reopened and the floor of the New York Stock Exchange came back to life Wednesday, but across the river in New Jersey, the National Guard searched for flood victims and fires still raged two days after Superstorm Sandy.

For the first time since the storm battered the Northeast, killing 55 people and doing billions of dollars in damage, brilliant sunshine washed over the nation's largest city — a striking sight after days of gray skies, rain and wind.

It was clear that restoring the region to its ordinarily frenetic pace could take days — and that rebuilding the hardest-hit communities and the transportation networks that link them together could take considerably longer.

"We will get through the days ahead by doing what we always do in tough times — by standing together, shoulder to shoulder, ready to help a neighbor, comfort a stranger and get the city we love back on its feet," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.

The scale of the challenge could be seen across the Hudson River in New Jersey, where National Guard troops arrived in the heavily flooded city of Hoboken to help evacuate thousands still stuck in their homes. And new problems arose when firefighters were unable to reach blazes rekindled by natural gas leaks in the heavily hit shore town of Mantoloking.

As New York began its second day after the megastorm, morning rush-hour traffic was heavy as people started returning to work. There was even a sign of normalcy: commuters waiting at bus stops.

On the Brooklyn Bridge, closed earlier because of high winds, joggers and bikers made their way across the span before sunrise. One cyclist carried a flashlight. Car traffic on the bridge was busy, and slowed as it neared Manhattan.

By late Tuesday, the winds and flooding inflicted by the fast-weakening Sandy had subsided, leaving at least 55 people dead along the Atlantic Coast and splintering beachfront homes and boardwalks from the mid-Atlantic states to southern New England.

The storm later moved across Pennsylvania on a predicted path toward New York State and Canada.

At the height of the disaster, more than 8.2 million lost electricity — some as far away as Michigan. Nearly a quarter of those without power were in New York, where lower Manhattan's usually bright lights remained dark for a second night.

But, amid the despair, talk of recovery was already beginning.

"It's heartbreaking after being here 37 years," Barry Prezioso of Point Pleasant, N.J., said as he returned to his house in the beachfront community to survey the damage. "You see your home demolished like this, it's tough. But nobody got hurt and the upstairs is still livable, so we can still live upstairs and clean this out. I'm sure there's people that had worse. I feel kind of lucky."

Much of the initial recovery efforts focused on New York City, the region's economic heart. Bloomberg said it could take four or five days before the subway, which suffered the worst damage in its 108-year history, is running again. All 10 of the tunnels that carry commuters under the East River were flooded. But high water prevented inspectors from immediately assessing damage to key equipment, raising the possibility that the nation's largest city could endure an extended shutdown of the system that 5 million people count on to get to work and school each day. The chairman of the state agency that runs the subway, Joseph Lhota, said service might have to resume piecemeal, and experts said the cost of the repairs could be staggering.

Photos: Superstorm Sandy wreaks havoc

Photo By Julio Cortez17 hrs ago

Brian Hajeski, 41, of Brick, N.J., reacts after looking at debris of a home that washed up on to the Mantoloking Bridge the morning after superstorm Sandy rolled through, Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012, in Mantoloking, N.J. Sandy, the storm that made landfall Monday, caused multiple fatalities, halted mass transit and cut power to more than 6 million homes and businesses. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Power company Consolidated Edison said it would be four days before the last of the 337,000 customers in Manhattan and Brooklyn who lost power have electricity again and it could take a week to restore outages in the Bronx, Queens, Staten Island and Westchester County. Floodwater led to explosions that disabled a power substation Monday night, contributing to the outages.

Surveying the widespread damage, it was clear much of the recovery and rebuilding will take far longer.

When New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie stopped in Belmar, N.J., during a tour of the devastation, one woman wept openly and 42-year-old Walter Patrickis told him, "Governor, I lost everything."

Christie, who called the shore damage "unthinkable," said a full recovery would take months, at least, and it would likely be a week or more before power is restored to everyone who lost it.

"Now we've got a big task ahead of us that we have to do together. This is the kind of thing New Jerseyans are built for," he said. President Barack Obama is scheduled to visit the state Wednesday to inspect the storm damage.

By sundown Tuesday, however, announcements from officials and scenes on the streets signaled that New York and nearby towns were edging toward a semblance of routine.

