[h=3]Associated Press[/h]WASHINGTON—Hurricane Sandy headed north from the Caribbean on Saturday and was expected to pummel the eastern U.S.
The U.S. National Weather Service said Saturday afternoon that the storm was expected to make landfall early Tuesday near the Delaware coast, then hit two winter weather systems as it moves inland, creating a hybrid monster storm that could bring torrential rain, high winds, and up to two feet of snow.
Even if Sandy loses strength and makes landfall as something less than a hurricane, the combined storm was expected to bring misery to a huge section of the eastern U.S. An 800-mile wide swath of the country could see 50 mph winds regardless of Sandy's strength.
[h=3]2012 Storm Season[/h]
Hurricane Sandy moved through the Bahamas early Friday after leaving 21 people dead across the Caribbean, following a path that could see it blend with a winter storm and hit the U.S. East Coast with a large storm next week. Follow real-time coverage in the 2012 Storm Season stream .
[h=3]Hurricane Tracker[/h]Track the latest Atlantic hurricanes and tropical storms, and look back over past seasons.
Experts said the storm could be wider and stronger than Irene, which caused more than $15 billion in damage when it struck in August 2011, and could rival the worst East Coast storm on record.
On Saturday morning, forecasters said hurricane-force winds of 75 mph could be felt 100 miles away from Sandy's center.
Sandy killed more than 40 people in the Caribbean, wrecked homes and knocked down trees and power lines. On Saturday morning, the storm was about 355 miles southeast of Charleston, South Carolina. Its sustained wind speed was about 75 mph.
Up and down the coast, people were cautioned to be prepared for days without electricity. Beach towns in New Jersey began issuing voluntary evacuations and protecting boardwalks. Atlantic City casinos made contingency plans to close, and officials advised residents of flood-prone areas to stay with family or be ready to leave. Several governors declared states of emergency. Airlines said to expect cancellations and waived change fees for passengers who want to reschedule.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg laid out plans Friday at a City Hall news conference to prepare for Hurricane Sandy, which is expected to hit the city early next week.
"Be forewarned," Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. "Assume that you will be in the midst of flooding conditions, the likes of which you may not have seen at any of the major storms that have occurred over the last 30 years."
"It's looking like a very serious storm that could be historic," said Jeff Masters, meteorology director of the forecasting service Weather Underground.
With a rare mix of three big merging weather systems over a densely populated region, experts predict at least $1 billion in damage.
Sandy, having blown through Haiti and Cuba and leaving 43 dead across the Caribbean, continued to barrel north. A wintry storm was moving across the U.S. from the west, and frigid air was streaming south from Canada.
If they meet Tuesday morning around New York or New Jersey, as forecasters predict, they could create a big, wet mess that settles over the nation's most heavily populated corridor and reaches as far west as Ohio.
Government forecasters said there is a 90% chance—up from 60% two days earlier—that the East Coast will get pounded.
"It's going to be a long-lasting event, two to three days of impact for a lot of people," said James Franklin, forecast chief for the National Hurricane Center.
With much of the U.S. East Coast in the storm's path, residents of the nation's most densely populated corridor contemplated whether to heed the dire warnings.
"You know how many times they tell you, 'This is it, it's really coming and it's really the big one,' and then it turns out not to be?" said Alice Stockton-Rossini as she packed up to leave her home a few hundred yards from the ocean in Ship Bottom, New Jersey.
"I'm afraid people will tune it out because of all the false alarms before, and the one time you need to take it seriously, you won't. This one might be the one."
In North Carolina's Outer Banks, light rain was falling Saturday and winds were building up to a predicted 30 to 50 mph. A steady stream of campers and other vehicles hauling boats were leaving the low-lying islands for the mainland. Residents feared a temporary bridge built after Irene last year poked a new inlet through the island could be washed out again, severing the only road off Hatteras Island.
At a Home Depot in Freeport, on New York's Long Island, Bob Notheis bought sawhorses to get his furniture off the floor inside his home.
"I'm just worried about how bad it's going to be with the tidal surge," he said. "Irene was kind of rough on me and I'm just trying to prepare."
After Irene left millions without power, utilities were taking no chances and were lining up extra crews and tree-trimmers. Wind threatened to topple power lines, and trees that still have leaves could be weighed down by snow and fall over if the weight becomes too much.
New York City began precautions for an ominous but still uncertain forecast. No decision had been made on whether any of the city's public transportation outlets would be shut, despite predictions that a sudden shift of the storm's path could cause a surge of 3 to 6 feet in the subways.
The subway system was completely shuttered during Irene, the first such shutdown ever for weather-related reasons. Irene largely missed the city, but struck other areas hard.
The storm loomed a little more than a week before Election Day, while several states were heavily involved in campaigning, canvassing and get-out-the-vote efforts. Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and Vice President Joe Biden both canceled weekend campaign events in coastal Virginia Beach, Virginia, though their events in other parts of the states were going on as planned.
