- NEW: Sandy's toll rises to 30 with North Carolina death
- Nearly 8 million customers remain without power
- Hundreds are trapped after a berm breaks in New Jersey
- Transit official: The New York subway system "has never faced a disaster as devastating"
Have you been affected by Superstorm Sandy? If so, share your images and footage with CNN iReport, but please stay safe. For minute-by-minute updates, go to our live blog on This Just In.
(CNN) -- Floodwaters rushed into New York's subway tunnels and left neighborhood streets across the Northeast looking like rivers. Homes washed off their foundations and onto a New Jersey state highway. Heavy winds sent power lines and trees crashing to the ground.
As they began surveying damage Tuesday, officials said it was impossible to measure the destruction Superstorm Sandy left behind.
"I don't think words like 'catastrophic' or 'historic' are too strong to explain the impact," New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie described the devastation as "unthinkable."
Transit systems struggling to restart
Tweets from @cnnbrk/sandy
Nearly 8 million customers shivered without power in 15 states and the District of Columbia in Sandy's chilly wake. Thousands of people were in shelters, many wondering whether their homes had survived.
Sandyclaimed at least 30 lives in the United States and one in Canada, bringing the total number of deaths to at least 98 after the storm wreaked havoc in the Caribbean. The latest fatality reported was a man crushed by a tree that fell on his car in North Carolina on Monday night, state police said.
And it isn't over yet, President Barack Obama said Tuesday afternoon.
"It is still moving north. There are still communities that could be affected. There are still risks of flooding, still risks of downed power lines, risks of high winds," he said, stressing the importance of heeding warnings from local officials.
Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy
Meanwhile, officials in cities and towns already hit by the superstorm scrambled to rescue stranded residents and restore services.
Hundreds of people were stranded in one New Jersey town alone. And Connecticut's governor offered ominous advice in a Twitter post: "If u find urself surrounded by water, call 4 help if u can, then get 2 highest level of home. Hang a white sheet out a street-side window."
Authorities scrambled in boats and National Guard trucks to rescue hundreds trapped in several towns after a berm broke in Moonachie, New Jersey. Some residents waited on rooftops for rescuers to arrive.
"Within 30 minutes, those towns were under 4 or 5 feet of water," said Jeanne Baratta, chief of staff for the Bergen County executive.
Sandy's impact: State by state
Meanwhile, the stench of smoke blew across flooded streets as fierce winds and rising waters shorted out power lines and sparked fires in places such as Lindenhurst, New York.
At least80 homes burned to the ground in the Breezy Point neighborhood of Queens, fire officials said. The cause of the blaze was not immediately released. More than 200 firefighters battled the leaping flames.
Elsewhere in New York City, emergency backup power failed and 10 feet of water flooded the basement of NYU Langone Medical Center, prompting the evacuation of 260 patients.Nurses carried sick newborn babies down nine flights of stairs, manually pumping air into the lungs of those on respirators.
NYU hospital evacuates patients
On Tuesday, nearly three-quarters of a million people in the city were without power, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said, describing the damage Sandy caused as "enormous."
Atlantic City, New Jersey, resident Kim Johnson inspects the area around her apartment building, which flooded on Tuesday, October 30. Large sections of an old boardwalk also were destroyed by Superstorm Sandy. Nearly 11,000 people spent Monday night in 258 Red Cross-operated shelters across 16 states because of Sandy, the American Red Cross tells CNN. View photos of New York recovering from impact.
Cars float in a flooded parking area on Tuesday in the financial district of New York.
A power line knocked over by a falling tree blocks a street on Tuesday in Chevy Chase, Maryland.
Waves break next to an apartment building in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on Tuesday.
Workers shovel debris from the streets in Ocean City, Maryland, on Tuesday.
A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter flies over Central Park in New York City.
A man jogs near a darkened Manhattan skyline on Tuesday after much of New York City lost electricity.
Workers clear a tree blocking East 96th Street in Central Park in New York on Tuesday.
Rising water rushes into an underground parking garage in New York's financial district on Monday, October 29.
Taxis drive down a New York street where the power was out late Monday, October 29.
