Sandy bears down on US East Coast

Reuters/Hatteras Island, North Carolina

A woman carries a sandbag to her vehicle at a distribution centre near RFK Stadium in Washington yesterday. Washington residents are preparing for serious and life-threatening weather conditions, as Hurricane Sandy heads north

Hurricane Sandy closed in on the US yesterday, where it threatens to hit the eastern third of the country with torrential rains, high winds, major flooding and power outages a week before US presidential and congressional elections.The late-season storm has been dubbed “Frankenstorm” by some weather watchers because it will combine elements of a tropical cyclone and a winter storm and is forecast to reach the US coast close to Halloween.As it merges with an Arctic air mass high over the eastern US, forecast models show it will have all the ingredients to morph into a “super storm.”Coastal flooding posed a major threat, particularly to low-lying areas like New York City, the global financial nerve centre.That threat was described in blog posted on Weather Underground (www.weatherunderground.com) yesterday by veteran weather forecaster Bryan Norcross as “serious as a heart attack for anybody near the rising water.”Governors in states along the US East Coast declared emergencies on Friday, with officials urging residents to stock up on food, water and batteries.In New York City, officials were considering shutting down the country’s largest mass transit system because of concerns the storm could cause flooding or high winds that would make subway and bus travel perilous.Sandy was about 355 miles (570km) southeast of Charleston, South Carolina, and packing top sustained winds of 75 miles (120km) late Saturday morning, the US National Hurricane Center said. It had briefly dropped just below hurricane strength.Little overall change in strength was expected ahead of its anticipated US landfall early this week, the Miami-based Hurricane Center said.The storm picked up a little forward speed overnight but was still moving slowly over the Atlantic at 9mph (15kph). A jog east late yesterday morning briefly took Sandy further out to sea.The massive storm has continued to expand, with tropical force winds now extending 450 miles (725km) from its centre, government forecasters said.“Regardless of the exact landfall spot this system has ... much of New England and the mid-Atlantic states are going to be impacted, perhaps very severely, by this storm,” National Hurricane Center meteorologist Chris Landsea said.“It’s certainly going to be a very significant storm when it gets up to the mid-Atlantic states,” he added.Sandy battered the Bahamas southeast of Florida on Friday after causing widespread destruction in eastern Cuba a day earlier.The storm’s powerful winds and rains were blamed for at least 41 deaths in several Caribbean countries, including 11 in Cuba. Most were killed by falling trees and building collapses.On its current projected track, Sandy could make US landfall tomorrow night or Tuesday anywhere between Maryland and southern New England, forecasters said.“Perhaps the biggest concern, at the very end, may be the extreme rainfall that’s going to occur after landfall,” Landsea said.In addition to coastal and inland flooding, along with widespread power outages, Sandy was expected to dump heavy wet snow in southwest Pennsylvania and as far inland as Ohio.High winds also threaten to disrupt air travel along the US East Coast.Tropical storm warnings and watches along Florida’s east coast were lifted on Saturday as the storm moved north.Tropical storm-force winds were being felt near the North Carolina coast and tropical storm warnings for all of the coastal portion of the state, along with about half of South Carolina, were in effect.Along North Carolina’s Outer Banks barrier islands, which jut out into the Atlantic, residents and officials took a wait and see approach to the storm as rain fell and the winds and surf picked up early Saturday.“We’re watching it and waiting and seeing,” said North Carolina Emergency Management spokeswoman Julia Jarema.Outer Banks residents, with memories of damaging flooding from last year’s Hurricane Irene, moved vehicles to higher ground and secured outside objects ahead of winds of more than 60mph (96kph) beginning last night and potentially lasting into Monday.Beach erosion and ocean overwash of the only highway on Hatteras Island were expected, shutting off several thousand year-round residents from the mainland.A buoy 225 miles (362km) south of Cape Hatteras recorded 26-ft (8-m) waves amid blistering wind gusts early yesterday, authorities said.Many forecasters are warning that Sandy could be more destructive than last year’s Hurricane Irene, which caused billions of dollars in damage across the US Northeast.