Claudene Christian, a crew member of the storm-hit tall sailing HMS Bounty, has been pronounced dead in hospital after being rescued at sea.
Officials said the woman, Claudene Christian, 42, had been unresponsive when taken from the water in a dramatic helicopter rescue.
The ship’s captain is still missing, but 14 crew members were rescued.
The ship, which was built for the 1962 film Mutiny on the Bounty, is thought to have sunk.
HMS Bounty was off North Carolina in a stretch of water known as “the Graveyard of the Atlantic”.
It was approximately 160 miles (250 km) west of the eye of storm Sandy, when it began taking on water on Sunday night.
Claudene Christian, a crew member of the storm-hit tall sailing HMS Bounty, has been pronounced dead in hospital after being rescued at sea
A coastguard official said earlier that the ship seemed to have capsized while the crew were trying to abandon ship and get into life rafts in 18ft (5.4m) seas.
Fourteen crew members were hoisted to safety by helicopter, but two of the crew appeared not to have made it to the rafts, he said.
Claudene Christian was taken to a North Carolina hospital by helicopter, the coastguard said.
HMS Bounty is a three-mast, 180ft replica of the ship made famous by the mutiny of its crew in Tahiti in 1789.
It had featured in a number of Hollywood films including Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.
The replica left the north-eastern state of Connecticut last week and was heading to Florida.
“They were staying in constant contact with the National Hurricane Center,” Tracie Simonin, the director of the HMS Bounty Organization, told the Associated Press news agency.
Nearly 200 heroic firefighters battled an uncontrollable blaze that tore through 50 homes in the Rockaways, Queens, trapping people between flooded streets and towering flames.
The New York City firefighters waded through chest-deep water and paddled boats towards the inferno, scaling walls to help families out through windows.
Floods stopped fire engines getting anywhere near the cluster of burning apartments, after the inferno was sparked by downed power lines at 11:00 p.m. last night.
Firefighters were still fighting to contain the flames at 5am.
The six-alarm fire – a rating system indicating it is dangerously serious – was whipped into a frenzy by wild winds.
Firefighters used ladders to help get 70 people to the little high ground that was left on the peninsula.
The authorities said the blaze had engulfed 15 homes, but WABC put the figure much higher, at 50.
Nearly 200 heroic firefighters battled an uncontrollable blaze that tore through 50 homes in the Rockaways, Queens
Firefighter Michael Parrella told the New York Times that the area was “probably the most flooded part of the city”.
The precarious Rockaway peninsula is a narrow strip of land that juts between the Atlantic Ocean and Jamaica Bay.
The entire area, which has 130,000 residents, was in the city’s mandatory evacuation zone, but dozens decided to stay and weather the storm.
After power went out about 6: 0 p.m. last night, downed power lines sparked a pair of dangerous fires in Rockaway Park and Breezy Point.
These spread rapidly, engulfing house after house in the densely-packed bedroom community.
“The Rockaways are devastated,” wrote Twitter user @KevinNeafsey.
“I can’t believe the place that I grew up in looks like this after today, it’s so incredibly sad.”
NYC ARECS (Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Service) said that police in the 100th Precinct station house in the area were trapped on the building’s second floor.
“What we have seen here is absolutely devastating,” said ABC News producer Jim DeBreuil.
At Rockaway Park, a crew of Fire Department of New York special operations firefighters found themselves stranded on the last dry ground in the neighborhood.
They took a small boat into the heart of the fire and carried 30 people to safety.
In Breezy Point, 140 firefighters rescued 40 people. They were only able to fight the inferno and stop its spread when the storm had receded
Good Morning America reporter Matt Gutman got a little too close and personal with Hurricane Sandy while reporting on the storm for ABC News.
Matt Gutman and his producer were preparing to film a segment from Nags Head, North Carolina on Monday morning, when the pair were knocked down by a powerful wave.
The two were completely submerged and they scrambled to try and get out of the water and back to shore.
The clip of the crashing wave went viral but some didn’t find the episode very funny, taking to Twitter to say it made them “feel sick” and blasting the media for being reckless.
But Matt Gutman defended his reporting, insisting that “everyone was safe, no one was harmed”, saying they just got “a quick dunk”.
The crew from ABC were just the latest members of the media to bear the brunt of the stormy weather for viewer’s pleasure…or disgust.
Good Morning America reporter Matt Gutman got a little too close and personal with Hurricane Sandy while reporting on the storm
CNN’s Ali Velshi battled the elements as he reported from a street in Atlantic City, New Jersey – where the storm will slam down.
Revelers interrupted his live shot, dancing a Gangnam style jig, as gusty winds and harsh rain poured down.
Despite the hilarity of the scene, the coverage was not well received by the local community and the mayor of Atlantic City, Lorenzo Langford, slammed Ali Velshi for disregarding warnings to stay inside, advising that “self preservation” should be the priority.
But Ali Velshi assured viewers that his team of professionals were taking precautions.
