At least 16 deaths, 6.2 million without power in Superstorm Sandy's wake

Chicago Tribune

Tribune wire reports


2:27 a.m. CDT, October 30, 2012

Superstorm Sandy slammed into the New Jersey coastline with 80 mph winds Monday night and hurled an unprecedented 13-foot surge of seawater at New York City, flooding its tunnels, subway stations and the electrical system that powers Wall Street.

At least 16 U.S. deaths were blamed on the storm, which brought the presidential campaign to a halt a week before Election Da. Sandy also killed 66 people in the Caribbean.

For New York City at least, Sandy was not the days-long onslaught many had feared, and the wind and rain that sent water sloshing into Manhattan from three sides began dying down within hours.

XCrew rescued from HMS BountyTrack Sandy's pathA Web guide to tracking Hurricane Sandy Ads by GoogleStill, the power was out for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers and an estimated 6.2 million people altogether across the East. The full extent of the storm's damage across the region was unclear, and unlikely to be known until daybreak.