Hurricane Sandy is churning off the East Coast and is expected to join up with two other weather systems to create a huge and problematic storm affecting 50 million people. Here's a snapshot of what is happening or expected, state by state. 
 
 Viewers react as waves crash against a seawall near homes in Scituate, Mass. Monday, Oct. 29, 2012. Hurricane Sandy continued on its path Monday, as the storm forced the shutdown of mass transit, schools... (Associated Press) 
 
 After checking to make sure his boat line is secure, Bob Casseday crosses a flooded street just over the bridge along Savannah Road in Lewes., Del., to get back home as Superstorm Sandy hits Delaware... (Associated Press) 
 
 The New York City skyline and Hudson River are seen from Hoboken, NJ as Hurricane Sandy approaches on Monday, Oct. 29, 2012. Hurricane Sandy continued on its path Monday, as the storm forced the shutdown... (Associated Press) 
 
 Graphic shows the population density of areas projected to get more than two inches of rain from the superstorm (Associated Press) 
 
 Waters flood Ocean Ave. in Sea Bright, N.J., Monday, Oct. 29, 2012. Hurricane Sandy continued on its path Monday, as the storm forced the shutdown of mass transit, schools and financial markets, sending... (Associated Press) 
 
 CAROLINAS 
 
 The U.S. Coast Guard rescued 14 members of a crew forced to abandon a tall ship off the North Carolina coast, but two other crew members were still missing. The HMS Bounty was originally built for the 1962 film "Mutiny on the Bounty" starring Marlon Brando and has been featured in other films, including one of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies. 
 
 CONNECTICUT 
 
 The University of Connecticut is closing Tuesday, joining a hundreds of other schools and school systems across the state. The closure includes UConn's law school and the UConn Health Center, though the John Dempsey Hospital will remain open during the storm. Power outages: 381,906. 
 
 DELAWARE 
 
 Dover Air Force Base has relocated some aircraft in anticipation of the storm, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency has requested that the base be used as a staging area for support and supplies. Some residents of low-lying areas of the base have been ordered to evacuate. Power outages: 32,000. 
 
 ILLINOIS 
 
 The powerful storm is expected to extend as far as Chicago, where the National Weather Service already has issued high wind warnings and a lakeshore flood warning for Tuesday and Wednesday. Water may pile up on the south shore of Lake Michigan, said Louis Uccellini, director of environmental prediction for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 
 
 KENTUCKY 
 
 Sandy is expected to bring snow to far southeastern Kentucky. A winter storm warning is in effect in Harlan, Letcher and Pike counties through Wednesday morning. Forecasters say snow could accumulate from 4 to 10 inches in high elevations and 1 to 3 inches in lower elevations. 
 
 MAINE 
 
 Virtually all Maine public schools opened Monday but some were closing early before the heaviest rain and wind from Hurricane Sandy. State officials say the biggest concern is wind, which is expected to cause widespread power outages. The state's utilities say they have crews poised to deal with expected power outages, including some from Canada. Power outages: 50,000. 
 
 MARYLAND 
 
 Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake says vehicular travel is banned on city roads beginning at 6 p.m. Monday. The restrictions to do not apply to uniformed personnel, hospital employees or other medical providers. Gov. Martin O'Malley earlier Monday closed the Bay Bridge. 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS 
 
 Voluntary evacuation recommendations have been issued in Scituate, Lynn, New Bedford and Plum Island. The recommendations are for just certain sections of the communities that could be affected by flooding as a result of Hurricane Sandy. A Red Cross spokeswoman said just a few people stayed at its shelters Sunday night, but she expects more people Monday night and into Tuesday. Power outages: 385,456. 
 
 MICHIGAN 
 
 Michigan utilities say high winds could cause power outages in the state and they're keeping an eye on the weather to respond to power problems. DTE Energy Co. said gusts of 50 mph Monday evening and Tuesday could affect some it its 2.1 million customers. 
 
 NEW HAMPSHIRE 
 
 Gov. John Lynch has urged all drivers to be off the roads by 3 p.m. as Hurricane Sandy approaches. Lynch declared a state of emergency and directed that non-essential state workers be released from work Monday afternoon. He urged employers to consider releasing workers early. The governor has put 100 New Hampshire Guard soldiers on active duty. At least 13 shelters have been opened. Power outages: 100,000. 
 
 NEW JERSEY 
 
 All roads into and out of Ocean City are closed due to flooding that has cut off the popular Jersey shore resort community. Hurricane Sandy already had flooded most of Atlantic City, sweeping away an old section of the city's famed boardwalk. Power outages: 664,000. 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 A construction crane atop a luxury high-rise collapsed in high winds Monday and dangled precariously midtown Manhattan. Some buildings were being evacuated as a precaution and the streets below were cleared, but there were no immediate reports of injuries. Power outages: 451,967. 
 
 OHIO 
 
 Residents of low-lying areas and along Lake Erie were told to watch for flooding; utilities are anticipating high winds that could blow down trees and poles. Snow is forecast in some areas. Power outages: 23,000. 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA 
 
 Officials from the state transit agency and the Pennsylvania Turnpike have instituted speed restrictions over concerns about high winds and ordered certain vehicles, including empty trucks and motorcycles, off some highways. The National Weather Service says southeastern Pennsylvania could get winds reaching 75 mph and rainfall up to 10 inches. An infant was slightly injured when a tree fell on a house in Delaware County on Monday. A man died Sunday in Lancaster County when he fell while trimming a tree. Power outages: 240,000. 
 
 RHODE ISLAND 
 
 Officials are concerned about wind driving water north up Narragansett Bay, which could create flooding in low-lying areas of the upper bay, including Providence, Warwick and Cranston. Power outages: 110,000. 
 
 TENNESSEE 
 
 Snow is expected in higher elevations, where a freeze warning has been issued. High winds are expected in many areas. 
 
 VERMONT 
 
 Gov. Peter Shumlin declared a state of emergency to provide access to National Guard troops in a state still recovering from the devastating effects of the remnants of Hurricane Irene. Culverts and storm drainage basins in some spots have been cleared of debris. Power outages: 14,470. 
 
 VIRGINIA 
 
 A curfew is in place on Virginia's swamped Chincoteague Island. Officials say the entire 37-square-mile island is underwater, and there is no way off the island because a causeway to the mainland has been closed. The 3,500 islanders who decided to tough out Hurricane Sandy have been told to keep off the streets. Power outages: 9,500. 
 
 WASHINGTON, D.C. 
 
 Taxis that originate in Washington are authorized to add an emergency flat rate of $15 per trip because of Hurricane Sandy, starting Monday. The price is supposed to expire at noon Tuesday, but can be extended if considered necessary. The capital area's transit system shut down rail service for the first time since 2003. Power outages: 5,500. 
 
 WEST VIRGINIA 
 
 Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin declared a state of emergency Monday for West Virginia, where Sandy is expected to bring high winds and heavy rains and leave behind flooded towns and as much as 3 feet of snow on the state's highest ridge tops. Eastern parts of the state can expect to get up to 6 inches of rain. Fourteen counties are under blizzard warnings. 
 
 WISCONSIN: 
 
 With waves expected to reach as high as 33 feet Tuesday on Lake Michigan, the Port of Milwaukee is taking steps to protect its docks and boats. The superstorm bearing down on the East Coast Is expected to create dangerous conditions on the Great Lakes. The National Weather Service issued gale and storm warnings for the lakes through Wednesday. ||||| Editor's Note: Sandy unleashed powerful winds and torrential rains Monday in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast as it sped toward shore. Subways and bridges were shut down and streets were quiet as gusts howled over a huge region encompassing hundreds of miles. At 7 p.m., the National Hurricane Center stopped classifying Sandy as a hurricane, though it still continued to pack a wallop. Here is the full story. 
 
 Are you there? Send your stories and photos to CNN iReport but stay safe. 
 
 Here are the latest developments: 
 
 [Updated at 11:55 p.m.] Lisa Greiner, spokeswoman with New York York University's Langone Medical Center, offers some more details about why the facility is evacuating about 200 patients: 
 
 "Due to the severity of Hurricane Sandy and the higher than expected storm surge, we are in the process of transferring approximately 200 patients within the medical center to nearby facilities. We are having] 
 
 intermittent telephone access issues, and for this reason the receiving hospital will notify the families of their arrival. They're on backup power now and have been for the past 2.5 hours approx there's no flooding in the hospital (may be flooding in basement).” 
 
 [Update 11:50 p.m.] Sen. Bob Menendez, North Bergen, NJ, was on air a few minutes ago and said the building he lives in had its windows blasted out. "I think it's the worst we have seen here in my lifetime,” he said of the damage in his state. 
 
 [Update 11:47 p.m.] Half the city of Hoboken, New Jersey, is flooded, said Mayor Dawn Zimmer. The city of 50,000 has had to evacuate two of its fire stations 
 
 [Update 11:45 p.m.] Sandy has claimed its first casualty in Canada. A woman was killed when she was struck by flying debris in Toronto, the city police said on its Twitter feed Monday night. 
 
 As reported, A female pedestrian has been killed by flying debris near StClair/Keele. #TOSandy ^tb — 
 
 Toronto Police (@TorontoPolice) October 30, 2012 
 
 The city is also experiencing wind gusts , wet roads and heavy rain. About 6,000 customers are without power, police said. 
 
 [Updated at 11:42 p.m.] Brooklyn borough President Marty Markowitz tells CNN that New York firefighters were having difficulty getting to a fire at Coney Island Hospital late Monday because of the flooding. 
 
 [Update at 11:37 p.m.] A caravan of ambulances is ferrying patients of New York York University's Langone Medical Center after it lost power, CNN affiliate WABC showed. 
 
 [Updated at 11:35 p.m.] Sandy continues to pack 75 mph winds as it moved over land late Monday, according to the National Hurricane Center's 11 p.m. advisory. The center of the storm, which is moving northwest at 18 mph, is 10 miles southwest of Philadelphia. 
 
 The Miami-based weather agency warns that hurricane-force gusts, in excess of 74 mph, could be felt overnight from Chincoteague, Virginia, to the Cape Cod community of Chatham, Massachusetts. 
 
 [Updated at 11:31 p.m.] A buoy located at the entrance to New York Harbor rose to a record height of 32.5 feet on Monday night, according to the National Weather Service. This breaks the previous record of 26 feet, set during Hurricane Irene in August 2011. 
 
 [Updated at 11:29 p.m.] More than 670,000 New Yorkers are without power, Con Edison official John Miksad said late Monday. 
 
 [Updated at 11:01 p.m.] New Jersey was hit hard by Sandy, as this video shows: 
 
 [Updated at 10:59 p.m.] A male was killed in Hawthorne, New Jersey, when a tree fell on a house around 7:30 p.m., Joseph Speranza, that community's fire chief, said. His death raises the U.S. death toll from the storm at least 11, including three in New Jersey. Sandy killed at least 67 people in the Caribbean as it moved north, 51 of them in Haiti. 
 
 [Updated at 10:43 p.m.] The New York mayor's office reports around 10 p.m. that the city's 911 dispatchers are receiving about 10,000 calls per half hour. 
 
 [Updated at 10:33 p.m.] A female died of electrical shock around 8 p.m. Sunday in the New York City borough of Queens when she stepped into a puddle, police spokeswoman Kellyann Ort said. [Editor's note: the following update should be corrected to read that that woman was electrocuted and it occurred Monday] 
 
 [Updated at 10:29 p.m.] The view, from space, of Sandy's progression: 
 
 [Updated at 10:23 p.m.] Two children who were in a pickup that was struck by a tree in Mendham Township, New Jersey - killing a man and a woman inside - were rescued, said Morris County emergency management director Jeffrey Paul. Both children suffered injuries that were not life-threatening, according to Paul. 
 