“We’ve done this before, and we know how to keep safe,” he said on air, adding that they were only reporting from outside to show people how dangerous the situation was.
Additionally, FOX News reporter Peter Doocy, the 25-year-old son of Fox and Friends anchor Steve Doocy, experienced an embarrassing after affect from the weather.
Peter Doocy got stuck in the sand as he spoke on air from Delaware’s Rohobeth Beach on Monday.
When he stepped off the boardwalk and onto the sand, his feet quickly sank and he was brought to his knees and fell over.
“It looks like the sandy walkway out to the beach has actually got my foot stuck,” Peter Doocy said as he tried to recover.
“Not a pretty picture out here in Delaware, I’m okay.”
Beverley Hills-based Chroma Makeup Studio is allegedly threatening to sue the Kardashians for using a similar sounding name to christen their forthcoming cosmetics Khroma Beauty collection.
Chroma Makeup Studio says that news of Kardashians’ Khroma range has caused “widespread confusion” among its clients, and has been “damaging” to business.
According to TMZ, Michael Rey, the company’s co-founder, has hired a legal team and will pursue action if the reality stars fail to change their moniker.
A statement on the company website reads: “We believe that the Kardashians’ actions are damaging our business.
“Chroma Makeup Studio, which has a long-standing reputation for high quality color line cosmetics and services, is NOT endorsing low budget cosmetic products that will be sold in mass retail outlets.”
Kim, Kourtney and Khloe Kardashian announced their forthcoming range, Khroma Beauty, in June – an “affordable” line featuring false eyelashes, a “suite” of mascaras and “Kardazzle Compacts”.
Kim, Kourtney and Khloe Kardashian announced their forthcoming Khroma Beauty in June as an affordable line
An excited Kim Kardashian took to her blog to announce the news: “These are the brand new promo shots for our makeup line, Khroma Beauty! I can’t wait to share all of our amazing new products with you guys.”
She continued: “We’ve always wanted to release our own cosmetics line, so this is a dream come true.
“Our Lash Dash luxury lash collection will debut this holiday season, with more products coming in the new year.”
The December release, which will be exclusive to Ulta stores across the U.S., is being touted as a “special holiday assortment”.
A further launch, including even more products, will follow in January-February 2013.
The second round of products will include a Kurve Compact finishing powder, a pre-foundation treatment mask titled the Million Dollar Mask and an illuminator.
Chroma Makeup Studio has a long-standing reputation for high quality color line cosmetics and services
Kim Kardashian has become known for her flawless, glowing, and dewy looking skin; often using heavy layers of products to achieve an enviable “no-make-up” look.
She expressed her delight over the new venture in June, writing: “I’ve been waiting forever to be able to tell you guys and finally I can… my sisters and I are launching our own make-up line!!”
The sisters said in a press release: “We’re so excited. There’s a glam girl in all of us and it’s a dream come true to have our own makeup line and to share it with women around the world.”
Robin Coe-Hutshing, creative director of Khrome Beauty, said the line should prove affordable to fans.
“Kourtney, Kim and Khloe wanted to share their access to luxury formulas with their fans and our goal was to provide a prestige product range at very accessible prices,” she said.
Kim Kardashian added that she and her sisters have loved make-up from very early ages, and even Kylie Jenner, their half sister, tweeted this morning about being a huge Cover FX fan.
“Growing up we would play with my mom’s make-up and from a young age I always wanted to be a make-up artist!” Kim Kardashian wrote.
“Of course now make-up plays such a huge role in all of our lives, whether we’re on camera, at a shoot glammed up or just keeping it natural day to day and it’s a dream come true to be able to create our own line of products to share with you guys,” she continued.
Scientists have warned that a million people living on the shores of Lake Geneva could be at risk from devastating tsunamis.
In the sixth century a tsunami triggered by a rockfall on the lake destroyed several villages, sent a 26 ft wave crashing over Geneva’s city walls, and caused many casualties.
Experts investigating the event said a similar disaster could easily happen again, and Geneva with its 200,000 inhabitants was especially vulnerable.
They argued that the threat of lake tsunamis is underestimated and should be taken more seriously.
The Lake Geneva tsunami followed a documented mountain rockfall, known as the Tauredunum event, in AD 563.
A survey, analysis of sediment cores and computer simulations suggested that the rockfall caused a huge mudslide where the river Rhone flows into the lake.
The resulting displacement of water generated large tsunami waves, including one 13 metres (42 ft) high where Lausanne now lies on the lake’s northern shore.
An eight metre (26 ft) high wave hit Geneva 70 minutes after the initial mass movement of sediment. The city is right at the other end of the lake from the mudslide, a distance of more than 70 kilometres.
Scientists have warned that a million people living on the shores of Lake Geneva could be at risk from devastating tsunamis
A reconstruction showed that the wave would have destroyed Geneva bridge and breached the city walls, as reported in historical records.
