Hurricane Sandy is bearing down on the
US East Coast, threatening serious
flooding and power cuts that could affect
50 million people.
Hundreds of thousands of residents have
been ordered to evacuate New York City
and New Jersey, reports the BBC.
Public transport has been suspended in
cities up the eastern seaboard and
thousands of flights grounded.
Forecasters fear Sandy will become a
super-storm when it collides with cold
weather fronts from the west and north.
The category one hurricane coincides
with a full moon, which is bringing higher
tides.
At the White House, President Barack
Obama warned Americans in harm's way
to follow emergency instructions.
"Do not delay, don't pause, don't
question the instructions that are being
given," said Obama, who has cancelled
campaign events, eight days before the
US elections.
"This is going to be a big storm, it's going
to be a difficult storm."
The president has signed nine emergency
declarations: New York, New Jersey,
Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode
Island, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland
and District of Columbia.
The storm threatens to devastate an 800-
mile (1,290-km) swathe of the US, from
the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes in
the Mid-West.
Up to 3ft (91cm) of snow is expected to
fall on the Appalachian mountains in
West Virginia, Virginia and Kentucky.
The storm has already killed 69 people –
52 of them in Haiti – after sweeping
through the Caribbean in the past week.
At 14:00 EDT (18:00 GMT), Sandy was
churning about 170 miles south-east of
New York City, the National Hurricane
Center (NHC) said.
The storm had strengthened from the
morning, packing maximum sustained
winds clocked at 90mph with higher
gusts.
Hurricane force winds extended for 175
miles and tropical storm force winds for
485 miles, the NHC added.
The eye of the weather system, which
has been dubbed Frankenstorm, is
expected to make landfall just south of
the New Jersey coast by early evening,
the NHC said.
Forecasters say the vast hurricane could
linger over as many as 12 states for
24-36 hours, bringing up to 10in of rain,
24in of snow, extreme storm surges and
power cuts.
President Obama cancelled a planned
rally in Florida with former President Bill
Clinton on Monday and an event for
Tuesday in Wisconsin, far from the storm.