A firefighter speaks to a colleague while surveying damage caused by Sandy on Monday in New York.
Flooded cars line the streets of New York's financial district Monday night.
A truck drives by a flooded gas station in the Gowanus section of Brooklyn on Monday.
A flooded street is seen at nightfall during the storm on Monday in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Firefighters evaluate an apartment building in New York that had the front wall collapse during the storm on Monday.
Heavy rains fall in Manhattan on Monday.
People walk through water on the beach near high tide Monday as Sandy approaches Atlantic City.
Two men run down Foster Avenue while dodging high winds and waves from the storm on Monday in Marshfield, Massachusetts.
An emergency vehicle plows through floodwaters on Monday in Dewey Beach, Delaware.
A person tries to cross the street during the storm on Monday in Atlantic City.
A traffic sign warns motorists west of Philadelphia on Monday.
A wall of water makes its way to shore as residents brave the storm Monday in Ocean City, Maryland.
A downed tree and fallen power lines lie over homes Monday on Harvard Street in Garden City, New York.
Two people shoot video along Brooklyn Heights' Promenade on Monday as Sandy approaches landfall.
Work crews push sand from a roadway in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, due to storm surge related to flooding on Monday.
Two women battle wind and rain with umbrellas in hand in Philadelphia on Monday.
Kira Brizill leads family members as high tide and winds flood the street on Monday in Freeport, New York.
John Edgecombe II, who is homeless, takes refuge from the rain and wind at a bus stop in Ward Circle in Washington on Monday.
Superstorm Sandy dumped a lot of rain, flooding a part of Greenpoint, Brooklyn
A Pennsylvania Department of Transportation truck slowly drives on the Pennsylvania Turnpike as Sandy approaches Bensalem, Pennsylvania, on Monday.
Buses at Frankford terminal in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, sit idle after Mayor Michael Nutter ordered that all city offices be closed Monday and Tuesday due to potential damage from Sandy.
A woman walks down the promenade along the East River in New York City on Monday.
Jillian Webb, left, and Arianna Corso are pelted by wind and sand on Lighthouse Beach in Chatham, Massachusetts, on Monday.
Waves slam into the sea wall in Scituate, Massachusetts, on Monday.
Chris Losordo carries his father, Vin, across a flooded road in Falmouth, Massachusetts, on Monday.
A repair truck drives down a flooded street in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, on Monday.
Superstorm Sandy dumped a lot of rain on West Side Highway in Manhattan, NY.
Floodwaters cover the streets of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, on Monday.
" border="0"/>Multiple waves hit the Cooper's Beach in Southampton, N.Y.
Waves crash against a previously damaged pier in Atlantic City, New Jersey, as Hurricane Sandy approaches landfall on Monday.
High winds broke part of a crane boom on this building under construction in Manhattan, causing several nearby buildings to be evacuated.
An emergency vehicle drives down Cape May, New Jersey's flooded Ocean Avenue on Monday.
A young boy runs along Rockaway Beach in the Queens, New York, on Monday.
A woman examines her storm-damaged porch as heavy rain continues to pour in Winthrop, Massachusetts, on Monday.
A lone figure makes his way down Seventh Street in Lindenhurst, New York, on Monday.
People brave high winds and waves in Winthrop, Massachusetts, as Hurricane Sandy moves up the coast on Monday.
A tree felled by the storm blocks Kramer Drive in Lindenhurst, New York, on Monday.
Waves crash over a street in Winthrop, Massachusetts, as Hurricane Sandy comes up the coast on Monday.
A police vehicle drives through a flooded area in New York on Monday.
The New York skyline is seen from the bank of the East River on Monday.
People walk on the boardwalk in Ocean City, Maryland, on Monday.
A man stands on the beach as heavy waves pound the shoreline Monday in Cape May, New Jersey.
The dome of the U.S. Capitol building is seen through a window as heavy rain hits Washington on Monday.
A member of the press takes a photo of a flooded street on Monday in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
A man takes a picture of the storm with his phone from the boardwalk in Ocean City, Maryland, on Monday.