First came the reopening of highways in Connecticut and bridges across the Hudson and East rivers, although the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, connecting Brooklyn to Manhattan, and the Holland Tunnel, between New York and New Jersey, remained closed.

A limited number of the white and blue buses that crisscross New York's grid returned Tuesday evening to Broadway and other thoroughfares on a reduced schedule — but free of charge. Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he hoped there would be full service by Wednesday. Still, school was canceled for a third straight day Wednesday in the city, where many students rely on buses and subways to reach classrooms.

In one bit of good news, John F. Kennedy and Newark Liberty International airports reopened with limited service just after 7 a.m. Wednesday. New York's LaGuardia Airport remains closed.

The New York Stock Exchange was again silent Tuesday — the first weather-related, two-day closure since the 19th century — but trading was scheduled to resume Wednesday morning with Bloomberg ringing the opening bell.

Amtrak also laid out plans to resume some runs in the Northeast on Wednesday, with modified service between Newark, N.J., and points south. That includes restoring Virginia service to Lynchburg, Richmond and Newport News, Keystone trains in Pennsylvania, and Downeaster service between Boston and Portland, Maine.

But flooding continues to prevent service to and from New York's Penn Station. Amtrak said the amount of water in train tunnels under the Hudson and East rivers is unprecedented. There will be no Northeast Regional service between New York and Boston and no Acela Express service for the entire length of the Northeast Corridor. No date has been set for when it might resume.

But even with the return of some transportation and plans to reopen schools and businesses, the damage and pain inflicted by Sandy continued to unfold, confirming the challenge posed by rebuilding.

In New Jersey, amusement rides that once crowned a pier in Seaside Heights were dumped into the ocean, some homes were smashed, and others were partially buried in sand.

National Guard troops arrived in Hoboken on Tuesday night to find live wires dangling in the floodwaters that Mayor Dawn Zimmer said were rapidly mixing with sewage.

About 2.1 million homes and businesses remained without power across the state late Tuesday. When Tropical Storm Irene struck last year, it took more than a week to restore power everywhere. The state's largest utility, PSE&G, said it was trying to dry out substations it had to shut down.

Outages in the state's two largest cities, Newark and Jersey City, left traffic signals dark, resulting in numerous fender-benders at intersections where police were not directing traffic. And in one Jersey City supermarket, there were long lines to get bread and a spot at an outlet to charge cellphones.

Trees and power lines were down in every corner of the state. Schools and state government offices were closed for a second day, and many called off classes for Wednesday, too. The governor said the PATH trains connecting northern New Jersey with Manhattan would be out of service for at least seven to 10 days because of flooding. All the New Jersey Transit rail lines were damaged, he said, and it was not clear when the rail lines would be able to open.

In Connecticut, some residents of Fairfield returned home in kayaks and canoes to inspect widespread damage left by retreating floodwaters that kept other homeowners at bay.

"The uncertainty is the worst," said Jessica Levitt, who was told it could be a week before she can enter her house. "Even if we had damage, you just want to be able to do something. We can't even get started."

The storm caused irreparable damage to homes in East Haven, Milford and other shore towns. Still, many were grateful the storm did not deliver a bigger blow, considering the havoc wrought in New York City and New Jersey.

"I feel like we are blessed," said Bertha Weismann, whose garage was flooded in Bridgeport. "It could have been worse."

And in New York, residents of the flooded beachfront neighborhood of Breezy Point in returned home to find fire had taken everything the water had not. A huge blaze destroyed perhaps 100 homes in the close-knit community where many had stayed behind despite being told to evacuate.

John Frawley, 57, acknowledged the mistake. Frawley, who lived about five houses from the fire's edge, said he spent the night terrified "not knowing if the fire was going to jump the boulevard and come up to my house."

"I stayed up all night," he said. "The screams. The fire. It was horrifying."

There were still only hints of the economic impact of the storm.

Forecasting firm IHS Global Insight predicted it will end up causing about $20 billion in damage and $10 billion to $30 billion in lost business. Another firm, AIR Worldwide, estimated losses up to $15 billion — big numbers probably offset by reconstruction and repairs that will contribute to longer-term growth.

"The biggest problem is not the first few days but the coming months," said Alan Rubin, an expert in natural disaster recovery.