“Today, a wave of this height would completely inundate large parts of the inner city of Geneva,” the researchers wrote in the journal Nature Geoscience.
They pointed out that the event which triggered the tsunami was “by no means unique”.
Seismic records showed that large mass movements of sediment had been generated on the lake several times in the past 12,000 years. Any of these could have triggered destructive tsunami waves.
The scientists, led by Katrina Kremer, from the University of Geneva, wrote: “Given that riverine sediment input is still loading on the slopes of the Rhone delta, tsunamis may well occur in Lake Geneva in the future, whether they are triggered by rockfall, earthquakes, or simply large storms, resulting in slope failure.
“Such tsunamis … pose a direct and hitherto largely ignored threat to at least a million people living along the lake shores.
“Geneva is particularly vulnerable to such events, both because of its low elevation relative to the current lake level, and its location at the tip of the funnel-shaped lake.”
They added: “Our study highlights that not only cities located on sea coasts and fjords are at risk from destructive tsunamis, but so are densely populated lake shores.
“We believe that the risk associated with tsunamis in lakes is currently underestimated, and that these phenomena require greater attention if future catastrophes are to be avoided.”
New movie Skyfall has had the biggest Bond opening weekend of all time, according to figures from film company Sony Pictures.
Skyfall took $31 million following its release on Friday making it the biggest UK opening of 2012 so far and the third biggest UK opening of all time.
However, Skyfall failed to smash the record set by last year’s Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2.
The final film in the wizard franchise, in 3D, took $35 million in its first weekend.
It is also just behind Toy Story 3, which took $32.5 million in its opening weekend according to Screen Daily, although the animation also benefited from four days of previews.
Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, producers of the 23rd 007 movie, said: “We are absolutely overwhelmed with the reaction to Skyfall this weekend. It is particularly thrilling as the UK is home to James Bond and it being the 50th anniversary year.”
Skyfall has had the biggest Bond opening weekend of all time
James Bond is the longest-running film franchise in history.
Co-starring Dame Judi Dench and Javier Bardem, it opened in 587 cinemas across the UK and Ireland, while US fans will get to see the film from 9 November.
Skyfall marked director Sam Mendes’ Bond debut, but sees Daniel Craig back in the role of the spy for a third time, following the success of Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace.
Daniel Craig has signed up to return as 007 in two more Bond films.
Last week it was revealed in The Hollywood Reporter that one of Skyfall’s co-writers, John Logan, had begun work on a two-part original Bond story, not based on the work of the series’ original author Ian Fleming.
John Logan has previously worked on Martin Scorsese films Hugo and The Aviator and Ridley Scott’s Gladiator.
Georgia May Jagger, the youngest daughter of Jerry Hall and Mick Jagger, recreated one of her mother’s most famous looks in a photo shoot for Glamour magazine.
With her blonde locks piled to one side and her enviable cheekbones on display, Georgia May Jagger, 20, looks exactly like her mother in a snap taken in 1993.
Both daughter and mother are seen in bright red ensembles, with matching bright lips, it is hard to deny that Georgia May Jagger has inherited some great genes.
In the magazine feature, Georgia May Jagger revealed how she envies her 56-year-old mother for “her big, beautiful brows”.
“That’s the thing I wish I had,” she said.
Georgia May Jagger is carving her very own successful modeling career and as seen storming the catwalk during London Fashion Week last month.
Georgia May Jagger recreated Jerry Hall’s most famous look in a photo shoot for Glamour magazine
Child Protection Services officers visited the home of Kris and Bruce Jenner on Friday after allegations their teen daughters Kendall and Kylie were being abused.
Kris and Bruce Jenner, who star in Keeping Up With The Kardashians, are said to be horrified by the allegations, which they say were made by a “prank caller”.
No evidence of abuse was found by the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services.
A source told Radaronline that Child Services were obliged to investigate any allegations.
“Social workers met with the girls individually and determined that they were fine but out of an abundance of caution, cops and social workers will be making another visit to the house Monday afternoon before they officially close the case,” they said.
A source told the website Kris Jenner suspected the allegations were made by a tabloid journalist and had now hired a private investigator to determine the source.
Child Protection Services officers visited the home of Kris and Bruce Jenner on Friday after allegations their teen daughters Kendall and Kylie were being abused
Kylie Jenner, 15, was in the Philippines at the time where she walked a fashion show.
She tweeted pictures of herself enjoying karaoke, watching the sunset from an idyllic beach and eating a gourmet meal.
Kylie and her sister Kendall Jenner are homeschooled after leaving their private school at the end of last year in order to pursue their modelling careers.
Despite the upsetting allegations, the family appeared happy on Sunday when they celebrated Bruce Jenner’s 63rd birthday with a family dinner.
Kendall Jenner, who turns 17 next week, tweeted: “Happy birthday to the most wonderful man I know, my dad!”
And she shared a picture of herself cuddling up to Bruce Jenner in the restaurant.
The girls’ life, as seen on their show, certainly doesn’t seem to be deprived.
