At least 33 people have been killed in the United States and Canada as a result of Superstorm Sandy, according to reports.
The storm lashed the east coast overnight, leading President Barack Obama to declare a “major disaster” in New York and Long Island.
Forecasters say the storm is set to move westwards towards the Great Lakes, and on to northeastern states and parts of Canada.
While it is gradually weakening, gusts of up 50mph are expected, and heavy rainfall will bring flooding to inland areas.
The “post-tropical” storm made landfall at 8pm local time on Monday, bringing gusts of more than 85mph (135kph) and a record-breaking 13ft surge of seawater in Manhattan.
The water submerged subway tunnels and roads, while many bridges and tunnels were closed as a precaution.
At Breezy Point in the borough of Queens, 190 firefighters tackled a huge fire that destroyed more than 50 homes. They used a boat to navigate the flood water and rescue 25 people.
New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg said: “These storms brought something like 23 serious fires to parts of (New York City). The terrible fire on Breezy Point is now under control but we believe we lost more than 80 houses.
“The search and recovery operations there are ongoing. If any of you saw the pictures on television it looked like a forest out in the Midwest.”
New York University hospital was forced to move patients to other hospitals after it lost power and its back-up generator broke down. Among them were 20 babies from neonatal intensive care – some on respirators operating on battery power.
Firefighters said one man had been killed by a falling tree, while two people were also killed when a tree fell onto a vehicle in New Jersey.
Elsewhere in New Jersey a levee broke, flooding the towns of Moonachie, Little Ferry and Carlstadt with up to five feet of water. Rescue workers are at the scene assisting those who are trapped.
New Jersey governor Chris Christie said the level of devastation on the Jersey Shore is “unthinkable”.
“It’s beyond anything I thought I’d ever see, terrible.”
Juan Allen, who lives in a mobile home park in the state, said: “I saw trees not just knocked down but ripped right out of the ground. I watched a tree crush a guy’s house like a wet sponge.”
670,000 New York homes in darkness
Some 670,000 New York homes have been left without power by the storm, with electricity knocked out to more than eight million people.
A total of 33 people have been reported dead by local officials in New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, West Virginia and North Carolina, while in Toronto, Canadian police said a woman died after being hit by flying debris.
Some 84 flights have been cancelled between London Heathrow and the US east coast. Flights from Manchester, Glasgow and Birmingham have also been cancelled.
It had been feared the surge of seawater could damage the underground electrical and communications lines in lower Manhattan that are vital to the nation’s financial centre.
Journalist Bucky Turco, who was out on his pedal bike during the height of the storm, criticised how city officials dealt with the crisis.
He said: “What I find absurd is that the city went through all these preparations and in the end it was rainwater that brought down one of the most important cities in the world. It’s kind of shocking.”
It is predicted to have caused some $20billion worth of damage – one of the most costly in US history – with more lost through a loss of earnings.
Costly delays for travellers
Airline passengers delayed by Sandy may have to pay out thousands and wait days to reach their destinations, following the grounding of thousands of flights.
Flight-tracking service FlightAware posted details of 13,500 cancelled national and international flights for Monday and Tuesday, almost all related to the stormy conditions.
By early yesterday, more than 500 flights scheduled for yesterday were on hold, with more delays expected to be announced later.
More than a hundred UK departures and arrivals from New York and other East Coast cities were cancelled on Tuesday alone. The majority were due to operate via Heathrow.
A British Airways spokesman said: “We are doing all we can to help customers whose flights have been cancelled and will look to use larger aircraft on some routes when the full flying schedule resumes to help get customers to their correct destination as quickly as we can.”
BA’s other US flights are operating normally and the company is also flying as usual to Toronto and Montreal in Canada.
Virgin Atlantic had to scrap most of its US East Coast services on Monday and Tuesday.
“Our flights to America had been very busy at the beginning of this week due to the half-term school holiday. It’s very unfortunate that this major storm has come when it has,” a Virgin spokesperson said.
UK airports were advising passengers due to travel to the US to contact their airline before travelling.