Some of those who lost homes and businesses to Sandy were promising to return and rebuild, but many sounded chastened by their encounter with nature's fury. They included Tom Shalvey of Warwick, R.I., whose 500-square-foot cottage on the beach in South Kingstown was washed away by raging surf, leaving a utility pipe as the only marker of where it once sat.

"We love the beach. We had many great times here," Shalvey said. "We will be back. But it will not be on the front row."

___

Contributors to this report included Associated Press writers Angela Delli Santi in Belmar, N.J.; Geoff Mulvihill and Larry Rosenthal in Trenton, N.J.; Katie Zezima in Atlantic City, N.J.; Samantha Henry in Jersey City, N.J.; Pat Eaton-Robb and Michael Melia in Hartford, Conn.; Susan Haigh in New London, Conn.; John Christoffersen in Bridgeport, Conn.; Alicia Caldwell and Martin Crutsinger in Washington; David Klepper in South Kingstown, R.I.; David B. Caruso, Colleen Long, Jennifer Peltz, Tom Hays, Larry Neumeister, Ralph Russo and Scott Mayerowitz in New York.

Sandy moves inland, cuts power and ices roads: Residents’ stories from the storm

From Florida to New England, residents along the eastern seaboard are sharing their anecdotes, photos and videos of Hurricane-turned-"Superstorm" Sandy. Below are excerpts from the latest dispatches from people living through the storm. All times on posts are ET. Interested in writing about your experiences? Share your story at Yahoo! Contributor Network and your Sandy photos on Flickr.

WEDNESDAY

1:45 p.m.

Fears of fire, looting in southwest Long Island

JAMAICA, N.Y.—I can only wonder what is happening to my building and wondering if I will have a home to return home to.

Early on Tuesday, I received texts that at least 50 homes had burned down in the Breezy Point part of the Rockaways.

Later, I was informed from multiple sources that it would be between three and 11 days before the Rockaways would get electricity restored. Not only would it be dark, I wouldn't be able to work. With no electricity, none of the heat in our building worked. The pilot light on my stove did not work. A number of people in the area were obviously using candles, generators, or space heaters, as the temperature was dropping. But these devices can be pretty dangerous. I made the decision to leave Far Rockaway and stay with relatives in other parts of Queens.

I rode the Q113 to Jamaica. On that bus, I was told that looters had left Far Rockaway and looted a Marshall's in the 5 towns part of Nassau. Many on the bus worried what looters would do in a darkened Rockaways. Other expressed concern how would they be able to leave their buildings if elevators didn't work, and if it was completely dark inside.

Once I got to the safety of my cousin's house, I saw on the news that the darkness was a contributor not only to accidental fires, but it made fighting them a lot more complicated. The Rockaways, a lovely beach front section of Queens that had been rapidly gentrifying, seemed to be gripped by fear as a number of residents contemplated living elsewhere.

— Justin Samuels

11:45 a.m.

Clean-up begins in rural Pennsylvania

HONESDALE, Pa.—Hurricanes and tornado's are expected in the South and Midwest, but living in Pennsylvania, I never expected to worry about these natural disasters.

We heard the wind and rain pounding our Honesdale neighborhood. At times, the wind sounded like it was going to lift the roof off our home. After a particularly strong gust sounding like the side of our home was physically pushed, we looked at each other and, at the same time, said "What was that?"

We were brave enough to venture outside and investigate. Sandy uprooted a large pine tree that fell against our roof. Next door, our neighbors had two large pine trees fall.

Now the clean-up begins.

— Amy Faatz

8:23 a.m.

West Virginia residents in the dark

HUNTINGTON, W.V.—Many of my family and friends are without power and stranded inside their homes, hoping the roads will soon be cleared and the power restored.
Snow blankets the ground and the schools are cancelled. I was in awe with the rest of the city: Winter had arrived early this year on the eve of Halloween. Some of my friends were stranded away from their homes. My mother, Jean, and my brother-in-law, Danny, are among the thousands without power. I called off work due to the icy roads; neighbors and friends have been in accidents trying to leave for work.

The snow has slowly melted off; however, the temperatures remain low in the 30s with the winds blowing at 10 miles per hour and the electric company telling everyone that some people may be without power into next week.

— Chris Williams

TUESDAY

9:35 p.m.