They live in a luxury mansion with their close and supportive family, are lavished with designer goodies, and have many friends.
President Barack Obama declared that a “major disaster” exists in New York state following Superstorm Sandy, freeing up federal aid for victims.
The declaration came after the massive storm battered the east coast of the United States, flooding lower Manhattan and leaving a half million people in New York City without power.
Hurricane Sandy swept a wall of churning sea water and driving rain onto a vast swathe of the coastline, flooding the heart of New York and leaving at least 13 dead and millions without power
The huge storm stretched over hundreds of miles and paralyzed several major cities as it brought coastal flooding and hurricane-force winds to the densely-populated East Coast and blizzards to the mountainous interior.
Seawater coursed between the iconic skyscrapers of New York’s financial district in lower Manhattan, flooding subways and road tunnels and shorting out the power grid, plunging more than six million households into darkness.
Further south, the sea surged over vast swathes of the eastern seaboard, turning coastal cities into ghost towns as the high winds grounded airplanes and shut down rail links, public transport and government offices.
The catastrophe completely overshadowed the US election race, forcing a halt to campaigning a week before Americans are due to go to the polls to choose between President Barack Obama and challenger Mitt Romney.
Hurricane Sandy had killed 67 people as it tore through the Caribbean, and reports of more deaths began to arrive after it made landfall at 8:00 p.m. in New Jersey and began to wreak havoc in the United States.
Local officials in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia and North Carolina reported 13 dead in storm related incidents, and Toronto police said a Canadian woman was killed by flying debris.
Authorities warned the threat to life and property was “unprecedented” and ordered hundreds of thousands of residents in areas from New England to North Carolina to evacuate their homes and seek shelter.
The National Hurricane Center said wind speeds inside Sandy dropped as the storm became a post-tropical cyclone, but remained hurricane-force at 75 miles per hour (120 km/h) after it made landfall near casino resort Atlantic City.
President Barack Obama declared that a “major disaster” exists in New York state following Superstorm Sandy
Falling trees tore down power cables, plunging what weather experts said were millions of homes into darkness, while storm warnings cut rail links and marooned tens of thousands of travelers at airports across the region.
A nuclear power plant in New Jersey declared an alert as waters rose.
The Oyster Creek nuclear power plant, just north of Atlantic City, was already on a scheduled outage as Sandy made landfall, and the industry regulator said there was no immediate danger.
The hurricane sent a record storm surge of 13.7 feet (4.15 meters) into lower Manhattan, flooding seven major subway tunnels used by hundreds of thousands of daily commuters and swamping cars in the financial district.
“The New York City subway system is 108 years old, but it has never faced a disaster as devastating as what we experienced last night,” city transport director Joseph Lhota said early Tuesday.
Hours earlier, a power sub-station exploded in a burst of light captured by amateur photographers as a massive blackout left much of Manhattan, and some 500,000 homes across New York City, in darkness.
The flood waters had begun to recede early Tuesday, but the Con Edison power company said it could take a week to completely restore power.
Disaster estimating firm Eqecat forecast that Sandy would affect more than 60 million Americans, a fifth of the population, and cause up to $20 billion in damage.
Refineries closed and major arteries such New York’s Holland Tunnel were shut to traffic. The operator of two major New Jersey nuclear plants said they might have to be closed, threatening half the state’s power supply.
The New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and the futures markets in Chicago were closed for Monday and Tuesday, along with federal government offices and the entire Amtrak rail network on the eastern seaboard.
Barack Obama urged Americans to heed local evacuation orders as he stepped off the campaign trail and spent the day in the White House helping to coordinate the response to the disaster.
“The election will take care of itself next week,” Barack Obama said.
“Right now, our number one priority is to make sure that we are saving lives… and that we respond as quickly as possible to get the economy back on track.”
Both the Democratic incumbent and his Republican rival Mitt Romney were keen to display resolute leadership in the face of the storm, given the memory of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Mitt Romney also canceled some appearances.
Former president George W. Bush was widely seen as having bungled the handling of Katrina, which devastated New Orleans. The failure of authorities in the ensuing emergency response tainted the rest of his presidency.
Barack Obama has signed emergency declarations to free up federal disaster funds for New York state, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, the District of Columbia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia and West Virginia.
Polish Catholic Church has warned that modern Halloween rituals risk promoting the occult.
In a statement on its website, the Church said that celebrating Halloween could contradict Church teachings and Christianity.
One archbishop said the 31 October celebrations were promoting paganism to young people.
Archbishop Andzej Dziega warned that Halloween was behind a “culture of death”.
“This kind of fun, tempting children like candy, also poses the real possibility of great spiritual damage, even destroying spiritual life,” the archbishop of Szczecin-Kamien wrote in a letter to be read out at Sunday sermons, according to the Polish Press Agency.
Polish Catholic Church has warned that modern Halloween rituals risk promoting the occult
He wrote that “irresponsible and anti-Christian fun” introduced young people to a “world of darkness, including devils, vampires and demons” in the name of “fun”.