 [Updated at 10:15 p.m.] Water is entering New York's subway system from the East River, but pumps are working to get the water out, MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz said. Asked how much damage Sandy has caused, Ortiz replied, "It's too early to tell." 
 
 [Updated at 10:13 p.m.] The New York Police Department's 60th precinct station on West 8th Street in Brooklyn has been evacuated because of the partial collapse of a wall, police said. There's no flooding in the building, and no injuries have been reported, though those working there have been moved to another precinct in the area. 
 
 [Updated at 10:02 p.m.] Water levels in Battery Park on the tip of Lower Manhattan rose to 13.88 feet at 9:24 p.m Monday, smashing the record high of 10.02 feet set in 1960 during Hurricane Donna, the National Weather Service reported. 
 
 [Updated at 9:58 p.m.] Like LaGuardia and Kennedy airports, Newark Liberty and Teterboro - both in northern New Jersey - have been closed to Sandy-related floodwaters, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey reports. 
 
 [Updated at 9:52 p.m.] "Almost everything from 39th Street on down" is dark in Manhattan, said Con Edison spokesman Allan Drury on Monday night. The massive power outage - which alone affects 250,000 customers - was caused by flooding in substations, Drury said. 
 
 [Updated at 9:48 p.m.] Two people in Morris County, New Jersey, were killed Monday evening when a tree fell on their car, the county's emergency management director, Jeffrey Paul, said in a statement. The accident was in Mendham Township. 
 
 [Updated at 9:47 p.m.] A 48-year-old woman was killed Monday in Davis, West Virginia, when her car collided with a cement truck while driving on a road covered with five inches of snow, said Amy Shuler Goodwin, a spokeswoman for Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin. A 17-year-old who was in the woman's vehicle suffered injuries as well. 
 
 [Updated at 9:32 p.m.] Sandy caused flooding Monday night throughout New York City, including here at 34th Street and 1st Avenue: 
 
 [Updated at 9:27 p.m.] Five people have been killed in the state of New York - including a man hit by a tree while inside his Queens home - because of Sandy, said Rich Azzopardi, a spokesman for Gov. Andrew Cuomo. 
 
 [Updated at 9:14 p.m.] John F.Kennedy International Airport has been closed, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said. 
 
 At the agency's other New York airport, LaGuardia, water was covering the runway intersection, according to the National Weather Service. 
 
 [Updated at 9:08 p.m.] Floodwaters have made their way into several subway stations in Lower Manhattan, MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz said. The transportation agency reported, on its Twitter feed, that "up to 4 feet of seawater is entering subway tunnels under the East River." 
 
 [Updated at 9:03 p.m.] One person was killed when a falling tree struck three family members in Mansfield, Connecticut, as they were heading Monday evening to a neighbor's home that still had power, Connecticut State Police said. Two others who suffered non-life threatening injuries were transported to Windham Hospital for treatment. 
 
 [Updated at 8:57 p.m.] The Queens Midtown Tunnel is closed to traffic, meaning there are now no vehicles running on any MTA bridge or tunnels, the New York transportation agency announced. 
 
 [Updated at 8:52 p.m.] The U.S. Geological Survey has issued a landslide alert, warning that intense rains "may trigger landslides on coastal bluffs, moderate to steep slopes and locally elsewhere on landslide-prone slopes in Maryland, northern Delaware, northeastern Virginia and southern Pennsylvania." 
 
 [Updated at 8:42 p.m.] "The Hudson River is flowing in on both sides" of Hoboken, New Jersey, Mayor Dawn Zimmer told CNN. Two fire stations have been evacuated, the North Hudson Sewerage Authority building "is totally flooded," and live wires are down in four locations, she added. 
 
 "Many parts of the city now are impassable," Zimmer said. 
 
 [Updated at 8:29 p.m.] LaGuardia Airport has been closed until further notice, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced. 
 
 [Updated at 8:22 p.m.] More than 2.8 million customers in 11 states and the District of Columbia are without power, utility companies report on their websites. 
 
 [Updated at 8:20 p.m.] "High winds" from what was then Hurricane Sandy damaged the crane abutting the One57 skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan around 2:35 p.m., explained Mary Costello, senior vice president for Lend Lease, the property group managing the site. The crane was inspected last Friday, she said. 
 
 Click to watch video 
 
 [Updated at 8:10 p.m.] Superstorm Sandy officially made landfall Monday evening along the coast of southern New Jersey, the National Hurricane Center reported. 
 
 [Update at 8:09 p.m.] A man was killed by a falling tree in Queens, a borough of New York City, fire department spokesman Frank Dwyer said. The 30-year-old man was inside his house when the tree fell on him, said New York police spokesman John Grimpel. 
 
 [Update at 8:02 p.m.] At 12.75 feet, water levels in the Battery, on the southern tip of Manhattan, went at least 2.75 feet higher than the previous record - set in 1960, when Hurricane Donna hit - the National Weather Service reports. 
 
 [Updated at 7:48 p.m.] Waves from Sandy slam into the seawall in Scituate, Massachusetts, about 30 miles south of Boston: 
 
 [Updated at 7:44 p.m.] "The whole north side of" Seaside Heights, New Jersey, "is totally under water" - rising halfway up most front doors - the community's police Chief Thomas Boyd said. A 50-foot piece of boardwalk was ripped up and floated away from the ocean all the way to the bay. 
 
 [Updated at 7:23 p.m.] Weather authorities reported a storm surge of 12.4 feet in Kings Point, on Long Island's northwest coast about 10 miles from the New York City borough of Queens. A surge of 7.2 feet was seen in Manhattan's Battery district, with a 7.5 foot-high surge reported in Sandy Hook, New Jersey, according to the National Hurricane Center. 
 
 [Updated at 7:13 p.m.] More than 2.2 million customers are without power in 11 states and the District of Columbia, according to data from utility companies. 
 
 [Updated at 7:06 p.m.] Even though it has sustained winds of 85 mph, Sandy is no longer considered a hurricane, the National Hurricane Center reported in a 7 p.m. update. The Miami-based agency said it is reclassifying the storm because "Sandy has continued to lose tropical characteristics." 
 
 Moving west-northwest at 28 mph, the storm is centered about 30 miles east-northeast of Cape May, New Jersey, and 20 miles south of Atlantic City, New Jersey. 
 
 [Updated at 6:59 p.m.] Water from the Atlantic Ocean has gone over the boardwalk and is now flooding the streets of Asbury Park, New Jersey. 
 
 About 75 miles south in Atlantic City, Montgomery Dahm said there was flooding next to the convention center and up to the steps of his restaurant, Tun Tavern. 
 
 "I've been down here for about 16 years, and it's shocking what I'm looking at now," Dahm told CNN. "It's unbelievable. I mean, there are cars that are just completely underwater in some of the places I would never believe that there would be water." 
 
 [Updated at 6:51 p.m.] A wind gust of 94 mph was recorded in Eatons Neck, on the northern coast of Long Island about 35 miles east of New York City, said CNN's Chad Myers. 
 
 [Updated at 6:46 p.m.] As they were Monday, Amtrak trains in the Northeast Corridor won't be running again on Tuesday. 
 
 [Updated at 6:37 p.m.] About 7,700 flights were canceled around North American on Monday due to the storm, the flight-tracking service FlightStats.com reports. More than 2,800 flights - at least - have been called for Tuesday. 
 
 [Updated at 6:26 p.m.] Claudene Christian, one of two missing people from the HMS Bounty, has been found dead, the U.S. Coast Guard said. The ship sank off the North Carolina coast earlier Monday, and 14 crew members were subsequently rescued. The Coast Guard is still looking for 63-year-old Robin Walbridge, the ship's captain. 
 
 [Updated at 6:18 p.m.] The water is "five feet high" in parts of Atlantic City, New Jersey, CNN's Ali Velshi reports: 
 
 [Updated at 6:13 p.m.] More than 1.5 million customers are without power due to Sandy, about double the amount just a few hours earlier. 
 
 [Updated at 6:11 p.m.] Some 6,700 National Guard troops are on active duty in seven states due to the hurricane, the Defense Department said. Another 61,000 troops are available. 
 
 [Updated at 6:03 p.m.] New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said evacuations are no longer possible, and that those who stayed behind cannot count on authorities to help them. Rescuers won't be sent out "until daylight tomorrow," he added, citing "all the various hazards." 
 
 "I'm very disappointed in the fact that some decided to disregard my instruction, in fact my order, and I'm concerned that it might lead to the loss of life," Christie said. 
 
 [Updated at 5:59 p.m.] All buildings on New York's 57th Street, between 6th and 7th avenues, and "all exposed buildings" on 56th Street, between those same two avenues, have been evacuated due to the partial collapse of a crane near a skyscraper under construction, the mayor's office announced. 
 
 [Updated at 5:47 p.m.] The 4.55 inches of rain that fell Monday onto Atlantic City, New Jersey, shattered the former record of 2.33 inches, which was set in 1908. 
 
 [Updated at 5:37 p.m.] Broadway shows will be canceled Tuesday night, as they were Monday, because of the storm, the Broadway League announced. 
 
 [Updated at 5:33 p.m.] All four of New York City's bridges over the East River - the Brooklyn, Manhattan, Williamsburg and Queensboro bridges - will be closed at 7 p.m., the city's mayor said. 
 
 [Updated at 5:25 p.m.] A Monday afternoon snapshot from a NASA weather satellite, courtesy of NOAA, showing Hurricane Sandy churning off the East Coast (see outlines of Delaware and New Jersey to the left of the darkest part of the storm): 
 
 [Updated at 5:19 p.m.] The Key Bridge in Baltimore, the 1.6-mile span that crosses the Patapsco River, is closed, Maryland's government announced. 
 
 [Updated at 5:06 p.m.] Hurricane Sandy is speeding toward the East Coast, moving west-northwest at 28 mph, the National Hurricane Center said in its 5 p.m. advisory. The storm is centered about 30 miles east-southeast of Cape May, New Jersey, and 40 miles south of Atlantic City, New Jersey. 
 
 [Updated at 5:01 p.m.] More than 3,200 people spent Sunday night in 112 Red Cross shelters in nine states, the Red Cross said. That number is expected to increase significantly as Sandy comes ashore. 
 
 [Updated at 4:59 p.m.] All federal government offices in and around Washington will be closed Tuesday - just as they were Monday - due to the hurricane. 
 
 [Updated at 4:39 p.m.] A look at the damaged, dangling crane near One57, a skyscraper under construction just a few blocks from New York's Columbus Circle: 
 
 Damaged, dangling crane atop (for now) 1 57th Street NYC. http://t.co/SUveAPjW — 
 
 Jonathan Wald (@jonathanwald) October 29, 2012 
 
 [Updated at 4:31 p.m.] The Red Cross says that Sandy has already forced the cancellation of about 100 blood drives, a number that is expected to rise in the coming days. In a news release, the organization's chief medical officer, Dr. Richard Benjamin, said, "It is critical that those in unaffected areas make an appointment to donate blood as soon as possible." 
 
 [Updated at 4:26 p.m.] President Barack Obama receives an update on Sandy in the White House's Situation Room: 
 
 Photo: President Obama receives an update on the ongoing response to Hurricane #Sandy in the Situation Room: http://t.co/JEYyEwSJ — 
 
 The White House (@whitehouse) October 29, 2012 
 
 [Updated at 4:14 p.m.] In just two hours, the number of customers without power because of Hurricane Sandy has more than doubled. More than 765,000 in seven states have no electricity, with New York and New Jersey being the most affected states with more than 220,000 outages each. 
 