A man stands on the sidewalk Monday as a vehicle drives up a flooded street in Atlantic City.
The Hudson River comes over the sea wall along the West Side Promenade in the Battery Park area in New York on Monday.
The owner of the Wilton House locks up his bar on Monday in Hoboken, New Jersey, as Hurricane Sandy approaches the area.
Two people stand near the edge of the boardwalk on Monday in Ocean City, Maryland.
People fight against the wind along Brighton Beach in New York on Monday.
A jogger runs along the East River in New York on Monday as a police car secures the area.
A man watches as the tidal surge pounds a pier in Ocean City, Maryland, on Monday.
A street on the shoreline of Milford, Connecticut, floods at high tide as Hurricane Sandy approaches on Monday.
A sailboat smashes on the rocks after breaking free from its mooring on City Island, New York, on Monday.
A lone tourist stands in Times Square early Monday as New Yorkers brace against Hurricane Sandy.
A satellite image taken at 12:25 p.m. ET Monday shows Sandy moving over the Northeast.
A restaurant on the boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey, is boarded up in preparation for the bad weather on Monday.
A man walks down a flooded street in Atlantic City on Monday before the hurricane makes landfall.
Tourists wear plastic ponchos in Times Square on Monday.
Air Force One arrives at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. President Barack Obama canceled his appearance at a campaign rally in Orlando, Florida, and returned to Washington to monitor the response to Hurricane Sandy.
A road leading to casinos in Atlantic City is empty before the hurricane makes landfall on Monday.
Obama steps off Air Force One on Monday after arriving at Andrews Air Force Base.
A truck moves north on South Long Beach Avenue as rising water and wind ahead of Hurricane Sandy flood the area on Monday in Freeport, New York. The storm, which threatens 50 million people in the eastern third of the United States, is expected to bring days of rain, high wind and, in places, heavy snow.
An overhead sign on the Southern Parkway alerts motorists to road closings in Wantagh, New York, on Monday.
A truck fights its way through water on a road in Southampton, New York, on Monday.
Andy Becica watches the heavy surf from Hurricane Sandy wash in Monday at Cape May, New Jersey. The full force of Hurricane Sandy is expected to hit the New Jersey coastline later Monday.
Water forced ashore ahead of the hurricane starts to flood Beach Avenue in Cape May on Monday morning.
A tattered piece of a billboard blows in the wind Monday in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Water floods a street in Atlantic City.
An ambulance maneuvers through water on Rockaway Beach Boulevard in Queens as the weather sours Monday in New York City.
People pose for pictures on the Brooklyn Bridge on Monday.
A wave crashes over the bow of a tugboat in New York Harbor on Monday.
Cape May Lighthouse shines over the heavy surf.
Dark clouds cover the skyline of Manhattan early Monday.
A satellite image shows Hurricane Sandy at 8:25 a.m. ET Monday. Forecasters warned that Sandy was likely to collide with a cold front and spawn a "superstorm" that could generate flash floods, snowstorms and massive power outages.
People stand on the beach watching the heavy surf caused by the approaching hurricane on Sunday in Cape May.
Sean Doyle of Levittown and Andrew Hodgson of Hicksville pull their boat from Long Island Sound on Sunday at Oyster Bay, New York.
With Hurricane Sandy approaching, the Long Island Railroad announced the suspension of service at 7 p.m. Sunday in Hicksville, New York.
Lisa Cellucci holds her umbrella as it is blown backward by Hurricane Sandy's winds as her friend Kim Vo watches on Sunday in Cape May.
People look at the surf as high winds and heavy rain from Hurricane Sandy arrive in Virginia Beach, Virginia, on Sunday.
A construction worker covers air vents Sunday to try to prevent the New York subway system from flooding by Hurricane Sandy. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced a shutdown and suspension of all subway, bus and commuter rail service in response to the storm.
Residents of Long Beach, New York, fill sandbags on Sunday in preparation for the storm.
A satellite image from 10:10 a.m. ET on Sunday shows Hurricane Sandy in the Atlantic Ocean grazing the East Coast.
A man surfs at Rockaway Beach in Queens as Hurricane Sandy approaches Sunday.
