CBS/AP/ October 28, 2012, 11:15 AM

Sandy could wreak havoc across 800 miles of U.S.

A satellite image of Sandy is shown at the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Saturday, Oct. 27, 2012. Sandy is projected to hit the Atlantic Coast early Tuesday.

A satellite image of Sandy is shown at the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Saturday, Oct. 27, 2012. Sandy is projected to hit the Atlantic Coast early Tuesday. / AP Photo/Alan Diaz

Last Updated 11:15 a.m. ET

Hurricane Sandy, the mammoth storm that has already claimed more than five dozen lives in the Caribbean, could potentially affect some 60 million people in the Eastern United States, where it will meet with two other powerful winter storm systems, to create an even more threatening hybrid.

Sandy is expected to afflict a third of the country with sheets of rain, high winds and heavy snow, say officials who warned millions in coastal areas to get out of the way.

"We're looking at impact of greater than 50 to 60 million people," said Louis Uccellini, head of environmental prediction for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Experts said it didn't matter how strong Sandy is when it hits land: The rare hybrid storm that follows will cause havoc over 800 miles, from the East Coast to the Great Lakes. States of Emergency have been declared from North Carolina up to New England.

It's expected to make landfall early Tuesday morning around the coast of Delaware, with storm surges from 4 to 8 feet in some areas, meaning evacuations are likely.

The National Hurricane Center says "life-threatening storm surge flooding" is expected along the Mid-Atlantic coast, including Long Island Sound and New York Harbor.

Sandy is currently a Category 1 hurricane. At 11:00 a.m. Sunday morning Sandy was centered about about 250 southeast of Cape Hatteras, N.C., and about 575 miles south of New York City, moving northeast at 14 mph. Maximum sustained winds were 75 mph.

Tropical storm warnings remains in effect in North Carolina from Cape Fear to Duck North, Palmlico and Albermarle Sounds, and in Bermuda.

Officials say the storm-related death toll in the Caribbean has risen to 65 as of early Sunday. Haitian authorities have reported 51 of those deaths. Continued rains have added to the initial jolt of the hurricane. Deaths also have been reported in Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico and the Bahamas.

Governors from North Carolina, where steady rains were whipped by gusting winds Saturday night, to Connecticut declared states of emergency. Delaware ordered mandatory evacuations for coastal communities by 8 p.m. Sunday.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who was criticized for not interrupting a vacation in Florida while a snowstorm pummeled the state in 2010, broke off campaigning for Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney in North Carolina on Friday to return home.

"I can be as cynical as anyone," said Christie, who declared a state of emergency Saturday. "But when the storm comes, if it's as bad as they're predicting, you're going to wish you weren't as cynical as you otherwise might have been."

Eighty-five-year-old former sailor Ray Leonard agreed. And he knows to heed warnings.

Leonard and two crewmates in his 32-foot sailboat, Satori, rode out 1991's infamous "perfect storm," made famous by the Sebastian Junger best-selling book of the same name, before being plucked from the Atlantic off Martha's Vineyard, Mass., by a Coast Guard helicopter.

"Don't be rash," Leonard said Saturday from his home in Fort Myers, Fla. "Because if this does hit, you're going to lose all those little things you've spent the last 20 years feeling good about."

The storm was expected to continue moving parallel to the Southeast coast most of the day and approach the coast of the mid-Atlantic states by Monday night, before reaching southern New England later in the week.

It was so big, however, and the convergence of the three storms so rare, that "we just can't pinpoint who is going to get the worst of it," said Rick Knabb, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Officials are particularly worried about the possibility of subway flooding in New York City, said Uccellini, of NOAA.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo told the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to prepare to shut the city's subways, buses and suburban trains. The city closed the subways before Hurricane Irene last year, and a Columbia University study predicted that an Irene surge just 1 foot higher would have paralyzed lower Manhattan.

Up and down the Eastern Seaboard and far inland, officials urged residents and businesses to prepare in ways big and small.

On Saturday evening, Amtrak began canceling train service to parts of the East Coast, including between Washington, D.C., and New York. Airlines started moving planes out of airports to avoid damage and adding Sunday flights out of New York and Washington in preparation for flight cancellations on Monday.