 [Updated at 4:11 p.m.] It's not just rain and wind causing problems. It is already snowing in parts of the Appalachian Mountains, one effect of the superstorm.West Virginia has declared a state of emergency, while North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue has declared a state of emergency for 24 counties in the western part of her state due to snow. 
 
 Blizzard warnings are in effect for some areas, with as much as 30 inches of snow possible in locales above 4,000 feet. 
 
 [Updated at 4:03 p.m.] Hurricane Sandy retained its strength Monday afternoon with 90 mph sustained winds, the National Hurricane Center reports in its 4 p.m. advisory. Moving northwest at 28 mph, the storm is centered 110 miles southeast of Atlantic City, New Jersey, and 175 miles south-southeast of New York City. 
 
 [Updated at 3:58 p.m.] Gusts in excess of 74 mph - hurricane-force winds - have been reported along the coast of Long Island, New York, according to the National Weather Service. 
 
 [Updated at 3:51 p.m.] The partial collapse of a giant crane on New York's West 57th Street, just blocks from Columbus Circle, has prompted the city's Office of Emergency Management to urge all occupants of nearby buildings to evacuate to lower floors immediately. 
 
 [Updated 3:43 p.m.] On its Twitter feed, Boston's MBTA shows a tree down near a Green Line stop in Newton. All service on the Boston-area transit service is now suspended, the agency notes. 
 
 A look at a tree down on the #MBTA D Line near Waban. All #MBTA service now suspended. http://t.co/XBdizPOw — 
 
 MBTA (@mbtaGM) October 29, 2012 
 
 [Updated at 3:33 p.m.] The Tappan Zee Bridge, which extends across the Hudson River about 25 miles north of New York City, will close to traffic starting at 4 p.m., Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced on Twitter. 
 
 [Updated at 3:24 p.m.] Newark, New Jersey, is experiencing high winds and flooding, though the city's mayor is warning conditions should only deteriorate. "We have an intensity of water coming into our city that we anticipate getting worse and worse," Mayor Cory Booker told CNN. He expressed fears about what the storm surge around the 8 p.m. high tide will do to New Jersey's most populated city. 
 
 [Updated at 3:10 p.m.] Watch raw video of Coast Guard crews rescuing people from the HMS Bounty off the North Carolina coast. 
 
 [Updated at 3:00 p.m.] Just blocks from Manhattan’s Columbus Circle, an arm of a giant crane dangles from a skyscraper that is under construction. The crane had been positioned firmly before the effects of Hurricane Sandy began to be felt in New York City. 
 
 The West 57th Street building, known as One57, is a high-rise that will feature some of the city's most expensive apartments. New York police and fire crews are on the scene, and part of the street has been closed off as a precaution. 
 
 [Updated at 2:48 p.m.] Ocean City, Maryland, experienced "probably the highest storm surge that we've had ... since Hurricane Gloria in 1985," Mayor Rick Meehan said. Sandy has already caused beach erosion and significant flooding. But there have been no reported injuries or calls for help, the mayor said, in part because of an evacuation order. 
 
 [Updated at 2:39 p.m. ET] About 2,000 National Guard troops have been placed on active duty in seven states - Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts and Virginia - because of the hurricane. The number is up from approximately 1,500 who had been activated Sunday night. 
 
 [Updated 2:13 p.m. ET] Nearly 300,000 customers are without power in seven states because of Hurricane Sandy, according to figures from power companies. New Jersey tops the states in outages with about 92,000 customers without electricity, followed by New York with 90,000. 
 
 [Updated 2:04 p.m. ET] Hurricane Sandy is rapidly accelerating toward the northwest at 28 mph, the National Hurricane Center said in its 2 p.m. ET advisory. Sandy remains a Category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 90 mph with gusts 110 mph, forecasters said. 
 
 [Updated 1:56 p.m. ET] Storm damage in Port Clinton, Ohio: 
 
 yfrog.com/j2br0xmj Holiday Inn sign knocked down bc of wind in Port Clinton — 
 
 Colleen Wells (@ColleenWTOL) October 29, 2012 
 
 [Updated 1:48 p.m. ET] Atlantic City, New Jersey, will be under a curfew Monday night, as Hurricane Sandy approaches landfall, a city official told CNN. "There will be a curfew tonight beginning at 6 p.m. until 6 a.m. for the entire Atlantic City area," Capt. Frank Brennan of the Atlantic City Police Department said. 
 
 [Updated 1:39 p.m. ET] The New York Stock Exchange will be closed again Tuesday because of Hurricane Sandy, the exchange said. 
 
 Track the economic impact of Hurricane Sandy with CNNMoney.com. 
 
 [Updated 1:38 p.m. ET] Here's what the winds are doing in Connecticut: 
 
 No jumping today kids! -> Trampoline hanging on electrical cables (Milford Connecticut) #Sandy http://t.co/9WDbJ0dT — 
 
 Anonymous Press (@AnonymousPress) October 29, 2012 
 
 [Updated 1:29 p.m. ET] Hurricane Sandy's devastating windy march up the U.S. East Coast is expected to cause as much as $10 billion in insured losses, according to a disaster modeling firm, CNNMoney reports. 
 
 [Updated 1:22 p.m. ET] Sustained tropical storm-force winds of 41 mph are now being reported at Boston's Logan International Airport, the National Weather Service said on Monday afternoon. 
 
 [Updated 1:18 p.m. ET] "Jimmy Kimmel Live" has canceled its broadcast on Monday from the Harvey Theater at Brooklyn Academy of Music. In a statement obtained by CNN Entertainment, the show said the call was made "in the interest of the safety of our studio audience." 
 
 [Updated 1:15 p.m. ET] President Obama has declared a state of emergency for the state of Delaware due to Hurricane Sandy, according to a release from the White House. 
 
 [Updated 1:02 p.m. ET] President Barack Obama called on Americans to heed local storm evacuation orders Monday. Anyone who doesn't follow evacuation orders, he said, is "putting first responders in danger." 
 
 [Updated 1:00 p.m. ET] President Barack Obama said Monday he isn't worried about how Hurricane Sandy might affect the election. "I am not worried at this point about the impact on the election. I'm worried about the impact on families. I'm worried about the impact on first responders. I'm worried about the economy and transportation," he told reporters. "The election will take care of itself next week." 
 
 [Updated 12:59 p.m. ET] Gas prices are likely to spike in the days after Hurricane Sandy rips through the Northeast, but they should drop back down before too long, CNNMoney reports. 
 
 [Updated 12:56 p.m. ET] Hurricane Sandy is a powerful storm that will affect millions of people, President Obama said Monday."We are certain that this is going to be a slow-moving process through a wide swath of the country, and millions of people are going to affected," Obama said, speaking to reporters from the White House after a Situation Room briefing on the storm. 
 
 [Updated 12:42 p.m. ET] If your power goes out, don’t try to fix it yourself, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Monday. 
 
 “If you do not have power, please do not choose today as the time you decide to tap into your creative juices and jerry-rig a power source. … If it looks stupid, it is stupid,” he said. 
 
 By Monday afternoon, more than 35,000 customers had lost power throughout the state. 
 
 [Updated 12:28 p.m. ET] As of noon today, water levels are already as high as 5.2 feet above tidal predictions in some areas. 
 
 The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has a look at water levels up and down the eastern seaboard. 
 
 [Updated 12:24 p.m. ET] There have been more than 8,900 flight cancellations so far as a result of Hurricane Sandy, according to flight tracking site FlightAware.com. Get CNN.com's full travel update. 
 
 [Updated 12:23 p.m. ET] About 116,000 consumers in seven states are without power, according to information from power providers' websites. 
 
 [Updated 12:19 p.m. ET] Even with rains from Hurricane Sandy, guards are still standing guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery. 
 
 Editor's Note: A photo of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier that was being widely retweeted Monday has been removed from the "This Just In" blog, because it was causing confusion despite a CNN note that the photo was taken last month. 
 
 [Updated 12:16 p.m. ET] Ocean City, Maryland, is seeing substantial flooding. 
 
 It's gotten VERY ugly in Ocean City. Almost looks like Katrina. Here's a picture of what used to be 94th street http://t.co/L5O6HLlm #Sandy — 
 
 DC Maryland Virginia (@DMVFollowers) October 29, 2012 
 
 [Updated 12:13 p.m. ET] Both the Obama and Romney campaigns have canceled events through Tuesday because of Hurricane Sandy. 
 
 Follow coverage at the CNN Political Ticker. 
 
 [Updated 12:11 p.m. ET] New York is warning food sellers, gas stations, cab companies and other businesses: No price gouging in Sandy’s wake. 
 
 State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman issued an open letter saying his office is prepared to go after anyone who breaks the law. 
 
 In it, he also praises and thanks all those who are working to supply people with what they need, and he writes, “New Yorkers have always been at their best when facing adversity, and I am confident that we will live up to that standard throughout this hurricane.” 
 
 [Updated 12:09 p.m. ET] The pier in Ocean City, Maryland, has been destroyed, according to this Twitter post. 
 
 Ocean City Pier has been destroyed. At least 100 feet washed away. http://t.co/fboK9aCh #Sandy — 
 
 DC Maryland Virginia (@DMVFollowers) October 29, 2012 
 
 [Updated 12:04 p.m. ET] Officials are evacuating several hundred people from west Atlantic City, an area filled with many single-story motels where water levels are "dangerously high," said county spokeswoman Linda Gilmore. "Conditions are deteriorating as we speak," she said. "This storm is unprecedented." 
 
 [Updated 12:02 p.m. ET] A replica of the HMS Bounty has sunk at sea, a Coast Guard official told CNN's Ashleigh Banfield. Fourteen people were rescued from that ship and two are still missing at sea, Vice Adm. Robert Parker said on CNN. 
 
 [Updated 11:54 a.m. ET] CNN viewers say they are stranded in Brooklyn, New York. 
 
 @StartingPtCNN Thank you for your amazing coverage Soledad! Here we are marooned in Red Hook, Brooklyn!! #Sandy http://t.co/VAHFiLXX — 
 
 Nick Cope (@greenpainting) October 29, 2012 
 
 [Updated 11:52 a.m. ET] New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg warned that the city is “well within the danger zone” of the storm, and said parts of the city could see significant storm surges between 6 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. Monday night. 
 
 [Updated 11:50 a.m. ET] Flooding at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. 
 
 Flooding in front of student dorms at Old Dominion University in Norfolk from #Sandy #HRSandy http://t.co/8ZSUR7sk — 
 
 Martin Cornick (@MartinMMC) October 29, 2012 
 
 [Updated 11:42 a.m. ET] Atlantic City is under extremely heavy flooding in many areas, police tell CNN. 
 
 The tide is starting to go down, but when Hurricane Sandy makes landfall Monday night, officials expect flooding to become far worse, the city police department said. 
 
 [Updated 11:41 a.m. ET] More than 35,500 customers of United Illuminating in Bridgeport, Connecticut, will lose power around noon when a power station will be compromised by floodwaters, CNN affiliate WFSB reports. 
 
 [Updated 11:32 a.m. ET] President Obama will deliver a statement after his White House Situation Room briefing on Hurricane Sandy at 12:45 p.m. ET, according to a release from the White House. 
 