Scott Davenport brings plywood to cover the windows at the Trump Plaza casino on the boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on Sunday.
Bob Kaege takes a measurement while boarding up a shop in Cold Spring, New Jersey, on Saturday as Marie Jadick speaks on the telephone getting an updated weather report in preparation for Hurricane Sandy.
Houses are flooded in the neighborhood of La Javilla in Santo Domingo, the capital of Dominican Republic, on Friday.
Residents watch firefighters battle a blaze in Kingston, Jamaica, on Friday. The fire, which destroyed the home, was started by a faulty generator that was triggered when Sandy caused a blackout, firefighters said.
A motorcyclist rides through a flooded street Friday in Petit-Goâve, Haiti, where three overflowing rivers put homes and farms under water.
Corey Hutterli works on securing his sailboat as the outer bands of Hurricane Sandy are felt in Miami Beach, Florida, on Thursday, October 25.
A woman stands at the entrance of her house surrounded by flood water after heavy rain in Santo Domingo on Thursday.
People walk on a flooded street after Hurricane Sandy hit Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Thursday.
Burt Myrich boards up a home in preparation for Hurricane Sandy on Saturday in Cape May, New Jersey.
A woman peers out the door of her house Thursday after it was damaged by Hurricane Sandy in Bayamo, Cuba.
A man clears debris from his house on Thursday. It was demolished by Hurricane Sandy in Santiago de Cuba.
Residents in Bayamo, Cuba, try to fix a house damaged by hurricane Sandy on Thursday.
A U.N. peacekeeper on Thursday stands at the edge of a bridge that was washed away by heavy rains from Hurricane Sandy in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
A house ruined by heavy flooding from Hurricane Sandy sits abandoned in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Thursday.
Men deal with downed tree branches after heavy rain caused by Hurricane Sandy in Kingston, Jamaica, on Wednesday, October 24.
Students walk in floodwater from Hurricane Sandy's rain in Santo Domingo on Wednesday.
Citizens of Bayamo, Cuba, buy food on Wednesday, as they prepare for the arrival of Hurricane Sandy.
Waves hit the coast in Santo Domingo on Wednesday.
Citizens of Bayamo talk on the sidewalk on Wednesday.
People in Bayamo hold umbrellas as they purchase food Wednesday before the arrival of the hurricane.
Jamaicans shelter themselves from the rain of approaching Hurricane Sandy as they walk along the Hope River on Wednesday.
The Hope River begins to swell with rain from approaching Hurricane Sandy in Kingston on Wednesday.
Houses sit along the Hope River in Kingston on Wednesday.
A satellite view shows Hurricane Sandy's position on Wednesday.
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Photos: Sandy's destructive path
New Jersey's stranded rescued
Blood shortage due to Sandy
Sandy spawns blizzard in West Virginia
"The path of destruction that she left in her wake is going to be felt for quite some time," Bloomberg told reporters.
When the storm hit, water poured into the ground zero construction site at a "massive rate," Cuomo said in a Twitter post.
Floodwaters rushed into the city's subway tunnels. Authorities said that they didn't know how long it would take to get the trains up and running again.
"The New York City subway system is 108 years old, but it has never faced a disaster as devastating as what we experienced last night," said Joseph Lhota, chairman of New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority. "Hurricane Sandy wreaked havoc on our entire transportation system, in every borough and county of the region."
Powerful Superstorm images flood social media
The storm also left travelers stranded, and it was unclear when flights out of New York would resume. John F. Kennedy International Airport could reopen Wednesday, Cuomo told reporters. But LaGuardia International Airport was expected to remain closed because of extensive damage, he said.
'It's unbelievable'
Atlantic City, New Jersey, became an extension of the Atlantic Ocean. Seaweed and ocean debris swirled in the knee-deep water covering downtown streets. Floodwaters ripped up part of the city's fabled boardwalk.
In Rutherford, New Jersey, residents braced for a long cleanup.
"The landscape had visibly changed," Alex D'Arco, 44,
told CNN's iReport. "People were walking around in a state of shock."
