East coast of US braced for hurricane Sandy

Fifty million are braced for Hurricane Sandy along the east coast of America. Forecasters predict the storm will crash into the mainland between late Monday and early Tuesday and states of emergency have been declared along the shoreline.

It is feared that the hurricane, which is already 800 miles wide, is on track to collide with another storm coming in from the west. It is potentially the biggest to hit the US mainland, and has already been dubbed “Frankenstorm“ as Halloween approaches.

Those on low-lying ground from the mid-Atlantic to New England are expecting strong winds and dangerous flooding. In response, New York Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, has ordered the evacuation of 375,000 people in vulnerable parts of the city, which include Manhattan and Brooklyn. Mandatory evacuation is also under way in Delaware and New Jersey. 

Trains, subways and buses will be suspended in New York from 7pm tonight. New York governor Andrew Cuomo said: “If it turns and moves off, great. Really great. But if not then we will be prepared for it.” Services are anticipated to resume 12 hours after the storm passes.

Hundred of internal flights have also been aborted and Air France has cancelled all flights into New York and Washington DC on Monday.

However, the New York Stock Exchange have announced that it will be business as usual on Monday. Rich Adamonis, an NYSE spokesperson, said: “We continue to monitor the situation and to communicate with government officials, regulators, and markets participants.” 

Hurricane Sandy wrought a path of destruction across the Caribbean earlier this week. It killed at least 44 people in Haiti, 11 in Cuba and 4 more in the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and the Bahamas

On its current trajectory the storm is expected to hit between Delaware and New York/New Jersey, though the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said: “It is still too soon to focus on the exact track, both because of forecast uncertainty and because the impacts are going to cover such a large area away from the centre.” 

Jane Evans