The archbishop’s statement echoes that of the Catholic Church in Poland, which warned that the “occult rituals” contradicted Church teachings and Christianity.
The All Saints religious feast is widely celebrated in the largely Catholic nation on 1 November, with relatives often travelling across the country to tend to the graves of late relatives, decorating them with lanterns and wreaths.
But the American-style practice of carving pumpkins and dressing up as monsters, ghouls and devils the night before has also become increasingly popular.
Kate Upton has landed her very first Vogue cover, going from Sports Illustrated to the pinnacle of high fashion in less than a year.
Dismissed as a girl with “the kind of face that anyone with enough money can go out and buy”, by Victoria’s Secret earlier this year, Kate Upton appears on this month’s issue of Vogue Italia with the simple tagline “Seductive”.
Wearing Fendi fur and a Patricia Field bustier, Kate Upton, 20, was photographed by Steven Meisel for the Helmut Newton-style November cover.
After shooting to fame at the start of this year thanks to her Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover, Victoria’s Secret famously dismissed Kate Upton as unworthy of its brand image.
But soon after her revealing GQ cover shot by Terry Richardson, Kate Upton landed her first profile in U.S. Vogue’s June issue, and the magazine dissected her high fashion appeal – did she or did she not, have any?
Now, with two inside shoots for U.S. Vogue under her belt, the most recent seeing her model classic sportswear in a crisp palette of red, black, white and blue for its own November issue, there is little doubt that the model is now a bona fide member of the high fashion set.
Hailed as “The New Girl” by American Vogue, Carine Roitfeld has also embraced her, shooting her as the cover girl for the first issue of her new fashion magazine CR Fashion Book.
The French former Paris Vogue editor told The Daily Beast: “I didn’t want a normal model. I wanted someone with a sensual body, someone who could be a mother for all these babies… I would not say she’s a controversial model, but she’s not a classic model. And I like that.”
Kate Upton has landed her very first Vogue cover, going from Sports Illustrated to the pinnacle of high fashion in less than a year
And the model says she has no plan to embrace the super-skinny high fashion look.
“I don’t want to starve myself,” she told U.S. Vogue.
“I still want to hang out with my family and be a normal girl. You have to be confident, and that doesn’t mean starving yourself.”
“I think it’s important to look at magazines and think a healthy lifestyle is attainable,” she explains.
“Now that the fashion industry likes the idea of me, I’m happy if I can have an influence.”
Kate Upton says she is particularly comfortable in a swimsuit because she grew up near the beach in Florida, where it was “no big deal”.
“When I lived in Florida, the swimsuit was the key wardrobe piece,” she says.
“I lived ten minutes from the beach, but I never sat there and said, <<I want to be every man’s fantasy>>.”
The crew of HMS Bounty was forced to abandon ship off North Carolina coast yesterday as it became caught in raging seas near the eye of Hurricane Sandy while the captain remains missing, presumed dead.
It now means 15 of the 16 crew members of the iconic boat are accounted for – with 63-year-old captain Robin Walbridge yet to be found.
Two coast guard helicopters rescued 14 people from life rafts after they were forced to abandon ship.
As six-metre waves and ferocious gales battered the decks of the 180-foot, three-masted ship – knocking out its power – terrified crew-members clambered into life boats to watch their floating home shrink unmanned into the darkness.
However, following the rescue of 14 crew members, two people – including the ship’s captain – were missing at sea.
The world-famous boat- which featured in Hollywood blockbusters Mutiny on the Bounty with Marlon Brando and two Pirates of the Caribbean films, starring Johnny Depp – became stranded on Sunday night about 90 miles southeast of Hatteras, North Carolina.
The crew were picked hours later up by a search and rescue team who were dispatched by helicopter to bring them to safety.
But fears were confirmed that this was indeed the final voyage of the historic replica after the coast guard said it did not have time to retrieve her before conditions became too dangerous.
HMS Bounty crew was forced to abandon ship off North Carolina coast as it became caught in raging seas near the eye of Hurricane Sandy
“The 17 person crew donned cold water survival suits and lifejackets before launching in two 25-man lifeboats with canopies,” the Coast Guard said in a statement.
The ship was built in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia for the 1962 movie Mutiny on the Bounty that starred Marlon Brando.
It is a replica of the British Navy’s original HMS Bounty on which the famous mutiny took place in Tahiti in 1789 and is now used as a sailing school for prospective seafarers.
It was built using the original ship drawings from files in the British admiralty archives, but its dimensions were enlarged by around a third to fit the enormous 70 mm cameras used in the filming.
Some 400,000 feet of lumber were used, 10,000 square yards of canvas were sewn by hand and 10 miles of rope were rigged before it was ready for the silver screen.
The plan was to burn the ship in a dramatic final act, but Marlon Brando had become so attached to the vessel that he threatened to walk out in protest so, rather than lose their star, its owners MGM agreed to keep it in service.