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© 2012 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
25 Comments Add a Comment
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julianpenrod says:
Supporters of lies promote that for which there is no legitimacy. As a result, they do not have anything of substance to support their "arguments" when contradicting someone who questions the "official story". Because of this, when confronting those who oppose the lie of the "official story", they cannot engage in valid discourse. Their "replies" constitute, for the most part, such non argument tactics as non validated dismissiveness, contempt, viciousness, arrogance, mockery, vulgarity.
CHUCKTERZELLA and ALIMECH42 demonstrates those qualities eminently. Both display utter contemptusous dismissiveness. Yet both fail to demonstrate any flaw in what I said. Consistently missing, for example, is the explanation for why climate change proponents have not weighed in about this being one of the promised "major storms" as the planet warmed! As if they are there as New World Order quislings to guide the discussion on climate change the direction the NWO wants. They know this is a fraud and they don't want to be brought up short by it. But don't expect devotees of the lie that is the "official story" to be willing to address that.
And the fact is, if you completely seal the gullible off from where things supposedly occur, then do damage yourself, you can convince them of anything. ALIMECH42 so casually provides "proof" that the claim of a storm is "legitimate" by invoking those supposedly killed by it. But what is ALIMECH42's proof that those the corporate controlled "news" claimed to have died actually died? Or does ALIMECH42 autoimatically take the "news" always to be completely and utterly reliable? Is ALIMECH42 saying everything the "news" says is completely trustworthy and true?
Interesting CHUCKTERZELLA's invoking "meds". Those who challenged the lie of the "officials story" have been subject to constant shows of viciousness and contempt. And always uttered in lockstep unison by quislings for the NWO. A few years ago, it was "insane aylum" or "looney bin" that was attached by NWO shills parrotlike, word for word exactly, every single time, with no variation, to counters of the "official story". A couple of years ago, it switched to "tinfoil hat". Every single NWO quisling would use the same phrase, predictably, every single time, as if under orders. It's still used, but, since the beginning of this year, talk of "adjusting meds" has begun to be used incessantly by shills.
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Simonson2012 says:
Let us pray and turn our attention to God for guidance as Hurricane Sandy approaches the East Coast. Faith was with our founding Fathers of the United States of America. May the grace of God and mercy be upon the United States of America.

Follow me and let's one-by-one return blessings upon the United Sates of America. Please pray with me.

Jesus My Lord, Saint Medard served as a bishop during very difficult times, and his long life of spiritual leadership created a tremendous impression on the people. Because of his patronage against bad weather, I ask him to intercede for the United States of America during the storms of every persons life as well as the storms in nature. Protect all 308+ million of your children, as one body, and our home, the United States of America. And Father, I beg of you to assist me and rebuke Hurricane Sandy away from the East coast of the United States today. Please help any victims of hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes and other natural disasters. Our Lord calmed the storm on the Sea of Galilee; deliver us from the storms that are raging around us now.

Saint Medard, pray for us. Amen.

Thank you and may God Bless everyone and may the Holy Spirit remain with you forever. My peace be with you, my peace I leave you.

Samuel Jacob Simonson
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Blake_Simmons says:
"Just saying what is a bigger story...Hurricane Sandy or the fact that CBS has NOTHING on its website about what is unfolding about Benghazi..."

Hurricane Sandy is a bigger "story", you idiot. In this case "story" meaning United States citizens have a very good chance of at best, suffering millions in damages, and at worst, dying. You think you could put your ridiculously childish liberal hate on hold for a couple of days while the rest of us worry about keeping our families and assets safe during this HISTORICALLY GIGANTIC storm? Christ. Get your damn priorities straight.
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BUDDYofPA says:
I'm Mitt Romney and I approved this message. My Wife and I are aboard our yacht off South Padro Island in the Golf of Mexico, enjoying caviar and smoked shrimp with our Middle Eastern friends. Hope you guys get along okay up north. I'd come to see you but I wouldn't want to get wet. I could catch a cold.
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Chumbiscuit replies:
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In the time you spent trying to spin negativity, the reality is that Romney was probably praying in true sincerity for those in the path of the storm. BuddyofPA, Try to be more the man your mom would have wanted you to grow up to be. We're all on the same team.
Chumbiscuit replies:
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I would bet that in the time you took to spin negativity, Romney was saying a sincere prayer for those in the path of the storm and cancelling events that would require the valuable resources of law enforcement so they could be ready for the storm needs. BuddyofPA, try to be the man your mom wanted you to grow up to be. We're all on the same team.
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daffy64 says:
I'm praying for the folks along the eastern seaboard that will be affected by this storm.
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chuckterzella says:
julianpenrod: I'veen writing satire pieces for years. Now, satire is basically taking a small grain of truth and turning it into big lie for humor's sake. I gotta say, you're little piece is pretty good, but you need to work on the 'kicker' at the end; there's no really in-your-face punch line to show you're not serious...

unless you ARE serious, in which case you need to talk to you're doctor about adjusting your meds...a very long and heartfelt talk.
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alimech42 replies:
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I totally agree, Chuck! "There is no storm." HUH? I suppose the reports on the deaths elsewhere are all a media lie? Let's ask the dead...OH WAIT! We can't! They're DEAD!

