Factbox: Superstorm Sandy - Key developments

30 Oct 2012, 8:00 pm   -   Source: AFP

Here were the key developments as Sandy, a monster storm of unprecedented size, barrelled into the US East Coast.

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Here were the key developments as Sandy, a monster storm of unprecedented size, barrelled into the US East Coast.

- Fire breaks out in the New York City borough of Queens, destroying 50 homes

- The head of New York City's public transit authority says seven subway tunnels have flooded in the worst disaster of the system's 108-year history

- At least 12 people are killed across six US states in storm-related incidents as Sandy comes crashing ashore. A 13th fatality is confirmed in Canada

- The center of Sandy makes landfall along the coast of southern New Jersey near Atlantic City at around 0000 GMT Tuesday

- Shortly before landfall, the superstorm technically becomes Post-Tropical Cyclone Sandy as it collides with a cold front coming down from Canada

- The storm retains hurricane strength with maximum sustained winds of up to 80 miles per hour (130 kilometers per hour) as record storm surges flood Lower Manhattan and power outages plunge much of New York into darkness

- Seawater bursts the banks of New York's East and Hudson rivers, submerging road and subway tunnels

- New York University hospital has to move patients to other hospitals after it loses power and a back-up generator

- Heavy snow is reported in parts of West Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina as Sandy merges with the descending cold front from Canada

- Cities along the coast from Boston and New York down to Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington are expected to remain partially paralyzed on Tuesday as Sandy halts transport services and schools remain shuttered

- A replica of the HMS Bounty that starred in Hollywood movies sinks in towering waves off North Carolina. The Coast Guard rescues 14 crew in a dramatic helicopter rescue but one woman dies and the captain is still missing

- State-by-state tallies by US media show some six million American households without power

- Coastal areas of Maryland, Delaware, Massachusetts and Long Island, New York see widespread flooding as television pictures show wooden boats carrying stranded residents to safety

- The New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq, the world's biggest financial markets, suspend trading for a weather event for the first time since Hurricane Gloria in 1985

- President Barack Obama cuts short election campaigning in Florida and rushes back to Washington to manage storm response

- Obama addresses the nation, warning Americans up and down the Eastern Seaboard that Sandy could cause fatalities and urging residents to heed advice from local authorities

- Republican presidential challenger Mitt Romney cancels all campaign events on Monday and Tuesday as pundits ponder how the storm will influence the White House race just a week before election day

- Thousands of flights are canceled at airports in major cities up and down the coast, causing widespread travel chaos just before Halloween

- Disaster estimator Eqecat says damage from Sandy could hit as much as $20 billion.

Hurricane Sandy , Storm Sandy

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