At one shelter in Tinton Falls, New Jersey, residents who've lived in the area for decades were in "utter disbelief," said Kristiana Ameida, a Red Cross spokeswoman.
"Many are calling their friends and neighbors, trying to get any information they possibly can. Many of them are worrying the worst, that their homes have been destroyed or are currently sitting under water," she said. "The garage doors are missing. Stuff has floated out to sea."
The normally loquacious New Jersey governor struggled to find the words Tuesday morning to describe the images of devastation captured by helicopters surveying the damage along the Jersey Shore.
The roller coaster and log plume from a popular amusement park were in the ocean, Christie said, and homes were in the middle of Route 35. "We're talking months to recover from this," he said.
Superstorm Sandy's toll
A wide reach
Sandy made landfall Monday night in southern New Jersey, sending waves of water into major cities along the East Coast.
Of the 30 U.S. fatalities, 10 were in New York City. Several of the dead, including an 8-year-old boy in Pennsylvania, were killed by falling trees or tree limbs. And Canadian authorities blamed flying debris for the death of a Toronto woman.
While the Northeast corridor of the United States bore the brunt of Sandy, the storm affected a much broader area and was still churning over western Pennsylvania on Tuesday, National Hurricane Center director Rick Knabb said.
"The coastal impacts are certainly less today than they were last night, but the effects are not zero," Knabb told reporters in a conference call. "There are still some fairly strong winds out of the south."
Forecasters predict the storm's center of circulation will be north of the Great Lakes by Wednesday. But coastal flooding in the 2- to 4-foot range could still occur "in spots," while the potential for other floods stretched as far west as Lake Michigan, Knabb said. Winds remain "fairly breezy" as far north as coastal Maine, which could see new power disruptions, he said.
"I don't want anyone to think that the event is over," Knabb said.
Waking up to floods, fires and darkness after Sandy
Sandy floods NYC, New Jersey subways
Fires force evacuations in Queens
High winds from Sandy knock out power
Fierce winds blew from northern Georgia into Canada and as far west as Lake Michigan on Tuesday. Meanwhile, heavy rains soaked New England and parts of the Midwest.
And in West Virginia, a blizzard spawned by Sandy knocked out power, toppled trees and covered streets with masses of wet snow.
"It's 3 feet of heavy snow. It's like concrete," said meteorologist Reed Timmer, who was riding out the storm in Elkins, West Virginia.
The full scale of Sandy's wrath has yet to be determined. But according to a government prediction, the storm's wind damage alone could result in more than $7 billion in economic loss.
One estimate Tuesday from Kinetic Analysis Corp., which conducts weather hazard assessments, said the storm's economic impact could be up to $25 billion.
Live radar of Sandy
Obama, Romney respond
As the devastation spread, Obama signed major disaster declarations for New Jersey and New York on Tuesday.
The storm's timing -- a week before the presidential election -- is tricky for Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney. Both candidates sought to balance the real threat of a killer storm against the need to squeeze out any last-minute advantages in battleground states ahead of next Tuesday's vote.
Obama discarded campaign events in Florida and Virginia to return to Washington and address the storm from the White House. He was scheduled to travel to New Jersey on Wednesday and survey storm damage, the White House said.
On Tuesday, Romney swapped campaign rallies for a relief event in Ohio.
"We have heavy hearts as you know with all the suffering going on in a major part of our country. A lot of people are hurting this morning," said Romney, adding that he had the chance to speak with some of the governors from the affected areas.
Obama, speaking from the Red Cross office in Washington, called on federal officials to move quickly to help storm recovery.
"My message to the federal government," he said, "is no bureaucracy, no red tape. Get resources to where they're needed as fast as possible."
How to help
CNN's Elizabeth Cohen, Halimah Abdullah, Josh Levs, David Ariosto, Joe Sterling, Mark Norman, Katy Byron, Martin Savidge, Chris Youd, Soledad O'Brien, Elizabeth Cohen, Eden Pontz, Ed Payne, Ivan Cabrera, Chandler Friedman, Amanda Watts, Ali Velshi and Henry Hanks contributed to this report.