All airlines flying out of the European Union are obliged under the EU Denied Boarding Regulations to provide or pay for later flights, accommodation and refreshments if travellers are delayed.
But there is no such obligation for US carriers. Passengers on these flights should contact their insurers for compensation.
Under ABTA regulations anyone who booked their flight as part of a package deal can change or cancel their trip with a refund on the package price.
Transport chaos as floods recede
A fire tore through the Breezy Point area of Queens in New York City.
At least 32 people have been killed, millions are without power and transport across the north-eastern US has been severely disrupted as storm Sandy heads north for Canada.
In New York City, 10 people have been killed and the public transport system remains closed until further notice.
More than 15,000 flights were cancelled, the flight-tracking website FlightAware estimates.
Earlier, Sandy killed more than 60 people as it hit the Caribbean.
Sandy brought a record storm surge of almost 14ft (4.2m) to central Manhattan, well above the previous record of 10 feet (3m) during Hurricane Donna in 1960, the National Weather Service said.
The storm was causing heavy snowfalls over the Appalachian mountains on Tuesday afternoon. It was expected to turn towards western New York state during the evening before moving into Canada on Wednesday, the forecaster said.
A tropical storm is classified as a hurricane when wind speeds reach 74 mph (115km/h)
A hurricane can expend as much energy as 10,000 nuclear bombs over its lifecycle.
New York Exchange re-opens today
The New York Stock Exchange says it will re-open today after two days’ closure, as will the Nasdaq exchange. The last time the stock exchange shut down for two days was in 1888.
New York’s subway system sustained the worst damage in its 108-year history, said Joseph Lhota, head of the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA).
Subway tunnels were flooded and electrical equipment will have to be cleaned before the network can re-open.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said there was “no timeline” for when the subway would restart, but he hoped buses could begin running again on Wednesday.
All New York’s major airports are closed as their runways are flooded.
Rescued crew member dies
A woman rescued from the Atlantic Ocean hours after the HMS Bounty was caught by Hurricane Sandy has died.
Claudene Christian, 42, was pulled from the water on Monday – hours after the historic ship went down in the storm off the coast of North Carolina – but was unresponsive.
Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class David Weydert said Ms Christian, who lived and sailed on the ship, was taken to hospital in a critical condition but was later pronounced dead.
The Coast Guard is still searching for the ship’s captain, Robin Walbridge, 63.
The famous HMS Bounty was hit by 18ft waves
Ms Christian, a keen sailor, said on Twitter th at she joined the ship’s crew in May and a series of posts described how much she was enjoying her life on the sea.
On June 7, she wrote: “So I had a tough day, lost in the sails. But it was sunny warm and I am on a TALL SHIP AT SEA. It’s a “Bountyful” life.”
Fourteen other crew members were rescued from the stricken vessel, which was about 160 miles from the hurricane’s centre.
The captain ordered his crew to abandon ship at about 5am on Monday after the vessel lost power and started to take on water.
Sixteen people were on board the ship when it sank.
Coast guards said the crew had put on cold water survival suits and life-jackets before launching in two 25-man lifeboats with canopies.
The suits are designed to protect people from the cold waters for up to 15 hours.
Rescuers faced 40mph winds and 18ft waves at the scene, which is 90 miles southeast of Hatteras in North Carolina.
The rescued crew were flown to Air Station Elizabeth City for treatment.
Coast Guard Sector North Carolina received a call from the owner of the 180ft, three-mast ship, saying she had lost communication with the vessel’s crew late on Sunday evening.
The rescued crew were flown to Air Station Elizabeth City for treatment
It regained contact with the ship after receiving a signal from the emergency position indicating beacon registered to the Bounty.
HMS Bounty was built for the 1962 movie Mutiny On The Bounty with Marlon Brando and also appeared in Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.
The original Bounty was known for the mutiny that took place in Tahiti in 1789.
People could apply to work on the ship, which was built in 1960 and restored in 2001.
The HMS Bounty Organisation said on its website that it was “dedicated to keeping the ship sailing and using her as a vehicle for teaching the nearly lost arts of square rigged sailing and seamanship.”