It has since become one of Hollywood’s most famous ships and was used in filming for the 1989 film Treasure Island with Charlton Heston and also appeared in two of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, Dead Man’s Chest and At World’s End, both starring Johnny Depp and Keira Knightley.
This year it was put up for sale by its current owners for $4.6 million.
The storm engulfing New York has ripped a crane off the top of a 65-story luxury building and torn the face off an apartment in the West Village, leaving the insides of several homes exposed.
The construction crane was left dangling precariously over the edge of a building on West 57th Street in Midtown Manhattan, while nearby streets and buildings were cleared as a precaution.
The fire department reported that it had responded to a multiple-dwelling building collapse at Eight Avenue and 14th Street.
People are reportedly trapped inside the structure, but additional information about the 7:00 p.m. accident is not yet known.
The call over the crane collapse came in around 2:30 p.m. yesterday as conditions worsened and Hurricane Sandy approached.
Meteorologists said winds atop the building could have been close to 95 mph at the time.
New York City evacuated neighbors of the nearly completed luxury apartment building after the collapse prompted fears the crane’s boom could crash to the ground.
The buildings that were evacuated included the Parker Meridien hotel with 900 guests.
The crane’s upper arm dangled over the street near Central Park from what should eventually become the city’s tallest residential building.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the crane had been inspected on Friday, as other construction cranes had ahead of the storm, and that the cause of the accident remained unknown.
Engineers went to the top of the building to examine the crane but stopped short of attempting any repairs, officials said.
The storm engulfing New York has ripped a crane off the top of a 65-story luxury building and torn the face off an apartment in the West Village
The New York City Buildings Department suspended construction work at 5:00 p.m. Saturday in anticipation of the storm.
The government body reminded contractors and property owners to secure construction sites and buildings.
It was also performing random inspections to make sure equipment was secured.
Michael Bloomberg told a news conference: “It’s conceivable that nobody did anything wrong whatsoever and it wasn’t even a malfunction, it was just a strange gust of wind.
“Just because it was inspected, that doesn’t mean that God doesn’t do things or that metal doesn’t fail. There’s no reason to think at this point in time that the inspection wasn’t adequate.”
Firefighters closed streets for several blocks surrounding the site, evacuated 300 apartments in three buildings and were preparing to evacuate more, a Fire Department spokesman said.
A spokeswoman for Lend Lease, construction manager for the project, said the company was working with city officials to secure the structure but the weather remained severe.
Passers-by stared in apprehension, while some stopped to take pictures of the building that will feature $90 million duplexes.
The contractor was Australia’s Lend Lease Construction and Canada’s Pinnacle Industries own the crane, said Mary Costello, a spokeswoman for Lend Lease.
“We are working with structural engineers and the DOB [Department of Buildings] on evaluating any additional measures that can be taken to secure the boom and crane structure,” Mary Costello said.
The billionaires behind fashion label Michael Kors, Lawrence Stroll and Silas Chou, have both signed contracts for $50 million full-floor apartments in the tower at 157 W. 57th Street.
A sprawling 13,554 square foot apartment on the 75th and 76th floor on the building, reportedly sold for $90 million to an unknown buyer and the penthouse of One57, located on the 89th and 90th floors, was rumored to have sold for $95 million.
New York City looks like the set of a disaster movie this morning after a night of being battered by Superstorm Sandy.
It hit the mainland at 6:30 p.m. local time last night having laid waste to large parts of the coast during the day. The US city shut its mass transit system, schools, the stock exchange and Broadway, and ordered hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers to leave home to get out of the way as Sandy zeroed in.
A 13 ft wall of water caused by the storm surge and high tides resulted in severe flooding to subways and road tunnels. Torrents of water poured into building works at Ground Zero, cars were swept down streets and power was cut across lower Manhattan in a bid to minimize damage to infrastructure.
Superstorm Sandy knocked out power to at least 6.2 million people across the US East, and large sections of Manhattan were plunged into darkness by the storm, with 250,000 customers without power as water pressed into the island from three sides, flooding rail yards, subway tracks, tunnels and roads.
New York City’s 911 dispatchers were receiving 20,000 calls per hour. An extraordinary 24 hours saw what was originally classed as a hurricane close in and converge with a cold-weather system that turned it into a superstorm – a monstrous hybrid consisting not only of rain and high wind, but also snow.
Cars were swept down streets and power was cut across lower Manhattan in a bid to minimize damage to infrastructure
Hurricane Sandy smacked the boarded-up big cities of the Northeast corridor, from Washington and Baltimore to Philadelphia, New York and Boston, with stinging rain and gusts of 85 mph. Sixteen deaths were reported in New Jersey, New York, Maryland, North Carolina, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Connecticut.