Sandy tosses boats around New Jersey harbor

LITTLE EGG HARBOR, N.J.—We returned to Little Egg Harbor to assess the damages at our waterfront property and passed boats in the street and saw docks up in yards before learning that our home had taken on over three feet of water.

While we do have damages and a lot of clean-up ahead of us, we are thankful that we came through this ordeal safely, especially after hearing of the destruction this "superstorm" brought to so many communities.

— Maria Malone

5:38 p.m.

'Never seen anything like it'

EAST MEADOW, N.Y.—Heavy winds from Hurricane Sandy resulted in several trees getting knocked down here on Long Island.

East Meadow, located in the heart of Nassau County, was ravaged by strong rainfall, severe winds and storm-like conditions on Tuesday.

At my home in Nassau County, my family and I experienced a major scare when howling winds knocked several branches down late on Monday evening.

On Tuesday, many folks on my block were without power, and left to clean up fallen leaves and branches left in the aftermath of the hurricane.

I have never seen anything like it in my 30 years of living in the New York-metro area.

— Eric Holden

3:52 p.m.

"I'm now out $1,000 for the cost of the deductible." (Mike Wong/Yahoo! Contributor Network)

Discovering my tree-impaled car in Queens

QUEENS—As I walked out of my apartment building today, the streets were covered in debris from last nights storm. I turned the corner to find a huge branch impaling the passenger side of my windshield.

I quickly unlocked the vehicle to check if there was any internal damage. Although there was glass all over the interior, there seemed to be no major damage to it. The branch that fell was about 10 to 15 feet long and allowed some water to flow into the car. Luckily, there seemed to be no major mechanical issues with the vehicle.

After calling my insurance company, I'm now out $1,000 for the cost of the deductible. Due to the high claim activity, I will be forced to wait at least a week for my car to be processed and fixed.

— Mike Wong

2:36 p.m.

Sandy 'by far the worst' storm in 30 years in Jersey

FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP, N.J.—I have been a resident here for the past 30 years. Hurricane Sandy is by far the worst hurricane to hit my town. Strong winds and rain began on Monday in the afternoon. We lost power at 4:36 p.m. The height of the storm came around 8 p.m.

This morning, I drove around the neighborhood to survey the damage. There were fallen trees and power lines everywhere.

We are still without power. All of my neighbors and friends are without power. These images show the damage done by Hurricane Sandy. And this is within just a few blocks.

— Edwin Torres

Sandy tore trees from the ground and downed power lines in this New Jersey neighborhood. Click image to see more Sandy photos. (Edwin Torres/Yahoo! Contributor Network)

2:19 p.m.

Weathering 'Superstorm' Sandy in Jersey

DELRAN, N.J.—Many of our neighbors lost power, but we lucked out. We went outside Tuesday and noticed a lot of small and large branches scattered about our front and backyard. A neighbor, just down the street, however, was not so lucky. A very large tree took out the entire side of their house and crushed a car in the driveway. Luckily, the family living in the house was safely rescued and there were no injuries.

Now all we can do is wait, listen to the news and help out wherever we can. We have been told there could be more rain today, so there is still danger of trees falling and flooding not receding.

— Julie Wimmer

11:46 a.m.

Park Slope retains power, mostly intact

BROOKLYN—On the morning after Hurricane Sandy made landfall, millions of New Yorkers were still left without power. However, in the area surrounding Prospect Park, this is not the case. Residents, including myself, still have power, and but for a few flickers here and there during the heaviest winds, never lost it. At the same time, the comparative lack of winds and higher elevation as opposed to other parts of Brooklyn have also left Park Slope free from flooding.

Other than a few gusts of wind here and there, the weather in Park Slope is nothing that would prevent myself or any other residents from going about their daily business. With that said, because of the major flooding elsewhere in the city, and especially in a number of subway tunnels, Brooklynites are basically stranded until further notice. A small price to pay for escaping the brunt of the storm mostly intact.

— Zev Ketura

Scenes from New York City on Monday. (Photos by Scott Witt/Flickr)

10:38 a.m.

Sandy creeps into northern Ohio, bending trees and whipping winds

MARBLEHEAD, Ohio—This morning, obsessed with going out into what felt like 60 mph winds, I donned a raincoat and rubber boots and went. Making my way around the side of the house situated next to a tall boat barn, I was almost pushed over despite the wind cover. I stiffened my legs against the force, but knew staying out any longer, I'd be down. The power of it was dizzying. Not very sure about whether a tree on our partly wooded lot might timber down on me in the darkness, I was back inside in a flash.