I have lived in Texas most of my 70 years....born and raised, left for short periods, couldn't wait to get back. Texans are neither stupid (well, some are...Like Gov Goodhair!) or unaware of their surroundings. Can't count the number of times I've spent the night in a "storm cellar"...and the number of ACTUAL tornadoes I have survived is 7....mostly in a house...in a closet or bathroom, children, quilts and dogs piled around me. I listen and react to weather warnings. Keeps me alive.

I do hope that julianpenrod meant that to be satire...but my experiences lead me to think that she just might believe that hogwash!
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erasmus111 says:
It just amazes me how people will b*tch because they are given warnings of major storms, floodings, and epidemics. Isn't it better to be safe than sorry?

Can you just imagine how much they would b*tch if they were not warned and there was major damage? Everyone would be frothing at the mouth! There would be lawsuits!
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erasmus111 replies:
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If you don't want to prepare, that's great. Just shut the hell up! If you don't prepare, you deserve what you get. Don't ask for help later.
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julianpenrod says:
And still the question remains unanswered and even unaddressed, with the officially avowed abnormal nature of this storm, why aren't climate change adherents clamoring for this to be recognized as a sign of the predicted "unnaturally massive storms".
And, perhaps, there, the lesson can be taken.
This isn't a storm. At least not as described and perhaps not at all.
Massive evacuations on order. To keep people from seeing that there will be no storm surge or massive winds.
Constant alarms by the news. To keep the gullible and timid focuising on their navels and not seeing that coinditions outside are nothing like what they're claimed to be.
Service interruptions or breakdowns. To reduce the majority into a state of hysterical dependency on those in power.
And, if damage is needed to dissuade the malleable skeptical, buildings could be destroyed like the buildings in Haiti during the fake "earth\quake" there a couple of years ago.
A manufactured event, like September 11. New Jersey has been through severe nor'easters and even hurricanes before. Why is there so much fanfare about this one? Winds through much of the state are not expected to get above 65 miles per hour, similar to winds just from nor'easters. But, now, the "authorities" are saying that "New Jersey residents should expect power outages of a week". In the end, they may say that that meant only some New Jersey residents, but the state's record before the flaring up of the New World Order's agenda doesn't suggest this is reasonable.
In the end, it looks very much as if there is no hurricane at all, maybe even not a storm, just a program of manufactured impositions on the public to convince the gullible and sway the timid. And, by their not addressing the issue, climate change adherents brand themselves as liars standing at the forefront of that separate leading edge of the New World Order's program of deception.
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somepeople21 replies:
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Not to be rude, but that is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. These people know what they are talking about. Unfortunately, I'm sure your not a meteorologist, so you have no idea what you are talking about.
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cannuc says:
Don't know how many of you have seen that picture of the reporter surrounded by that "Seafoam" that reporter is actualy surrounded by Excrement and urine froth. Natural and clean sea water will not make such foam especialy foam that lasts more than 5 seconds...
That reporter rubbed his face and wiped the foam of his eyes...He's going to suffer such a massive head infection he might never recover from...
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alimech42 replies:
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Sea foam or spume is a type of foam created by the agitation of seawater, particularly when it contains higher concentrations of dissolved organic matter derived from sources such as the offshore breakdown of algal blooms. It can be as thick as 3 feet. The University of East Anglia Climate Research Center confirms this is a side effect of global warming.

What suggests to you that the Atlantic, Pacific or Gulf of Mexico is pristine "Natural and clean water"?

The gulf is polluted with oil, oil dispersants, sewage from boats, trash and other sundry garbage dumped into it...plus natural algae death and rotting organic matter washed into the sea from heavy rains inland.
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ElonRachel says:
Fact check on those captions there, even if they are AP. Delaware, MD is not a place.
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