Seven New York City subway tunnels were flooded by the morning. At least five deaths were reported in New York. Some of the victims were killed by falling trees and at least one death was blamed on the storm in Canada
Storm damage was projected at up to $18 million, meaning it could be one of the costliest natural disasters in US history. Nineteen workers were trapped inside a Consolidated Edison power station in east Manhattan by rising floodwaters, with a rescue worker saying it had suffered an explosion inside.
New York Gov Andrew Cuomo is calling up an additional 1,000 National Guard troops, doubling the Superstorm force he initially thought would be enough to deal with the impending mayhem due to hit the city.
Andrew Cuomo says the troops will be used to prepare for a possible historic storm surge and to contend with widespread damage and power outages caused by Hurricane Sandy.
He already called up 1,000 National Guard troopers on Sunday, saying today the “cruel irony” is that the state is better prepared now because of last year’s tropical storms.
The Army Corps of Engineers says the state is very well prepared and more bridges and tunnels around the city are expected to be closed at 7:00 p.m.
Police evacuated the area surrounding a super luxury high-rise under construction near Carnegie Hall as a rooftop crane dangled precariously in the wind on the roof.
Police have closed off Seventh Avenue between 58th and 55th Streets. All occupants of buildings on West 57th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues have been advised to move to the lower floors.
The streets were deserted from early this morning after 375,000 people were evacuated from their homes, subways stopped and shops and businesses closed in preparation for what is thought to be one of the worst storms in history.
Manhattan streets were deserted from early this morning after 375,000 people were evacuated from their homes ahead of Hurricane Sandy
A 14-foot wall of water is expected to pummel the east coast after 5:00 p.m. today and residents are bracing themselves for winds of up to 90 mph – with the tunnels in and out of the city shut down at 2:00 p.m.
Subways, schools and the stock exchange will be closed tomorrow as well.
The National Weather Service is reporting 24-foot seas off New Jersey after the storm continues to gather strength as it barrels across the Atlantic.
City officials are bracing for the high tide which is expected to come around 8:00 p.m. with Gov Andrew Cuomo warning: “The worst is still to come. Do not underestimate this storm.”
He added: “We are known for our toughness, but we have a sense of community that is very inspirational.”
LILCO reported more than 115,000 customers on Long Island were without power from Monday morning. Con Edison said at least 21,000 customers in New York City and in Westchester County are without power, while in upstate New York, 10,600 customers are affected.
Two key tunnels connecting Manhattan to New Jersey and Brooklyn would be closed later on Monday ahead of the hurricane.
Andrew Cuomo said the Holland Tunnel, which opened in 1927 and remains one of the main connections between New Jersey and New York City, would close as a precaution at 2:00 p.m.
The Hugh L. Carey Tunnel, known locally as the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, will also shut down at the time. New York City bridges will remain open for now, he said at a news conference.
Those on the upper floors of high-rise buildings are getting ready to be evacuated because the winds are going to be significantly stronger than those near ground level.
An alarm was raised after a crane on West 57th Street collapsed on to a 75-story building.
New Yorkers spent most of yesterday cleaning out grocery stores as they stocked up on water, batteries, candles and essential food items.
Rising waters put most of Atlantic City under water on Monday as the approach of Hurricane Sandy flooded towns up and down the New Jersey shore, knocked out power to thousands and left some people stranded in homes inundated with water.
Emergency officials said they expected conditions to get much worse at evening high tide when they expect the center of the storm to hit.
“The city’s basically flooded,” said Willie Glass, Atlantic City’s public safety director.
“Most of the city is under water.”
The same could be said of much of the southern New Jersey shore. The storm surge went over the seawall in Cape May with high tide early Monday and punched through dunes in other communities. The Garden State Parkway south of Atlantic City was shut down in both directions. Officials reported rescues in Pleasantville.
Hurricane Sandy was just one component of a massive storm coming together over the eastern third of the U.S., bringing damaging wind and flooding and fears of prolonged power outages.
Rising waters put most of Atlantic City under water on Monday as the approach of Hurricane Sandy flooded towns up and down the New Jersey shore
By 11:00 a.m. on Monday, the National Hurricane Center indicated that Sandy had strengthened with top sustained winds of 90 mph. The center was expected to make landfall in southern New Jersey late Monday night.
“It’s going to be a slog through the history books but we’re doing OK so far,” Willie Glass said.
Atlantic City and its casinos were ordered evacuated on Sunday. The city’s historic boardwalk remained intact despite the rising floodwaters, though an old section at the north end broke up and washed away.
State Emergency Management spokeswoman Mary Goepfert said about 115,000 residents were ordered to evacuate the state’s barrier islands, and local officials ordered many more in their towns. It was not known how many heeded the warning. She said more than 2,200 people were in shelters statewide.
About 35,000 homes and businesses across the state were without power by midday Monday as officials braced for a storm surge that was expected to cause record-breaking flooding.
Microsoft has formally launched the Windows Phone 8 operating system in a bid to reclaim smartphone market share.
It boasted that the system’s internet browser, Internet Explorer 10, was the fastest on any mobile, and also suggested it offered the closest integration with video chat app Skype.
