NYPD commissioner: Six dead and "We think that number will go up"

(CBS News) As New York City residents cope with flooding and power loss in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Sandy, the NYPD remains on high-alert to deal with rescue calls and emergencies caused by the blackout. CBS News' John Miller joined the NYPD on a ride-along Monday night and spoke with NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly from the police joint operations center Tuesday morning to get a sense for the police response across the nation's largest city.

According to Miller, most rescue calls through the night involved reports of submerged cars due to the cresting of the East River and blackout reports after two explosions occurred at a 14th street power sub station.

Kelly told Miller that the police are in damage "assessment mode" city wide and said "we are still very much concerned about areas in Staten Island, the Rockaways, in Brooklyn, in Coney Island, Gerritson beach and ... there is no power in Manhattan south of 34th street."

Kelly hopes that wind gusts will die down enough to allow NYPD helicopters to survey the damage Tuesday afternoon, in order to ascertain where to allocate police resources. For now, he assumes "people will be stranded ... that's what we're geared to now ... to search find people still in their homes."

The NYPD will continue to work with the fire department and EMS crews to implement the rescue efforts Kelly mentioned.

Kelly also said that six people have been killed due to the storm as of Tuesday morning but added that "unfortunately, we think that number will go up."