 [Updated 11:28 a.m. ET] The Delaware Emergency Management Agency calls this “a pretty vivid visual example of why you should not be venturing out on the roads in Delaware" durring Hurricane Sandy. Level 2 driving restrictions are in place in the state. 
 
 The agency posted the photo on its official Facebook page. 
 
 [Updated 11:18 a.m.] The National Weather Service is reporting 24-foot seas off New Jersey. 
 
 Interested in checking out wave heights from #Sandy? Check out NDBC. Buoy 44009 (26 nm SE of Cape May)... 24 foot seas! ow.ly/eQLOA — 
 
 NWS Mount Holly (@NWS_MountHolly) October 29, 2012 
 
 [Updated 11:11 a.m.] Connecticut is banning trucks from highways, Gov. Dan Malloy announced. Highways will also be closed to all vehicles beginning at 1 p.m. 
 
 “Wind gusts will soon exceed 50 mph; travel is dangerous,” he said on Twitter. 
 
 [Updated 11:10 a.m.] Power officials were reporting nearly 45,000 customers without electricity across 10 states on Monday morning. 
 
 [Updated 11:07 a.m.] Hurricane Sandy has begun flooding areas of Norfolk, Virginia. This video was posted on YouTube. 
 
 [Updated 10:57 a.m.] See NASA's 3D image of Hurricane Sandy: 
 
 What Sandy looks like in 3D. From @NASA. More here nasa.gov/mission_pages/… twitpic.com/b8ilo4 — 
 
 Josh Levs (@joshlevscnn) October 29, 2012 
 
 [Updated 10:54 a.m.] Airlines have canceled thousands of flights ahead of Hurricane Sandy, and stranded travelers shouldn't expect any relief until the weekend, CNNMoney reports. 
 
 [Updated 10:51 a.m.] NASA will be providing live views of Hurricane Sandy from space. 
 
 [Time Correction] Live views of Hurricane #Sandy from the #ISS coming up on NASA TV at 12:45PM ET. Watch live: nasa.gov/ntv — 
 
 (@NASA) October 29, 2012 
 
 [Updated 10:49 a.m.] The impact of Hurricane Sandy will be big enough to lower the country’s gross domestic product, economists tell CNNMoney. 
 
 The losses can’t yet be calculated, but will include billions in property damage, lost business, lost stock market trades, and more. 
 
 [Update 10:46 a.m. ET] If you're in the storm's path, the Department of Homeland Security wants you to take steps to conserve your cellphone's power. 
 
 Conserve cell phone battery by reducing screen brightness & limiting voice calls. Get more tips at ready.gov/get-tech-ready #Sandy — 
 
 Homeland Security (@DHSgov) October 29, 2012 
 
 [Update 10:42 a.m. ET] Hurricane Sandy intensified on Monday morning, the National Hurricane Center said. Maximum sustained winds have increased to 90 mph with gusts to 115 mph. 
 
 [Update 10:38 a.m. ET] To prepare for the possibility of flooding, New York officials are closing two tunnels into Manhattan and calling for the deployment of 1,000 additional National Guard troops, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. 
 
 The Holland Tunnel and the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel are “prone to flood” and will close at 2 p.m. Monday, Cuomo said. 
 
 [Update 10:33 a.m. ET] The city of Hoboken, New Jersey, is prohibiting the use of personal vehicles after 4 p.m. ET, CNN affliate WABC reports. The station also says streets near the Atlantic City boardwalk are beginning to flood and tidal waters are crossing the main oceanfront road in Cape May, New Jersey. 
 
 [Update 10:28 a.m. ET] Chase and Citibank are waiving overdraft, ATM and late fees for customers in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, Time.com reports. 
 
 [Update 10:15 a.m. ET] All public transportation services in Boston will be suspended at 2 p.m. Monday. 
 
 [Update 10:06 a.m. ET] The Connecticut Department of Transportation has ordered the closure of all state highways as of 1 p.m. ET. 
 
 [Update 10:02 a.m. ET] Flooding begins in Manhattan: 
 
 East River, much more subdued than Hudson today, begins cresting over Pier11, east side of Manhattan #sandy #zonea http://t.co/4Un9aUz3 — 
 
 (@Newyorkist) October 29, 2012 
 
 [Update 9:57 a.m. ET] Waves are crashing ashore near the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in Brooklyn, New York. 
 
 Wow. Waves crash in Monday morning near the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in Brooklyn. Photo via NYDN #Sandy twitpic.com/b8hws7 — 
 
 Lucy Kafanov (@LucyKafanov) October 29, 2012 
 
 [Update 9:51 a.m. ET] Power officials now say Hurricane Sandy could affect 60 million people across the eastern U.S., an increase of 10 million from what was forecast on Sunday. 
 
 Forecasts now predict #Sandy could affect as many as 60 million people across the Eastern US-up from 50M yesterday. — 
 
 National Grid US (@nationalgridus) October 29, 2012 
 
 [Update 9:48 a.m. ET] Wind gusts could reach 80 mph this afternoon and into the evening in New York City, the National Weather Service says. 
 
 [Update 9:27 a.m. ET] Early flooding in the Philadelphia area: 
 
 [Update 9:21 a.m. ET] The U.S. Coast Guard has rescued 14 people from the tall ship HMS Bounty, but two are missing, a Coast Guard official tells CNN. The ship was without propulsion and taking on water off North Carolina. 
 
 [Update 9:15 a.m. ET] NASA captured an infrared image of what Sandy looked like overnight as it moved up the East Coast. 
 
 [Update 9:07 a.m. ET] Hurricane Sandy has shut down concerts in the New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia area, MTV reports. 
 
 [Update 9:02 a.m. ET] Flooding has begun in Ventnor City, New Jersey, about 60 miles southeast of Philadelphia. 
 
 @LyndaCohen @ACPressSarah definitely nervous about my Mom... Surrey Ave in Ventnor http://t.co/h7OdpSdf — 
 
 Audrey Perez (@audreyp77) October 29, 2012 
 
 [Update 8:46 a.m. ET] Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy says the high tide at midnight has the potential to cause "unprecedented damage." 
 
 It's the one at midnight tonight that we're most worried about -- we're looking at a surge of 7-11 feet above normal high tide — 
 
 Governor Dan Malloy (@GovMalloyOffice) October 29, 2012 
 
 “The potential loss of life and loss of property in Connecticut, if these numbers are hit, will be extremely high,” he told reporters. “This is the most catastrophic event that we have faced and been able to plan for in any of our lifetimes. And we continue to do anything in our power to be ready.” 
 
 [Update 8:39 a.m. ET] The storm is apparently breaking up parts of the Atlantic City boardwalk. 
 
 35 foot section of Atlantic City Boardwalk floating down what used to be St. Katherine's place #sandy #acpress http://t.co/MW8Hp3yp — 
 
 Jitney Guy (@JitneyGuy) October 29, 2012 
 
 [Update 8:32 a.m. ET] Forecasters expect Hurricane Sandy to slow down after the center of the storm makes landfall late Monday or early Tuesday. And Richard Knabb, director of the National Hurricane Center, said he’s “really concerned.” 
 
 “Because of the combination of that and the large size, this will be a long duration event for many people along the coast and inland, and a lot of life-threatening hazards here,” he said. 
 
 Powerful winds, heavy rainfall and flooding are likely. 
 
 “This is going to be a big problem for a lot of folks,” he said. 
 
 Virginia's Department of Emergency Management is warning of blizzard conditions in two counties until Wednesday. 
 
 #Blizzard warning in effect from noon today until 4AM Wed. for Bunchanan & Dickenson counties in VA #VASandy #Sandy ow.ly/eQonA — 
 
 (@VDEM) October 29, 2012 
 
 [Update 8:23 a.m. ET] Hurricane Sandy is affecting air travelers around the world, including flights from airlines based in the Middle East and Australia. 
 
 [Update 8:07 a.m. ET] Officials in New York City are keeping a close eye on how high the seawater is rising, Con Edison spokesman Alfonso Quiroz said. 
 
 Since many of the city’s electrical cables are underground, flooding could cause significant damage. 
 
 “If the water gets too high, we will preemptively shut down some pieces of equipment…because it is easier for us to make restoration once the water goes down,” Quiroz said. 
 
 [Update 8:05 a.m. ET] The Coast Guard says the weather is preventing it from launching a rescue operation for the crew of the 180-foot, three mast tall ship HMS Bounty, which was taking on water and without propulsion in the Atlantic off North Carolina. The 17-person crew is in two lifeboats and wearing cold-water survival suits, the Coast Guard says. See the report from CNN affiliate WTKR. 
 
 [Update 7:58 a.m. ET] The National Hurricane Center's 8 a.m. ET update shows no changes in Hurricane Sandy since the 5 a.m. ET update. 
 
 "Sandy now moving north-northwestward and accelerating...expected to bring life-threatening storm surge and coastal hurricane winds plus heavy Appalachian snows," the forecast advisory said. 
 
 Sandy's maximum sustained winds remain at 85 mph. It is a Category 1 hurricane. 
 
 [Update 7:51 a.m. ET] The dangers from this storm extend far from the East Coast. The National Weather Service says wave heights could reach 28 feet in Lake Michigan on Monday night. They could hit 31 feet on Tuesday. 
 
 [Update 7:40 a.m. ET] U.S. stock exchanges will be closed Monday as Hurricane Sandy bears down on New York. Read the CNNMoney report here. 
 
 [Update 7:34 a.m. ET] Delaware Gov. Jack Markell called on residents to follow the state’s driving restrictions, which went into effect Monday morning as Sandy approached. 
 
 “The biggest concerns, the rain and the wind together make driving conditions absolutely miserable so we put in a driving restriction today,” he told CNN. 
 
 The restrictions say that only essential personnel can drive as of 5 a.m. Monday. 
 
 He also said people could be without power “for some period of time” after the storm and that “those who did not (evacuate), we’re afraid may find themselves cut off.” 
 
 [Update 7:22 a.m. ET] The 17-member crew of the tall ship HMS Bounty has abandoned the vessel in the Atlantic Ocean 90 miles southeast of Hatteras, North Carolina, CNN affiliate WTKR reports. 
 
 [Update 7:19 a.m. ET] Newark, New Jersey, Mayor Cory Booker just told CNN's Soledad O'Brien: 
 
 "My biggest concern is just people not taking it seriously and not taking the proper precautions. We still have some time for people to get ready... We anticipate there could be many days without power afterward." 
 
 [Update 7:13 a.m. ET] President Obama has canceled a campaign event in Orlando on Monday to stay at the White House and monitor federal storm preparations. 
 
 "Due to deteriorating weather conditions in the Washington area, the president will not attend today's campaign event in Orlando. The president will return to the White House to monitor the preparations for and early response to Hurricane Sandy," White House press secretary Jay Carney said in a statement. 
 
 Read CNN's Candy Crowley on how Hurricane Sandy is affecting the presidential campaign. 
 
 [Update 7:04 a.m. ET] Some people have not heeded evacuation orders and are putting emergency responders in rescue situations, Delaware's governor says. 
 
 Ntl. Guard, local fire comp. & police are responding to people who didn't evacuate & need to be rescued from flooding. #SandyDE #StormDE — 
 
 Gov. Jack Markell (@GovernorMarkell) October 29, 2012 
 
 [Update 6:45 a.m. ET] Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley tells CNN's Soledad O'Brien that power crews from as far away as Texas and Mississippi are in his state and prepared to make repairs to its power grid. 
 
 [Update 6:25 a.m. ET] Delaware's governor has ordered all drivers other than those providing essential services to stay off the state's roads today, CNN affliate WBOC reports. 
 
