Sandy storms hits US
Sandy, one of the biggest storms ever to hit the US, battered the
coastline of New Jersey, where a large number of Indian families reside,
with 80 mph winds, pushing seawater up by an unprecedented 13-feet in
New York City.
Floods inundated large number of areas in New York and New Jersey
and an explosion at a sub-station on the east side of Manhattan’s
Midtown left 500,000 people without power.
Eyewitnesses said a huge ball of blue light exploded over Manhattan
last night believed to be a powerful blast at Consolidated Edison
station.
The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) declared an alert at the
Oyster Creek nuclear power plant in New Jersey, which is currently in a
regularly scheduled outage, as the water level reached the minimum high
level criteria.”Water level is rising in the intake structure due to a
combination of a rising tide, wind direction and storm surge. It is
anticipated water levels will begin to abate within the next several
hours,” the NRC said.
According to NRC, no plants had to shut down as a result of the
storm although several plants were already out of service for regularly
scheduled refueling and maintenance outages. All plants remain in a safe
condition, with emergency equipment available if needed and NRC
inspectors on-site.
The storm left a trail of death, and the toll is expected to mount.
Two people perished in Mendham, New Jersey, when a tree struck their
car, officials said.
In New York State, at least six persons were killed, including a
30-year-old man who died when a tree fell on his house. Two people died
in other incidents. It also flooded ground-zero, the site of the 9/11
terror attacks here. There was also report of damage to facade of a
building in Manhattan.
Two people were killed in Pennsylvania and a woman in Maryland died
after hydroplaning into a tree, officials said. Authorities evacuated
more than 200 patients and staff of a New York City hospital after its
backup generator failed when the power was knocked out by the super
storm.
According to initial estimates, the devastation has resulted in a
loss of USD 10-20 billion. Sandy is no longer a hurricane because it’s
drawing energy from temperature differences and not the ocean, making
the transition to a super storm that may push a wall of water ashore in
the Northeast and lash the East with wind and rain.
John F Kennedy airport in New York City and other airports in the
region have been shut down with more than 13,000 flights being cancelled
in the storm affected areas. New York and New Jersey registered a
record level of rainfall and shut down major transportation arteries.
Emergency has been declared in Connecticut, Delaware, the District
of Columbia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania
and Rhode Island. The storm affected more than 50 million people along
the entire East Coast from North Carolina to New Hampshire.
President Barack Obama cancelled his election campaign schedule
mid-way and rushed back to the White House to personally monitor the
situation. “I am not worried at this point about the impact on the
election. I’m worried about the impact on families, and I’m worried
about the impact on our first responders. I’m worried about the impact
on our economy and on transportation,” Obama said at a White House news
conference soon after he held a situation room meeting on the hurricane
preparedness.
“You know, the election will take care of itself next week. Right
now, our number-one priority is to make sure that we are saving lives,
that our search-and-rescue teams are going to be in place, that people
are going to get food, the water, the shelter that they need in case of
emergency, and that we respond as quickly as possible to get the economy
back on track,” Obama said.
Mitt Romney, his Republican challenger in the November 6 presidential elections, also cancelled his campaign.
Sandy forces shutting of NYSE, Nasdaq for second day
New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and Nasdaq remained closed for the
second consecutive day, the first time since 9/11, as super storm Sandy
swept across New York City, leaving the Wall Street powerless. NYSE
Euronext and Nasdq OMX Group said they made their decision in
consultation with industry executives and regulators, a
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