The worst East Coast storm on record was a 1938 New England hurricane that is sometimes known as the Long Island Express, which killed nearly 800 people.
The U.S. National Weather Service said Saturday afternoon that the storm was expected to make landfall early Tuesday near the Delaware coast, then hit two winter weather systems as it moves inland, creating a hybrid monster storm that could bring torrential rain, high winds, and up to two feet of snow.
Even if Sandy loses strength and makes landfall as something less than a hurricane, the combined storm was expected to bring misery to a huge section of the eastern U.S. An 800-mile wide swath of the country could see 50 mph winds regardless of Sandy's strength.
[h=3]2012 Storm Season[/h]
Hurricane Sandy moved through the Bahamas early Friday after leaving 21 people dead across the Caribbean, following a path that could see it blend with a winter storm and hit the U.S. East Coast with a large storm next week. Follow real-time coverage in the 2012 Storm Season stream .
[h=3]Hurricane Tracker[/h]Track the latest Atlantic hurricanes and tropical storms, and look back over past seasons.
Experts said the storm could be wider and stronger than Irene, which caused more than $15 billion in damage when it struck in August 2011, and could rival the worst East Coast storm on record.
On Saturday morning, forecasters said hurricane-force winds of 75 mph could be felt 100 miles away from Sandy's center.
Sandy killed more than 40 people in the Caribbean, wrecked homes and knocked down trees and power lines. On Saturday morning, the storm was about 355 miles southeast of Charleston, South Carolina. Its sustained wind speed was about 75 mph.
Up and down the coast, people were cautioned to be prepared for days without electricity. Beach towns in New Jersey began issuing voluntary evacuations and protecting boardwalks. Atlantic City casinos made contingency plans to close, and officials advised residents of flood-prone areas to stay with family or be ready to leave. Several governors declared states of emergency. Airlines said to expect cancellations and waived change fees for passengers who want to reschedule.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg laid out plans Friday at a City Hall news conference to prepare for Hurricane Sandy, which is expected to hit the city early next week.
"Be forewarned," Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. "Assume that you will be in the midst of flooding conditions, the likes of which you may not have seen at any of the major storms that have occurred over the last 30 years."
"It's looking like a very serious storm that could be historic," said Jeff Masters, meteorology director of the forecasting service Weather Underground.
With a rare mix of three big merging weather systems over a densely populated region, experts predict at least $1 billion in damage.
Sandy, having blown through Haiti and Cuba and leaving 43 dead across the Caribbean, continued to barrel north. A wintry storm was moving across the U.S. from the west, and frigid air was streaming south from Canada.
If they meet Tuesday morning around New York or New Jersey, as forecasters predict, they could create a big, wet mess that settles over the nation's most heavily populated corridor and reaches as far west as Ohio.
Government forecasters said there is a 90% chance—up from 60% two days earlier—that the East Coast will get pounded.
"It's going to be a long-lasting event, two to three days of impact for a lot of people," said James Franklin, forecast chief for the National Hurricane Center.
With much of the U.S. East Coast in the storm's path, residents of the nation's most densely populated corridor contemplated whether to heed the dire warnings.
"You know how many times they tell you, 'This is it, it's really coming and it's really the big one,' and then it turns out not to be?" said Alice Stockton-Rossini as she packed up to leave her home a few hundred yards from the ocean in Ship Bottom, New Jersey.
"I'm afraid people will tune it out because of all the false alarms before, and the one time you need to take it seriously, you won't. This one might be the one."
In North Carolina's Outer Banks, light rain was falling Saturday and winds were building up to a predicted 30 to 50 mph. A steady stream of campers and other vehicles hauling boats were leaving the low-lying islands for the mainland. Residents feared a temporary bridge built after Irene last year poked a new inlet through the island could be washed out again, severing the only road off Hatteras Island.
At a Home Depot in Freeport, on New York's Long Island, Bob Notheis bought sawhorses to get his furniture off the floor inside his home.
"I'm just worried about how bad it's going to be with the tidal surge," he said. "Irene was kind of rough on me and I'm just trying to prepare."
After Irene left millions without power, utilities were taking no chances and were lining up extra crews and tree-trimmers. Wind threatened to topple power lines, and trees that still have leaves could be weighed down by snow and fall over if the weight becomes too much.
New York City began precautions for an ominous but still uncertain forecast. No decision had been made on whether any of the city's public transportation outlets would be shut, despite predictions that a sudden shift of the storm's path could cause a surge of 3 to 6 feet in the subways.
The subway system was completely shuttered during Irene, the first such shutdown ever for weather-related reasons. Irene largely missed the city, but struck other areas hard.
The storm loomed a little more than a week before Election Day, while several states were heavily involved in campaigning, canvassing and get-out-the-vote efforts. Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and Vice President Joe Biden both canceled weekend campaign events in coastal Virginia Beach, Virginia, though their events in other parts of the states were going on as planned.
The worst East Coast storm on record was a 1938 New England hurricane that is sometimes known as the Long Island Express, which killed nearly 800 people.