 [Update 5:59 a.m. ET] MegaBus has canceled numerous services in the Northeast through noon on Tuesday and is offering customers booked on other trips through Tuesday in Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and the District of Columbia the chance to reschedule at no charge. Here is the full list of cancellations. 
 
 [Update 5:50 a.m. ET] Amtrak has suspended nearly all service on the Eastern Seaboard for Monday, according to its website: 
 
 "All Acela Express, Northeast Regional, Keystone and Shuttle services are canceled for trains originating on that date. Also Empire Service, Adirondack, Vermonter, Ethan Allen and Pennsylvanian train services are suspended, along with the overnight Auto Train, Capitol Limited, Crescent, Lake Shore Limited, Palmetto and Silver Meteor trains. Exceptions: The Maple Leaf (Trains 63 & 64), will operate only between Toronto, Ontario, Canada and Albany-Rensselaer, N.Y., rather than originating and terminating at New York City; the Carolinian (Trains 79 & 80), will operate only between Charlotte and Raleigh rather than originating and terminating in New York City; the Silver Star (Trains 91 & 92) will operate only between Jacksonville, Tampa and Miami, Fla., rather than originating and terminating in New York City. Piedmont service (Trains 73-76) within North Carolina will operate normally." 
 
 Further updates on Amtrak service will come after 6 p.m. Monday or as needed, the website said. 
 
 [Update 5:36 a.m. ET] As Hurricane Sandy closes in on the Northeast, residents are scrambling to prepare. Amy Mueller Campbell told CNN affiliate WMUR she had to drive almost 30 miles - from Nottingham, New Hampshire, to Manchester, New Hampshire - just to find a five-gallon gasoline container. She'll use it to get fuel to power her home generator. 
 
 [Update 5:13 a.m. ET] Hurricane Sandy is playing havoc with international air travel. London's Heathrow Airport says 45 outbound flights to New York, Newark, Baltimore, Washington, Boston and Philadelphia have been canceled. Another 12 inbound flights have been scrubbed. 
 
 [Update 5:12 a.m. ET] The National Hurricane Center says "a little strengthening is possible" before Hurricane Sandy makes landfall late Monday or early Tuesday. 
 
 [Update 5:05 a.m. ET] Hurricane Sandy strengthened early Monday with winds of 85 mph, the National Hurricane Center said. 
 
 [Update 4:49 a.m. ET] Anna Kate Twitty, a spokeswoman for the Red Cross, was just on CNN and said the organization has multiple shelters across seven states where evacuees can find "a safe place, a warm meal and emotional support." To find a shelter, go to redcross.org, call 1-800-Red-Cross or download the free Red Cross hurricane app for iphone and android users. 
 
 [Update 3:54 a.m. ET] The Coast Guard is responding to a distress call from a ship that is part of the popular culture. The HMS Bounty, a tall ship built for the 1962 movie "Mutiny on the Bounty," is taking on water off the coast of North Carolina - about 160 miles from the center of Hurricane Sandy. The Coast Guard says it has “diminished search and rescue capabilities due to the storm.” Seventeen people are on board. 
 
 [Update 1:55 a.m. ET] Various primetime shows that are produced in New York (such as, "30 Rock," "Smash," "Elementary," "Person of Interest") are being shut down Monday, according to Deadline.com, but the opposite appears to be the case with late night shows. Deadline says Letterman, who once taped a show during a blizzard, will go on - as will Jimmy Fallon. 
 
 We will be doing a new show tomorrow night no matter what. #LateNight — jimmy fallon (@jimmyfallon) October 28, 2012 
 
 
 
 [Update 1:50 a.m. ET] The MTA has posted some incredible photos of a deserted New York on its Flickr feed. Sandbags piled on Broadway. Grand Central Terminal with not a soul in sight. An eerie feel. 
 
 [Update 12:50 a.m. ET] The National Hurricane Center says Sandy is about to make its turn toward the north. The forecast map shows the storm hitting the Jersey shore. 
 
 [Update 12:35 a.m. ET] 1.2 million: That's the number of college students who will stay home Monday, according to a count by CNN's Chandler Friedman of colleges in the regions likely affected by the storm. 
 
 [Update 12:10 a.m. ET] President Barack Obama has approved Connecticut, Pennsylvania and New Jersey's request for emergency declarations. Earlier, several other states also requested such declarations, and the president signed them as well. Among them: New York and Massachusetts. 
 
 Pres. #Obama's emergency declaration in #CT will allow the state to request federal funding & assistance in advance of #Sandy's impact 
 
 — Governor Dan Malloy (@GovMalloyOffice) October 29, 2012 
 
 [Update 12:02 a.m. ET] The New York Stock Exchange has announced it will close all markets – not just floor trading operations – on Monday. The stock exchange rarely shuts down for weather-related emergencies: Hurricane Gloria in 1985, and a snowstorm in 1969 mark brought the exchange to a halt. 
 
 Read Sunday's updates 
 
 Follow CNN's full coverage of the potential "superstorm." 
 
 For state-by-state plans, advice on how to prepare, photos, Sandy's already deadly path in the Caribbean, and more, follow CNN.com. ||||| A fast-strengthening Hurricane Sandy veered left on a path to the East Coast Monday. All airlines serving Dulles International Airport and Reagan National Airport cancelled service, and major school systems - including D.C. public schools and Montgomery County, Md. schools - cancelled Tuesday classes. 
 
 The nation’s capital shut down rail service for the first time since 2003, and shortly after noon President Barack Obama weighed in. 
 
 "This is gonna be a big storm, this is gonna be a difficult storm," Obama said in a press conference in the White House briefing room. He also praised state and municipal crews for coordinating to meet needs as they arise. 
 
 "Please listen to what your state and local officials are saying," Obama said, striking a cautionary tone. He encouraged people under evacuation orders to take the orders seriously. 
 
 Web Weather Forecast 10/29/12 Mid-Day 
 
 Get the latest forecast from Storm Team 4 Meteorologist Veronica Johnson. (Published Monday, Oct. 29, 2012) 
 
 "Don't pause, don't question," Obama said. "This is a serious storm and could potentially have fatal consequences if people aren't acting quickly." 
 
 In a similar statement, Maryland’s governor warned his state was in the “crosshairs” of what would likely prove to be a deadly storm. 
 
 "There will be people who die and are killed in this storm," Gov. Martin O'Malley said during a morning press conference. 
 
 O'Malley said flooding from the Chesapeake Bay could be worse than expected because of winds pushing water up into the bay and urged Marylanders to stay off the roads for the next 36 hours. 
 
 As of 2 p.m. Monday, Hurricane Sandy was about 200 miles northeast of D.C., with hurricane-force winds extending outward up to 175 miles. 
 
 The center of the storm is expected to hit southern New Jersey around 5 p.m. Monday, with winds of greater than 90 mph. 
 
 Flood Preparations in Alexandria 
 
 Residents in flood-prone Alexandria are sandbagging ahead of Hurricane Sandy. News4's Julie Carey reports. (Published Monday, Oct. 29, 2012) 
 
 Sandy inflicted considerable damage overnight to Ocean’s City’s iconic ocean pier. In mountainous western Maryland, a blizzard warning was issued for sections of Garrett County for Monday night into Tuesday morning. 
 
 Up and down the Eastern seaboard, wind is picking up, icy rain is falling, and rescue workers are responding to accidents on local roadways. 
 
 “Let me be clear: This storm is unique, large, dangerous and unlike anything our region has experienced in a very long time,” D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray said. “We are likely to suffer significant power outages due to fallen trees and other debris, and we may experience significant street flooding. Let me also be clear about this: The District government is ready to meet this challenge.” 
 
 WIDESPREAD CLOSURES 
 
 Officials Shut Down Rehoboth Beach Ahead of Sandy 
 
 News4's Wendy Rieger reports from Rehoboth Beach, Del., where officials shut the town down at 8 p.m. Sunday. (Published Monday, Oct. 29, 2012) 
 
 The federal government has closed nonessential offices to the public in the D.C. region Monday due to Hurricane Sandy. The District is among the local governments closing offices at least for Monday. 
 
 Even the New York Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ exchange in New York City said they would close; it was the first weather-related closure of the NYSE in 27 years. 
 
 Metro canceled service for its rail system, buses and Metro Access until further notice. 
 
 Amtrak has now canceled service on its Northeast Corridor through Tuesday. The Maryland Transit Authority followed suit in announcing that no MARC trains nor commuter buses would run Monday, as did VRE. Fairfax Connector service also will be suspended Monday. 
 
 More than 7,000 flights in and out of the East have been canceled. 
 
 A $15 storm surcharge is in effect for all D.C. taxi rides. 
 
 Well before the storm, President Barack Obama declared an emergency in D.C. and ordered federal aid to help the city's response. Obama also canceled a campaign appearance in Orlando and returned to D.C. 
 
 The emergency declaration authorizes the Federal Emergency Management Agency to allocate resources to alleviate the impacts of Hurricane Sandy at 75 percent emergency funding. 
 
 Even Capital Bikeshare closed temporarily at 1 a.m. Monday. Bikes can be returned, but new rentals won't be allowed until weather conditions allow. 
 
 Among the airlines, Delta, US Airways, United, Virgin and American Airlines announced that they would waive or relax change fees for customers re-booking flights ahead of the storm. United announced Sunday that it had begun canceling some flights to and from all three major regional airports, as well as Richmond, Roanoke and Norfolk. 
 
 Medstar Washington Hospital is open and operational, but ambulatory clinichs and procedure areas will remain closed until noon Tuesday, Oct. 30. 
 
 More cancellations were expected Monday and Tuesday. Passengers are advised to check with their specific airlines to confirm their flight status. 
 
 In Ocean City, police department spokesman Mike Levy said damage to the downton pier happened overnight Sunday, as the storm began to pound the resort town with massive wind and rain. 
 
 The pier is at the southern end of the boardwalk, in an area south of 17th Street that's been under a mandatory evacuation order since Sunday afternoon because of flooding. 
 
 FLOODING, HIGH WINDS EXPECTED: SIGNIFICANT STORM 
 
 Throughout the day Monday, our winds will be steadily increasing to the 30 mph range with gusts of 40-55 mph. As evening begins, the winds will quickly ramp up, blowing steadily out of the northwest at 30-50 mph, with gusts of 50-70 mph. 
 
 Already Monday morning, the Delaware Bay buoy clocked wind gusts of 50 mph. 
 
 The National Weather Service issued a high wind warning for our area in effect until 8 p.m. Tuesday. A flood watch is also in effect until then for most of our area. 
 
 With 5-10 inches of rain expected in much of the D.C. area (3-5 inches further west) and high tides 1-3 feet above normal Monday, flooding is likely in our area, Storm Team 4 meteorologist Doug Kammerer said. 
 
 The full moon is expected to create tidal anomalies of 1-2' along the Tidal Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay. 
 
 The strong north and northwesterly winds Monday will cause a "blow-out" tide along the western shore of the Chesapeake and the Tidal Potomac River, said Storm Team 4 meteorologist Kim Martucci. When our winds swing around to the southwest on Tuesday, the water will be pushed back into the Bay and the Tidal Potomac along the south-facing shores. You should expect the highest tides for most of our area with the Tuesday high tide cycle. 
 
 As Sandy's soaking rains move west, local rivers will be quickly rising. Goose Creek, near Leesburg in Loudoun County, will see major flooding similar to a previous flood on May 12, 2008. 
 