Trees are bent over ready to touch the ground. Overnight, the autumn colors disappeared. Skies outline barren rain-soaked tree branches. With snow season upcoming, normally we would have had an artistic study in black and white. Yet now, the horizon is an imperious miserable grey. A storm like Sandy serves us as a memento of how utterly small we really are in this universe.

— Caralell Gibson

12:30 a.m.

Sandy uprooted this tree in Denville, N.J. (Gioia Degenaars/Yahoo! Contributor Network)

In New Jersey, trees falling and wind howling from Sandy

DENVILLE, N.J.—The tree fell easily. It was a thud. The lights flickered and came back on. It's a shock to think we still have power at this point but we are one of the lucky ones. I'd expect that will change soon.

When the winds blow, it sounds like a freight train. As I write, I read posts from my friends across New Jersey. Trees are down everywhere. Nearly everyone is without power. Each time I hear a strong gust the lights flicker and I hear something else hit the house.

My family and I have a makeshift camp in our basement where we will all sleep this evening. The chance of a tree falling on the house makes it too unsafe to be anywhere else. Only a few blocks away, this tree (pictured above) overturned and gratefully did so across a lawn. It missed the home and cars... more importantly it missed people.

We are now in the heart of the storm as the gusts are expected to keep up until midnight tonight. I fear for what we will see when daylight comes tomorrow

— Gioia Degenaars

12:18 a.m.

A piece of metal from scaffolding fell to a Brooklyn sidewalk on Monday evening. (Melissa Walker/Yahoo! Contributor Network)

New York streets dangerous with falling debris

BROOKLYN—As the night progresses, it is getting scarier. The wind is coming in through every crevice of the old buildings many of us live in. Massive power outages are beginning to affect the city. Internet is starting to crash as well.

The FDR (a major highway in NYC) is flooded. This is a big outlet to and from the city. Crashes and clangs are being heard from outside. Making many of us wonder what is flying through the streets. Stores are closed. ATMs are malfunctioning.

While stepping out to throw out a smelly bag of trash, a piece of metal scaffolding flew down from more than five stories up and landed within four feet of me. (See picture.)

Winds are more dangerous than they feel right now. This city has much debris, making it seriously dangerous outside.

— Melissa Walker

12:02 a.m.

Sandy uproots tree, smashes Queens garage

QUEENS—Earlier Monday, a huge tree in Queens was knocked over by the powerful winds of Hurricane Sandy. Luckily no people were hurt; the tree just crushed the garage. As I walked by, I snapped pictures of the accident and you can see how it just barely missed the main house on the left.

The Forest Hills Gardens neighborhood in Queens is known for its English-style homes and large trees. However, during storms like this, it's best for the residents to stay indoors, take in their Halloween decorations, and park their cars in the garage. The force of the hurricane winds are so fierce you have to worry about the whole tree and not just the falling branches.

— Mike Wong

A tree smashed into this garage in Queens on Monday. Click image to see more Sandy photos. (Mike Wong/Yahoo! Contributor Network)

MONDAY

11:49 p.m.

Lulled for 'Superstorm' Sandy by indolent Irene

HOBOKEN, N.J.—As I sit in my darkened apartment, typing with a flashlight, I cannot believe that Sandy seemed inconsequential only 12 hours ago. 48 hours ago, I was enjoying the beginning of a weeklong series of Halloween celebrations for my three young children. Now, I sit with sewage-laden flood waters lapping at my children's bicycles and beloved possessions in the garage while the water inexorably rises through the building stairwell, leaving destruction in its wake.

Hoboken has hurricane fatigue. With two major storms in 14 months and the letdown of evacuating homes that remain pristine during our absences, my neighbors blithely disregarded the storm warnings over the last few days; virtually no one evacuated.

I first became aware that the threat was serious when I woke up on Monday morning to a picture of flooding at the Hoboken train station. Reports came in through the morning of high levels of water first lapping at the Hoboken waterfront and then flooding Sinatra Drive. The highest point in Hoboken, Castle Point, never floods -- until today. Heavy wind took down trees around City Hall and led to the explosion of a power station that plunged half of Hoboken into darkness. In anticipation of losing power, I established a text message group to stay in contact with local parents. The reports trickling in became increasingly dire as the storm surge moved west. Car alarms and explosions have punctuated the night.

