Sandy Leaves Path Of Devastation
NEW YORK (CBSMiami/AP) -- Superstorm Sandy has left a massive path of destruction across several states, including hard hit New Jersey.
President Barack Obama has declared a major disaster for several states including New York and New Hampshire. The declaration makes the area eligible for federal funding in the wake of the storm which left more than 35 dead in seven states.
A storm surge nearly 14-feet high pushed ashore flooding hundreds of miles of coast line from Virginia to Massachusetts.
"It's the most flooding I've seen in all the years I've lived here," said Ocean City, MD resident Dianne Sidell.
Sandy's tremendous storm surge hit Long Beach Island, New Jersey like a tsunami.
Boats are piled high in a backyard, buildings are smashed to pieces on some streets and at least one home was sent crashing into another.
"The level of devastation at the Jersey shore is unthinkable," said New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
Flood water and high winds has knocked out power to millions of people.
"We are seeing a number of fires from downed power lines and electrical outages," said New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg who added it could be three days or more until the power is restored to hundreds of thousands of people.
More than 200 firefighters battled a blaze in an evacuation area in Queens where more than 50 homes were destroyed. The cause of this fire is still being investigated.
Power outages prompted a mass evacuation from NYU'S hospital when a backup generator failed. Dozens of ambulances lined up to evacuate more than 200 patients throughout the early morning hours and extra help was called in to help move patients.
Just about all of southern Manhattan is shut down. Sandy caused a nearly 14-foot storm surge in lower Manhattan, one of the hardest-hit areas and resulted in at least 10 deaths in the area.
The Hudson River overflowed its boundaries and flooded the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel.
Hundreds of people are being evacuated after a levee broke in a northern New Jersey town Tuesday.
Bergen County executive chief of staff Jeanne Baratta tells The Record newspaper the entire town of Moonachie is under water and as many as 1,000 people could need to be evacuated. Baratta says people in a trailer park have had to climb on the roofs of their trailers to await rescue.
There are no reports of injuries or deaths.
For more coverage of Superstorm Sandy:
- Click here for CBS New York
- Click here for CBS Philadelphia
- Click here for CBS Baltimore
- Click here for CBS Boston
- Click here for CBS Washington
Sandy came ashore just south of Atlantic City Monday night. The city's famous boardwalk took a beating. 80 sections were swept away. On Tuesday, search crews fanned out across the city looking for people who didn't make it out before Sandy made landfall bringing a record breaking storm surge.
Sandy combined with a cold front to produce a massive snow storm in the Appalachians. A blizzard warning covers a large part of West Virginia as snow and high winds blow over Appalachia.
The National Weather Service says a foot and more of snow was reported in lower elevations of West Virginia, where most towns and roads are. High elevations in the mountains were getting more than two feet. More than 128,000 customers in West Virginia were without power.
Authorities closed more than 45 miles of Interstate 68 on either side of the West Virginia-Maryland state line because of blizzard conditions and stuck cars.