 The Monocacy River near Frederick will also rise above flood stage by early Monday evening, and will crest near 32 feet by early Tuesday afternoon. At 30 feet, water reaches the second floor of Gambrill Mill on the Monocacy National Battlefield. It would be the second highest crest on record and compares to the crest with Hurricane Eloise in 1975. 
 
 Likewise, flood warnings are in effect for the Shenandoah River at Millville, the Rappahannock River at Remington, Opequon Creek near Martinsburg, and the Potomac River at Paw Paw. At Paw Paw, the flood stage is 25 feet and the forecast is a crest of 30.8 feet between Tuesday afternoon and late Wednesday night. This would be the worst crest since 1996. 
 
 This storm is undergoing incredible dynamics in the atmosphere. Hurricane Sandy will interact with a very strong, wintertime jetstream. As a hurricane, Sandy thrives off the energy generated by warm ocean water. When she interacts with the cold Jetstream winds, she’ll become “sub-tropical” and her energy will be generated by the huge temperature differences in the atmosphere. No matter what she is called, this storm will affect folks from Maine down to North Carolina. Wide-spread power outages will keep Sandy in the headlines for days to come. 
 
 The combination of storms will even bring a chance of snow to our area -- just flakes near D.C., but snow was reported in West Virginia as of 1:30 p.m. Tuesday. 
 
 Winter storm watches are in effect for Maryland and West Virginia. 
 
 A coastal flood warning for the Potomac River, the Chesapeake Bay and especially the Atlantic Ocean is in effect from midnight Monday to 8 a.m. Wednesday. 
 
 And the storm will take its time leaving. The weather may not start clearing in the mid-Atlantic until the day after Halloween and Nov. 2 in the upper Northeast, Cisco said. 
 
 "It's almost a week-long, five-day, six-day event," said National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecaster Jim Cisco from a NOAA forecast center in College Park, Md. "It's going to be a widespread, serious storm." 
 
 Some have compared the tempest to the so-called Perfect Storm that struck off the coast of New England in 1991, but that one hit a less populated area. Nor is this one like last year's pre-Halloween storm, which was merely an early snowfall. 
 
 POWER OUTAGES SPREAD 
 
 The expected period of extended winds will raise the threat of extended power outages through next week. 
 
 With a rare mix of three big merging weather systems over a densely populated region, experts say there could be at least $1 billion in damage. 
 
 As of 1:30 p.m. Monday, Dominion Virginia had more than 9,700 customers without power, including nearly 4,500 in Northern Vrigina. 
 
 Pepco was reporting a total of 1,677 outages, with the bulk of those -- 1,357-- in Prince George's County, and 287 in the District. 
 
 BGE repored more than 14,900 outages, with 3,000 of those in Anne Arundel and 1,600 in Howard County. 
 
 SMECO reported 1,914 outages across four counties. 
 
 In his White House statement, Obama warned that crews would have their hands tied until the storm dies down -- meaning that it may take several days for power to come back on. 
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR SANDY 
 
 Supplies flew off the shelves of local supermarkets ahead of the storm. Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell urged Virginians to "please prepare" for what he predicted would be a "unique, long-lasting storm." 
 
 People along the Delmarva Peninsula, including in Ocean City, packed up in advance of a deadline to evacuate by 8 p.m. Sunday. 
 
 In advance of the storm, the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia declared states of emergency. The executive orders clear the path for faster response. 
 
 At the moment, no mandatory evacuations have been ordered in Virginia or Maryland, though McDonnell noted Saturday that his executive order gave local authorities in Virginia the power to order local evacuations if they saw fit. In Maryland, officials in St. Mary's and Charles Counties declared a local state of emergency Saturday. 
 
 Speaking on a conference call Saturday afternoon, Virginia Gov. McDonnell said that the entire Virginia State Police force had been placed on standby. 
 
 Utilities were preparing as well: Pepco requested to bring in an additional 2,500 linemen, 400 tree trimmers and 200 damage assessors from other utilities. Similarly, Dominion Power in Virginia said that it had requested an extra 2,000 workers from outside the state to assist with potential power outages. 
 
 Pepco called some customers late Friday with a recorded message, saying they were closely watching the storm. “We are preparing and we encourage our customers to prepare as well,” the message said. 
 
 Meanwhile, Maryland utility regulators announced Friday that they'd end a controversial policy that allowed power companies to charge customers for lost sales during the first 24 hours of a major power outage. 
 
 Emergency services from throughout the region said they were gearing up, trying to clear storm drains and calling in personnel to be on standby. The Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission began moving in generators and topping off their chemical storage tanks. 
 
 Metro began to place sandbags around Metrorail locations prone to flooding. Metro also said that its workers were checking drainage pumping stations and clearing drainage areas of leaves, while additional support personnel were scheduled to be on duty throughout the storm. 
 
 Meanwhile, some federal agencies activated their emergency systems as well, including the Customs and Border Patrol, which activated field coordinators to communicate if needed. 
 
 Interior story image credits: Josh Birch (@jbirch12), Ocean City pier. Kurt Bradshaw (@kurtb) Inner loop accident near Connecticut Avenue. 
 
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 Copyright Associated Press / NBC4 Washington ||||| Have you been affected by Hurricane Sandy? If so, share your images and footage with CNN iReport, but please stay safe. 
 
 (CNN) -- Though no longer a hurricane, "post-tropical" superstorm Sandy packed a hurricane-sized punch as it slammed into the Jersey Shore on Monday, killing at least 11 people from West Virginia to North Carolina and Connecticut. 
 
 Sandy whipped torrents of water over the streets of Atlantic City, stretching for blocks inland and ripping up part of the vacation spot's fabled boardwalk. The storm surge set records in Lower Manhattan, where flooded substations caused a widespread power outage. It swamped beachfronts on both sides of Long Island Sound and delivered hurricane-force winds from Virginia to Cape Cod as it came ashore. 
 
 Sandy's wrath also prompted the evacuation of about 200 patients at NYU Langone Medical Center. 
 
 "We are having intermittent telephone access issues, and for this reason the receiving hospital will notify the families of their arrival," spokeswoman Lisa Greiner said. 
 
 In addition, the basement of New York's Bellevue Hospital Center flooded, and the hospital was running off of emergency backup power. Ian Michaels of the Office of Emergency Management said the main priority is to help secure additional power and obtain additional fuel and pumps for the hospital. 
 
 The storm hit near Atlantic City about 8 p.m. ET, the National Hurricane Center reported. It packed 80-mph winds at landfall, down from the 90 mph clocked earlier Monday. 
 
 Superstorm Sandy's wrath 
 
 "I've been down here for about 16 years, and it's shocking what I'm looking at now. It's unbelievable," said Montgomery Dahm, owner of the Tun Tavern in Atlantic City, which stayed open as Sandy neared the Jersey Shore. "I mean, there's cars that are just completely underwater in some of the places I would never believe that there would be water." 
 
 Dahm's family cleared out of Atlantic City before the storm hit, but he says he stayed put to serve emergency personnel. At nightfall Monday, he said the water was lapping at the steps of his restaurant, where a generator was keeping the lights on. 
 
 The storm had already knocked down power lines and tree limbs while still 50 miles offshore and washed out a section of the boardwalk on the north end of town, Atlantic City Mayor Lorenzo Langford told CNN. He said there were still "too many people" who didn't heed instructions to evacuate, and he urged anyone still in town to "hunker down and try to wait this thing out." 
 
 "When Mother Nature sends her wrath your way, we're at her mercy, and so all we can do is stay prayerful and do the best that we can," Langford said. 
 
 And in Seaside Heights, about 30 miles north of Atlantic City, Police Chief Thomas Boyd told CNN, "The whole north side of my town is totally under water." 
 
 Mass transit grinds to a halt 
 
 In New York, lower Manhattan's Battery Park recorded nearly 14-foot tide, smashing a record set by 1960's Hurricane Donna by more than 3 feet. The city had already halted service on its bus and train lines, closing schools and ordering about 400,000 people out of their homes in low-lying areas of Manhattan and elsewhere. 
 
 Flooding forced the closure of all three of the major airports in the area, LaGuardia, John F. Kennedy and Newark Liberty. Water seeped into subway stations in Lower Manhattan and into the tunnel connecting Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn, while high winds damaged a crane perched atop a Midtown skyscraper under construction, forcing authorities to evacuate the surrounding area. 
 
 New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg told reporters there was an "extraordinary" amount of water in Lower Manhattan, as well as downed trees throughout the city and widespread power outages. 
 
 "We knew that this was going to be a very dangerous storm, and the storm has met our expectations," he said. "The worst of the weather has come, and city certainly is feeling the impacts." 
 
 The storm was blamed for more than 2.8 million outages across the Northeast. About 350,000 of them were in the New York city area, where utility provider Con Edison reported it had also cut power to customers in parts of Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan to protect underground equipment as the storm waters rose. 
 
 But as water crept into its substations, Con Ed said it had lost service to about 250,000 customers in Manhattan -- including most of the island south of 39th Street. 
 
 Five things to know about Sandy 
 
 At least five people had been killed in storm-related incidents in New York state, including three killed by trees falling on homes in Queens and in the town of New Salem, near Albany, city and state officials said. Falling trees were also blamed for three deaths reported in New Jersey and one in Connecticut, authorities there told CNN. 
 
 In West Virginia, a woman was killed in a car accident after the storm dumped 5 inches of snow on the town of Davis, said Amy Shuler Goodwin, a spokeswoman for Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin's office. 
 
 And before hitting land, it overwhelmed the sailing ship HMS Bounty, a replica of the historic British vessel, off North Carolina. Fourteen of the ship's crew of 16 were rescued, but the body of one deckhand was found Monday evening and the ship's captain was still missing Monday night, the Coast Guard said. 
 
 Sandy had already claimed at least 67 lives in the Caribbean, including 51 in Haiti. 
 
 Sandy's storm surges were boosted by a full moon, which already brings the highest tides of the month. And forecasters said the storm was likely to collide with a cold front and spawn a superstorm that could generate flash floods and snowstorms. 
 
 "It could be bad," said U.S. Coast Guard Rear Adm. Steven Rattior, "or it could be devastation." 
 
 Mass transit shut down across the densely populated Northeast, landmarks stood empty and schools and government offices were closed. The National Grid, which provides power to millions of customers, said 60 million people could be affected before it's over. 
 
 On Fire Island, off Long Island, the water rose above promenades and docks on Monday afternoon, homeowner Karen Boss said. Boss stayed on the island with her husband despite a mandatory evacuation order. She said they own several properties and a business there and had weathered previous storms. 
 
 "I'm concerned that it might come into the first floor," she said. "If that's the case, I'll just move into another house that's higher up." 
 
 Based on pressure readings, it's likely to be the strongest storm to make landfall north of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, CNN senior meteorologist Dave Hennen said. The benchmark storm, the 1938 "Long Island Express" Hurricane, contained a low pressure reading of 946 millibars; Sandy had a minimum pressure of 943 millibars. Generally speaking, the lower the pressure, the stronger the storm. 
 
 In Sea Bright, New Jersey, Yvette Cafaro scrawled a plea on the plywood that covered her burger restaurant: "Be kind to us Sandy." The seaside area largely dodged last year's Hurricane Irene, but Cafaro was not optimistic that Sea Bright would be spared Sandy. 
 
 Keep a hurricane preparation checklist 
 
 "Everything that we've been watching on the news looks like this one will really get us," she said. "We're definitely worried about it." 
 
 Its arrival, eight days before the U.S. presidential election, forced President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, to alter or cancel several campaign stops. Obama flew back to Washington from Florida, telling reporters at the White House that assets were in place for an effective response to the storm. 
 