— Kathy Zucker

6:40 p.m.

Empty store shelves in Herndon, Va. (Samuel Gonzales/Yahoo! Contributor Network)

In Virginia, empty shelves at stores

FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va.—At noon, I took it upon myself to visit a couple of my friends and go around the city of Herndon to randomly ask how people are dealing with the preparations for the storm.

We went to the shopping mall and asked a woman, Janice, what she thinks. She said she's glad for the storm because it finally gives her a break from all the boring election news coverage on TV.

Brad Dansky, 22, said he "scored bananas and an LED flashlight at the 7-11. Woohoo."

Janette, 51, said she's taking bets with all her friends on how many leaks she'll find in the ceilings of her house this week and that she's going to brunch like there's no tomorrow.

Wendy Shaw, 34, says her plan of attack for the hurricane is to "get a few party boxes of tacos and call it a day."

We were surprised that there were a group of guys playing flag football in their yards. They said, "Sandy… BRING IT ON!!"

— Samuel Gonzales

6:24 p.m.

Hurricane Sandy flexes her power on Long Island

LONG ISLAND—Just past noon, I went out to take a few pictures expecting to do a before and after. Sandy had other plans, though. The water had already come inland in several places blocking roads and causing evacuations. Trees and telephone poles were down before 2 p.m.. Here are a few of the pictures I took today. The storm still hasn't really hit us here yet. I shudder to think the kind of damage we are about to experience.

— Edward J. Neary

Hurricane Sandy's storm surges flood portions of Moriches Inlet on Long Island on Monday afternoon. (Edward J. Neary/Yahoo! Contributor Network)

4:10 p.m.

Power still on in Far Rockaway in Queens

QUEENS—Folks around town crowded the local grocery store, Food Dynasty, and purchased huge amounts of food. I was one of them. While some people left Far Rockaway, others in the houses near me and the apartment building I live in stayed. For a while, things seemed calmed. The wind picked up, then died down.

By late this morning, the wind hit the building pretty hard and I could hear the wind's blasts. While there has been rain, my apartment in Far Rockaway has not experienced flooding as of 2:10 p.m.

At times, though, the whole building seems to shake. Power has not been affected. One lone man left the building during the storm. I wasn't sure who he was or why he was leaving the building in the middle of the storm on his bicycle. I just sat in my room, waiting for the storm to blow over, thankful I still had power.

— Justin Samuels

4:03 p.m.

The Hudson River on Monday. Click image to see more photos (James Sims/Flickr)

Wind gusts increasing in Morris County, New Jersey

DENVILLE, N.J.—Hurricane Sandy is a monster to be sure. My family and I have tied down everything we can outside. We have a make-shift camp in our basement for fear of downed tree limbs. We are as ready as we can be for power outages. We sit and wait for Sandy's approaching wrath.

Gusts have already started that will reach upward of 60 to 70 mph by this evening. The trees swaying in the back are a fearful reminder of the damage that this storm can bring to us in northern New Jersey. While we do not have the ocean to contend with, we do have many rivers and large trees that can damage our homes.

— Gioia Degenaars

3:59 p.m.

Sandy already bringing down tree limbs in New York

BROOKLYN—As the storm approaches New York City, residents are preparing to hunker down for the immediate future. As of 2 p.m. on Monday in Crown Heights (in central Brooklyn) the storm gusts are increasing and the streets are pretty much empty.

Trees are starting to go down and branches litter the street. The winds are not very high, but as they increase, the damage will be much greater. With expected gusts up to 75 mph and with trees already going down with gusts of around 35 mph, this has the potential to be damaging as the buildings start creating a wind-tunnel effect.

Transportation has ground to a halt and the schools are closed. As a transplant from the South, weathering a storm of this magnitude in the Northeast is a bit odd. As the flooding in areas in NYC increases, watching the news turns those of us not in the evacuation zones into outsiders looking in, as well.

— Melissa Walker

A view of a flooded street in New York on Monday. Click image to see more photos. (Photo courtesy of Nick Cope via Melissa Walker/Yahoo! Contributor Network)

3:42 p.m.