 "The most important message I have for the public right now is please listen to what your state and local officials are saying," Obama said. "When they tell you to evacuate, you need to evacuate." 
 
 And in Ohio, Romney asked supporters to drop off items and cash at his "victory centers" to be donated to victims of the storm. 
 
 "There are families in harm's way that will be hurt -- either in their possessions or perhaps in something more severe," Romney said. 
 
 Tips from Katrina survivors 
 
 By Monday afternoon, 23 states were under a warning or advisory for wind related to Sandy. Thousands of flights had been canceled, and hundreds of roads and highways were expected to flood. And according to a government model, Sandy's wind damage alone could cause more than $7 billion in economic loss. 
 
 Sandy was expected to weaken once it moves inland, but the center was expected to move slowly northward, meaning gusty winds and heavy rain would continue through Wednesday. 
 
 On the western side of the storm, the mountains of West Virginia expected up to 3 feet of snow and the mountains of southwestern Virginia to the Kentucky state line could see up to 2 feet. Twelve to 18 inches of snow were expected in the mountains near the North Carolina-Tennessee border. 
 
 "This is not a typical storm," said Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett. "Essentially, this is a hurricane wrapped in a 'nor'easter.'" 
 
 Sandy grounds thousands of flights worldwide 
 
 CNN's Elizabeth Cohen, Dana Ford, Tom Watkins, Josh Levs, Chelsea J. Carter, Greg Botelho, Jason Kessler, Sarah Dillingham, Sean Morris, Ashley Corum, Eden Pontz and George Howell contributed to this report. ||||| Hurricane Sandy bore down on the Eastern Seaboard's largest cities Monday, forcing the shutdown of mass transit, schools and financial markets, sending coastal residents fleeing, and threatening a dangerous mix of high winds, soaking rain and a surging wall of water up to 11 feet tall. 
 
 Sandbags line the entrance of a building as people walk by near the Hudson River water front, Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012, in Hoboken, N.J. Tens of thousands of people were ordered to evacuate coastal areas... (Associated Press) 
 
 Sarah Korman and Michael Cunba, who evacuated their home in Long Beach, N.Y., bring their dogs Jade, left, and Ava to a pet shelter at Mitchell Park's Field House, run by the Nassau County Office of Emergency... (Associated Press) 
 
 People venture out during the strong winds and high surf of the Atlantic Ocean before the arrival of Hurricane Sandy on Sunday, Oct., 28, 2012, in Long Beach, N.Y. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek) (Associated Press) 
 
 A maintenance worker named Vitto attaches plywood to a sidewalk grate at the 2 Broadway building of Lower Manhattan in New York, Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012, as a child walks along the temporary structure.... (Associated Press) 
 
 Shoppers pass an empty egg section of a Food Emporium supermarket in the West Village in the wake of the storm, Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012, in New York. Tens of thousands of people were ordered to evacuate... (Associated Press) 
 
 Teresa Perez of Buxton, N.C., runs off a sand dune near Cape Hatteras Lighthouse on Hatteras Island Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012, as Hurricane Sandy works its way north, battering the U.S. East Coast. (AP Photo/The... (Associated Press) 
 
 This NOAA satellite image taken Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012 shows Hurricane Sandy off the Mid Atlantic coastline moving toward the north with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph. Tens of thousands of people were... (Associated Press) 
 
 Michael Bolick works on the roof of his friend Chris Villarreal's house Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012, in Sunset Park, N.C. Forecasters say Hurricane Sandy is a couple of hundred miles off the North Carolina... (Associated Press) 
 
 Mark Palazzolo, owner of a bait and tackle shop on the Manasquan Inlet in Point Pleasant Beach, N.J., sits next to wood he has used to board up his business in previous major storms, Sunday, Oct. 28,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Graphic shows the population density of areas projected to get more than two inches of rain from the superstorm (Associated Press) 
 
 This satellite image from the National Hurricane Center in Miami shows Sandy, at 10:03 a.m., Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012. Hurricane Sandy was headed north from the Caribbean, where it left nearly five dozen... (Associated Press) 
 
 Mayor Michael Bloomberg speaks to the media at Seward Park High School on the lower east side, the site of one of many public shelters set up in preparation of the storm, Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012, in New... (Associated Press) 
 
 Oswaldo Falleres puts tape on the window of a restaurant in preparation for the arrival of superstorm Sandy, Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012, in Hoboken, N.J. Tens of thousands of people were ordered to evacuate... (Associated Press) 
 
 Sandy strengthened before dawn and stayed on a predicted path toward Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York _ putting it on a collision course with two other weather systems that would create a superstorm with the potential for havoc over 800 miles from the East Coast to the Great Lakes. About 2 to 3 feet of snow were even forecast for mountainous parts of West Virginia. 
 
 The tempest could endanger up to 50 million people for days. 
 
 Many workers planned to stay home Monday as subways, buses and trains shut down across the region under the threat of flooding that could inundate tracks and tunnels. Airports also closed, and authorities warned that the time for evacuation was running out or already past. Utilities brought in extra crews, anticipating widespread power failures. 
 
 The center of the storm was positioned to come ashore Monday night in New Jersey, meaning the worst of the surge could be in the northern part of that state and in New York City and on Long Island. Higher tides brought by a full moon compounded the threat to the metropolitan area of about 20 million people. 
 
 "This is the worst-case scenario," said Louis Uccellini, environmental prediction chief for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 
 
 As rain from the leading edges began to fall over the Northeast on Sunday, hundreds of thousands of people from Maryland to Connecticut were ordered to leave low-lying coastal areas, including 375,000 in lower Manhattan and other parts of New York City, 50,000 in Delaware and 30,000 in Atlantic City, N.J., where the city's 12 casinos shut down for only the fourth time ever. 
 
 "I think this one's going to do us in," said Mark Palazzolo, who boarded up his bait-and-tackle shop in Point Pleasant Beach, N.J., with the same wood he used in past storms, crossing out the names of Hurricanes Isaac and Irene and spray-painting "Sandy" next to them. "I got a call from a friend of mine from Florida last night who said, `Mark, get out! If it's not the storm, it'll be the aftermath. People are going to be fighting in the streets over gasoline and food.'" 
 
 President Barack Obama declared emergencies in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, authorizing federal relief work to begin well ahead of time. He promised the government would "respond big and respond fast" after the storm hits. 
 
 "My message to the governors as well as to the mayors is anything they need, we will be there, and we will cut through red tape," Obama said. "We are not going to get bogged down with a lot of rules." 
 
 Authorities warned that New York could get hit with a surge of seawater that could swamp parts of lower Manhattan, flood subway tunnels and cripple the network of electrical and communications lines that are vital to the nation's financial center. 
 
 Major U.S. financial markets, including the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq and CME Group in Chicago, planned a rare shutdown Monday. The NYSE closed on Sept. 27, 1985, for Hurricane Gloria. The United Nations also shut down and canceled all meetings at its New York headquarters. 
 
 New York called off school Monday for the city's 1.1 million students and announced it would suspend all train, bus and subway service Sunday night. More than 5 million riders a day depend on the transit system. 
 
 "If you don't evacuate, you are not only endangering your life, you are also endangering the lives of the first responders who are going in to rescue you," Mayor Michael Bloomberg warned. "This is a serious and dangerous storm." 
 
 New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was typically blunt: "Don't be stupid. Get out." 
 
 Wary of being seen as putting their political pursuits ahead of public safety, Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney reshuffled campaign plans as the storm approached. 
 
 In Virginia, one of the most competitive states, election officials eased absentee voting requirements for those affected by the storm. Early voting was canceled Monday in Maryland and the District of Columbia. 
 
 Sandy, a Category 1 hurricane with sustained winds of 85 mph early Monday, was blamed for 65 deaths in the Caribbean before it began traveling northward, parallel to the Eastern Seaboard. As of 5 a.m. Monday, it was centered about 385 miles south-southeast of New York City, moving to the north at 15 mph, with hurricane-force winds extending an unusual 175 miles from its center. 
 
 Gale-force winds blew overnight over coastal North Carolina, southeastern Virginia, the Delmarva Peninsula and coastal New Jersey. 
 
 Sandy was expected to hook inland Monday, colliding with a wintry storm moving in from the west and cold air streaming down from the Arctic, and then cut across into Pennsylvania and travel up through New York state. 
 
 Forecasters said the combination could bring close to a foot of rain in places, a potentially lethal storm surge of 4 to 11 feet across much of the region, and punishing winds that could cause widespread power outages that last for days. The storm could also dump up to 2 feet of snow in Kentucky, North Carolina and West Virginia. 
 
 Airlines canceled nearly 7,500 flights and Amtrak began suspending train service across the Northeast. New York, Philadelphia, Washington and Baltimore moved to shut down their subways, buses and trains. Those cities shut down their schools, as did Boston. Non-essential government offices closed in the nation's capital. 
 
 Pennsylvania's largest utilities brought in hundreds of line and tree-trimming crews in anticipation of several days of power failures or intentional shutdowns in areas with heavy flooding. 
 
 In New Jersey, where utilities were widely criticized last year for slow responses after the remnants of storms Irene and Lee, authorities promised a better performance. More than 5,000 homes and businesses already were without electricity early Monday, mainly in Ocean and Cumberland counties. 
 
 About 90 miles off the coast of Cape Hatteras, N.C., 17 people abandoned a replica of the tall ship made famous in the film "Mutiny on the Bounty" after the vessel began taking on water, said Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class David Weydert. 
 
 The Coast Guard is trying to determine whether to use cutters or helicopters to rescue the crew, who are in two lifeboats and are wearing survival suits and life jackets, he added. 
 
 On Sunday evening in Rehoboth, Del., only a few cars rolled along Route 1, an artery that is often bumper-to-bumper in summer. 
 
 "We were told to get the heck out. I was going to stay, but it's better to be safe than sorry," said Hugh Phillips, who was one of the first in line when a Red Cross shelter opened Sunday afternoon in neighboring Lewes. 
 
 Despite the dire warnings, some refused to budge. 
 
 Jonas Clark of Manchester Township, N.J. _ right in Sandy's projected path _ stood outside a convenience store, calmly sipping a coffee and wondering why people were working themselves "into a tizzy." 
 
 "I've seen a lot of major storms in my time, and there's nothing you can do but take reasonable precautions and ride out things the best you can," said Clark, 73. 
 
 The storm threatened to drench areas still recovering from last year's deluges. 
 
 In Pompton Lakes, N.J., where record flooding inundated homes a year ago, some residents were already putting belongings out near the curb in advance of the storm. 
 
 "They're figuring, divide and conquer," said resident Kevin Gogots. "They'll take the stuff they want to save and put the rest out. Of course, if the street floods again, we'll just have things floating around." 
 
 ___ 
 
 Breed reported from Raleigh, N.C.; Contributing to this report were AP Science Writer Seth Borenstein in Washington; Katie Zezima in Atlantic City, N.J.; David Porter in Pompton Lakes, N.J.; Wayne Parry in Point Pleasant Beach, N.J.; and David Dishneau in Delaware. ||||| Separately, several cities, including Stamford, Conn., and Islip, N.Y., also ordered residents out of flood-prone areas. 
 
 “As conditions continue to deteriorate we’re seeing more people," with rain and increasing winds, she told NBC News. 
 
 Five shelters were open in Atlantic County for those five affected municipalities that are home to some 66,000 people, according to census data, said Linda Gilmore, a county spokeswoman. One of the shelters was already full. 
 
 Delaware Gov. Jack Markell ordered a mandatory evacuation of an estimated 50,000 people in coastal communities. In New Jersey, mandatory evacuations were ordered for Sandy Hook south to Cape May, an area that includes the casinos in Atlantic City and popular beach resorts. 
 
 The city opened 65 shelters in public schools on Sunday morning and said more could be opened. Last year, the mayor called for an evacuation in anticipation of Tropical Storm Irene, which officials called unprecedented. 
 
 “This evacuation is mandatory. It is for your own safety,” Bloomberg said. 
 
 New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg ordered mandatory evacuations (.PDF) of 375,000 people from low-lying areas in New York City, signifying officials' growing concern about the severity of the storm and its impact on the five boroughs. About 45,000 of those were people living in public housing, where the heat, hot water and elevator services will be turned off, Bloomberg said, according to NBCNewYork.com . 
 
 Mandatory evacuations Forecasters said Sandy could make U.S. landfall anywhere between Maryland and southern New England. Some computer models show a likely landfall between Delaware and the New York/New Jersey area, where the storm surge could reach from 6 feet to 11 feet. 
 
 "The combination of an extremely dangerous storm surge and the tide will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters," the National Hurricane Center said in its advisory. 
 
 A late Sunday advisory from the National Hurricane Center said Sandy was about 290 miles east of Cape Hatteras, N.C., and 470 miles south-southeast of New York City. It was moving northeast at 14 mph. 
 
 “Sandy is a large hurricane and large systems pose multiple hazards for more people than … smaller systems of comparable intensity,” National Hurricane Center Director Rick Knabb said Sunday. “The large size of the system is why it is so capable of producing a life threatening storm surge, with that threat being applicable to many areas.” 
 
 In anticipation of widespread damage and vast power outages, states of emergency were declared in nine states from North Carolina to Maine, as well as in Washington, D.C., as Sandy made its way north after killing at least 65 people in the Caribbean. 
 
 Workers on Sunday night began shutting down New York City's subway, bus and commuter railroads , as ordered by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. In New Jersey, bus, rail and light rail services were gradually shut down starting Sunday afternoon. 
 
 "The size of this alone, affecting a heavily populated area, is going to be history making," said Jeff Masters, a hurricane specialist who writes a blog posted on the Weather Underground . 
 
 Sandy could be the largest storm ever to hit the United States, according to NOAA's website . 
 
 "We're looking at impact of greater than 50 to 60 million people," said Louis Uccellini, head of environmental prediction for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). 
 
 Forecasters said Sandy has the ingredients to transform into a "super storm" as it merges with an Arctic jet stream, which could make the storm unlike anything seen over the eastern United States in decades. The storm is projected to make landfall late Monday . 
 
 Meanwhile, U.S. stock exchanges said they would not be trading on Monday and possibly Tuesday. In Washington, D.C., federal offices will remain closed Monday, and federal courts in affected areas sent out releases saying they, too, would be shuttered in anticipation of the historic storm. 
 
 A day before the storm was scheduled to make landfall, state and local officials issued mandatory evacuation orders for hundreds of thousands of residents in low-lying areas and began the slow, grinding process of shutting down New York City’s massive transit system. 
 
 Hurricane Sandy lumbered toward the East Coast early Monday, leaving potentially tens of millions of residents with only hours to prepare for its onslaught of punishing wind, torrential rains and, at higher elevations, heavy snow. 
 
 Tips on preparing for Sandy 
 
 Not everyone was heeding the evacuation orders. Peter Mercatanti, 26, who lives on Deauville Beach in Mantoloking, N.J., said Sunday afternoon that he had kayaks ready and had packed wet suits, waterproof book bags, flares, glow sticks, flashlights, propane and food to bear out the storm. 
 
 He had stocked sandbags around his home and put up shelter blinds on all of the windows and the doors. But ocean water was hitting his fence and winds that he estimated to be about 25 to 30 miles an hour could be heard screaming on the beach. 
 
 “I just wanted to be here for it, see it, experience it, and try to take care of my house as much as possible,” Mercatanti, a chief of operations for a gym chain, told NBC News by telephone. 
 
 Though he is "extremely worried," he won't leave the island but will head to a friend's house nearby if need be. 
 
 Peter Mercatanti won't leave his house on Deauville Beach in Mantoloking, N.J., saying he wants to home to experience the storm and try to take care of his house. "I can be sustainable and floating," he said. He took this image around 6 p.m. ET on Sunday. 
 
 "I’ve pretty much kind of prepared for every possible situation," he said. "I can be sustainable and floating." 
 
 The Coast Guard also rescued a surfer near Sea Bright, N.J., where authorities have issued mandatory evacuations. 
 
 "We can't stress enough to stay clear of beaches," said Chief Petty Officer Rodger Krass, the command duty officer in the New York sector, said in a statement. "Now is not the time to head out onto the water to go surfing as sea conditions are extremely dangerous and are continuing to worsen as Hurricane Sandy approaches shore." 
 
 President Barack Obama on Sunday visited the National Response Coordination Center at FEMA Headquarters, where the deployment of federal resources and teams to states up and down the East Coast will be coordinated, the White House said. 
 
 Calling it a "very serious storm event," he said: "This is going to affect a big swath of the country and because it's slow moving, it could be a number of days until people get power back." 
 
 FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate said earlier Sunday that the "time for preparing and talking is about over." 
 
 "People need to be acting now particularly as this storm … is becoming a rather substantial risk to storm surge," he added. The hurricane is "going to produce very high potential life threatening storm surge … that may require additional evacuations today." 
 
 Coastal flooding posed a major threat, particularly in low-lying areas like New York City, the global financial nerve center, and Alexandria, Va., across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. Flooding also could occur in parts of North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Connecticut, Rhode Island and New York, the National Hurricane Center said. 
 
 But Fugate warned that "this is not a coastal threat alone" and that the impact will be felt "well inland." 
 
 Share your images of Hurricane Sandy preparations 
 
 Some areas could experience up to a foot of rain, while others, such as West Virginia, Virginia and the area around the North Carolina-Tennessee border, could get from 1 to 3 feet of snow. 
 
 Sandy's winds were not overwhelming for a hurricane -- sustained near 75 mph Sunday afternoon with higher gusts. But its width is exceptional. Hurricane force winds extended up to 175 miles from its center while its lesser tropical storm-force winds reached across 520 miles. 
 
 Officials urged residents to stock up on emergency supplies, but items like lanterns, generators, propane, rain boots and batteries were hard to find at stores throughout the region. Grocery stores also reported runs on bread, bottled water and canned foods. 
 
 Long lines also were reported at gas stations that remained open. 
 
 Sandy also was disrupting travel in the region. More than 6,800 flights have been canceled so far, according to FlightAware.com, a flight tracking website. Rail traffic also was impacted, with Amtrak canceling all of its northeast corridor service in addition to some other lines it operates in the region. 
 
 Some local governments, including New York City and Washington, D.C., announced schools would be closed on Monday and Tuesday. Federal government offices in Washington, D.C., will also be closed Monday and non-emergency employees there as well as in Connecticut and Massachusetts have been told not to come to work. 
 
 The Broadway League said it was calling off all Broadway performances on Sunday and Monday evenings. 
 
 Workers also halted construction on Saturday at the World Trade Center, where efforts to secure the site were ongoing, Cuomo said in a statement. All construction materials have been tied down and nailed to concrete floors, or secured with heavy chains, and more than 1,000 sandbags had been placed around low-lying areas next to Battery Park and the Hudson River. 
 
 "I've directed the Port Authority to ensure that the World Trade Center site and the Memorial are protected from flooding and high winds due to Hurricane Sandy," Cuomo said. "The World Trade Center is being built well above and beyond normal flood protection standards; however we must take every precaution to ensure the site is protected from a potentially historic storm." 
 
 Election issues 
 
 Coming in the hectic run-up to the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 6, the storm presented a challenge to the campaigns of Obama and his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney. 
 
 Obama canceled campaign stops in Virginia and Colorado early next week because of the hurricane and was planning to remain at the White House, his spokesman said Saturday. 
 
 Romney rescheduled his campaign events for Virginia on Sunday and headed to Ohio instead. 
 
 Obama said officials did not expect the storm to impact voting, "but we're obviously going to have a look." Meantime, Maryland’s governor also announced that early voting in the state would be canceled Monday, so as not to jeopardize the safety of voters, NBC Washington reported. 
 
 Sandy is set to deliver potential election surprise 
 
 Power outages caused by the storm, expected to affect millions or residents and businesses, could continue through the election, NBC meteorologist Bill Karins warned. Some 3,000 people were without power in Virginia, where it was raining Sunday and up to 200 people were going to be evacuated, said Gov. Robert McDonnell. 
 
 "After the storm hits, expect the cleanup and power outage restoration to continue right up through Election Day," Karins said. "Serious and life-threatening weather conditions are expected from Outer Banks to New England." 
 
 Although Sandy is not forecast to be as strong as other recent storms to hit the Northeast -- such as Hurricane Irene in August 2011, which left $4 billion in damage -- it holds the potential to cause significant damage because it will be moving slowly. 
 
 Some experts predict at least $1 billion in damage in the United States. 
 
 Insurers prepare for impact of Hurricane Sandy
– Superstorm Sandy is battering coastal communities tonight with storm surges, downpours, and high winds, causing power outages and evacuation orders from Vermont to Virginia. No longer officially a hurricane, Sandy is starting to merge with two cold fronts, becoming bigger and messier but slightly weaker, sustaining winds of 85mph, according to CNN. As of this evening, about 2 million were without power along the eastern seaboard, according to the AP and other sources. Some specifics: Facing a direct hit, New Jersey is suffering flooding, high winds, and 434,000 power outages. Part of the Garden State Highway has been closed due to rising waters, and Atlantic City is so flooded that cars are underwater, CNN reports. Part of the city's famed boardwalk has been washed away. Hoboken, meanwhile, is banning all driving after 4pm. New York City is expecting storm surges as high as 11 feet. Thousands of flights have been canceled, and the subway has been shut down. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has requested 1,000 National Guard troops be deployed. About 452,000 are without power, and emergency crews have responded to a construction crane hanging dangerously from a luxury high-rise. The story is similar in Pennsylvania, specifically Philadelphia, which has also shut down its mass transit system, and seen hundreds of flights canceled. Officials say wind could reach 75mph and rainfall 10 inches. National Guardsmen have been told to be ready for deployment. Power outages: 74,000. Flooding is expected to knock out power stations in Connecticut, killing power for 117,400. Several coastal communities in Massachusetts are being urged to voluntarily evacuate, the Boston Globe reports, and in Boston all subway and bus service was shut down at 2pm. Nearly 1,000 crews are out helping more than 300,000 who have lost power. Flooding is expected along the coast with this evening's high tide. Washington, DC closed its rail service for the first time since 2003, and the federal government has closed up shop save for emergency employees, the Washington Post reports. Nearly 5,500 are without power. In Virginia about 9,500 people are without power, and the same could happen to about 1 million more. Chincoteague Island is entirely underwater with 3,500 residents who decided to tough it out. Maryland has seen damage to an iconic ocean pier in Ocean City, and a blizzard warning has been issued for the mountainous western part of the state. About 145,000 are without power, the Baltimore Sun reports. West Virginia has blizzard fears as well, with as many as 14 counties told to prepare for high winds, heavy snows, and flooded towns. Vermont has declared a state of emergency to give it access to National Guard troops. According to the AP, the state still hasn't fully recovered from the damage wrought by Hurricane Irene. About 14,470 have lost power. Rhode Island officials say wind could drive water up Narragansett Bay and flood low-lying areas. About 110,000 are without power. Keep checking back for more.