A stormy wedding, thanks to Hurricane Sandy

QUEENS—My wedding is in four days. And while most of the preparations are ready, there are a few things that went wrong and need to be handled last-minute.

Last night, I was visiting my fiance's relatives in Massapequa. An hour after we got back to my mom's house in Elmont, we found out that they had to evacuate their home. His cousins in Long Beach were supposed to evacuate as well since they live right by the water, but they decided to stay home. They've since put up pictures on Facebook of the deluge outside their front steps as well as a snapshot of a reporter from ABC News coming over to interview them.

When I first heard about the magnitude of the storm, one of my first thoughts was, Oh no, I never got wedding insurance. And I sure as heck won't be able to get it now. When I was on the fence about purchasing wedding insurance, I thought that it ultimately wouldn't come in handy because the only disaster I could think of was a snowstorm, and those don't happen in this part of New York in November.

— Tricia Bangit

2:46 p.m.

On Upper East Side, Sandy is bad, but not horrible yet

MANHATTAN—Power remains on, the streets still have people and cars and, except for the pending arrival of the really bad weather, it seems like any other day.

Reports from friends and co-workers from the Jersey shore to Long Island say that the ocean is really kicking up and flooding has been anywhere from moderate to very bad. A friend reports that water was coming up to Ocean Avenue in Belmar, N.J., and another friend who decided to stay in her apartment in Battery Park is reporting water on the rise.

Do not be fooled, the worst is yet to come! Rain, wind and flooding will all increasingly worse as the day progresses. Stay inside or head to a shelter.

— TR Threston

Overnight winds from Sandy blew over this tree in New York. Click image to see more Sandy photos. (Stephanie Jeannot/Yahoo! Contributor Network)

1:27 p.m.

Blustering hollers of wind in New York

QUEENS—Earlier, I tweeted, "Hurricanes are always such teases. It's 2012. Bring on a real apocalypse already." Perhaps that was a bit arrogant, and I'll fully understand the irony should this hurricane murder me. However, I'm confident that it will sweep over with little impact on my life.

Outside, its effects are definitely being felt. The closure of the MTA for any given amount of time surely impacts business and industry substantially. I'm curious what operations may still be up and running during this windy mess. I've occasionally looked outside to see the trees moving back and forth from the gusts. The streets are mostly empty. I've seen no people today, but did see a single car driving around earlier.

I'm doing what I should do to stay safe: absolutely nothing. The real danger, if there is any, would be outside. So, I'm staying inside, and you should probably do the same. There are mandatory evacuations apparently happening in the major flood zones. I happen to be in a groove surrounded by Zone C, the least likely to flood. So, even if Zone A is in danger, my apartment building should be fine.

— Clayburn Griffin

11:22 a.m.

Stores are boarded up Sunday in Denville, N.J., before the storm arrived. (Gioia Degenaars/Flickr)

Expecting Hurricane Sandy floods in Denville and Rockaway, N.J.

DENVILLE, N.J.—This year we are ready. We've sand-bagged. We've moved things out of the way of water. We've lowered lakes and boarded up. Yet, something about Hurricane Sandy fills us with a dread that most of us in New Jersey cannot shake.This picture is a scene from the Broadway area of Denville on Sunday afternoon.

Residents of Denville and Rockaway are expecting the Rockaway River to spill over its banks and cause massive flooding just one year after Hurricane Irene nearly wiped out the main street.

— Gioia Degenaars

11:01 a.m.

Hurricane Sandy takes aim at northeastern Pennsylvania

MILFORD, Pa.—As of 10 a.m. on Monday morning, the track of Hurricane Sandy puts it just a few short hours away from here in northeastern Pennsylvania.

But already the winds are picking up in Pike County.

It is anticipated to make landfall along the Delaware coast, just south of Philadelphia. By the time the eye reaches inland, the winds are expected to cause it to be downgraded to a tropical storm. But by then, the damage for areas such as Pike County will have been done. Traditionally in this area, the rain will loosen the ground beneath trees and power poles. The high winds then rip these from the ground. In the past power has been off for days and weeks at a time. With the predictions calling for this storm to be worse than Irene of just two years ago, residents are gearing up for the worst: They're buying up water and staple foods at our local Wal-Mart, Kmart and other grocery stores. Even convenience stores like the Turkey Hill in Milford are feeling the panic.

— Charles B Reynolds