Microsoft had a 3.1% share of the handset system market in the April-to-June quarter, according to IDC.
The low figure has discouraged some developers from building apps for it.
HTC, Nokia and Samsung have all unveiled flagship WP8 devices over recent months, but had been unable to release them while they waited for Microsoft to sign off its software.
The handsets will now go on sale in Europe at the weekend and rollout worldwide during November.
“It can’t be underestimated how important it is to Microsoft to get a successful handheld platform,” said Ben Wood, director of research at CCS Insight.
“It’s the fastest growing and most prolific sector – 800 million smartphones will be sold this year, within three years that number will be up to one billion annually. Nokia has also bet the ranch on this at a time when the market is dominated by Apple and Google’s systems – and Microsoft is seen as being late to the party.”
WP8 resembles the Windows 8 PC operating system released last week. Users navigate the interface by swiping through tiles which also display information pulled from the internet – for example weather conditions, Facebook status updates or recently received emails.
While its predecessor WP7.5 was based on the firm’s ageing Windows Mobile platform, WP8 shares its kernel – or software core – with its PC equivalent, which should help make it easier to port programs between the two environments.
Microsoft has formally launched the Windows Phone 8 operating system
Much of the details of WP8 were announced at a previous event in June. But Microsoft had held a few features back until the San Francisco launch.
These included the speed of Internet Explorer 10 which it said was up to seven times faster than the version on WP7.5 at handling webpages based on the commonly used Javascript language. In addition it has been designed to make use of devices’ graphics processing units (GPUs) to render videos or animations written in the HTML5 computer language.
The firm also showed off Kid’s Corner – a function designed for parents who give their handsets to their children to play with. It allows them to restrict access to a limited number of apps without giving access to email, phone call or text message functions.
Microsoft said a survey had suggested about two-thirds of smartphone-owning parents in the US had used the handsets to occupy their children while out shopping, visiting friends or some other activity.
Another new feature is Rooms which allows users to create an invitation-only environment in which members share their calendars, notes, photos and other material. The firm suggested it might be used to help families, sports teams and other community groups stay “in sync”.
Microsoft also made much of an “always-on” Skype experience.
This addresses one of the major flaws with its previous mobile system which had not allowed the video chat program to run in the background. That had meant that users of iOS and Android phones had been able to receive calls while using other apps, but WP7.5 devices had not – a notable omission bearing in mind Microsoft paid $8.5 billion to buy Skype in 2011.
On WP8 Skype runs in the background even if the app is closed and the phone locked. It uses a similar method introduced in the full Windows 8 system to reduce its battery use by effectively being “asleep” until an incoming notification of a call wakes up the program.
Microsoft stressed the facility would also be available to other video chap apps including Tango and Qik so that its own program would not be given an unfair advantage.
Despite the new features some analysts believe Microsoft could have an uphill struggle to lure customers away from Google’s market-leading platform Android, and iOS which powers Apple’s iPhones.
“Windows Phone as a platform still has very low awareness among consumers, and that’s the biggest challenge,” said Francisco Jeronimo, mobile devices research manager at the consultants IDC.
“Apple still has a strong brand thanks to the advantage it gained by offering the best smartphone experience of its kind in 2007 with the launch of the iPhone. Android benefits from the fact it powers about 147 devices on the market in Western Europe.
“There are only about 8 to 10 handsets running Windows Phone and that makes it hard for it to stand out. It won’t be until we see 20 to 30 devices and people relate it to the desktop system that consumers understand there is something going on.”
WP8 runs software written for previous versions of the system. But Stuart Miles, founder of the gadget site Pocket-lint, said some consumers might be put off by the fact some apps remained unavailable.
“Windows Phone 8 will encourage the release of more software, and some of the apps that are already there work well – but the problem is that I’ve been to several launches where the developers say that a release for the system is on their roadmap but is not a priority.
“So if you are a die-hard app fan you may be disappointed, but if you don’t care so much about the latest third-party software then it is worth looking at.”
Microsoft said they have 46 of the top 50 apps on the platform so far.
“That’s huge progress for us,” said Joe Belfiore, manager of the Windows Phone program.
The American Red Cross has a search tool and map to help you find your nearest emergency storm shelter, or text SHELTER and a Zip Code to 43362 (standard rates apply).
Google’s interactive crisis map of the hurricane shows the predicted path of the storm, the affected areas and links to local weather reports and warnings.
New York: The NY-Alert web portal has some of the latest information and alerts from state authorities, or follow @NYSDHSES for updates. New York residents can call the Hurricane Sandy helpline on 1-888-769-7243 or 1-518-485-1159 for updates and shelter advice or visit Google’s New York City crisis map.
Massachusetts: Massachusetts state authorities have information on storm preparations, while the latest weather reports and forecast can be found by searching #MASandy on Twitter.
Enrique Iglesias, who sent out a teaser for the music video to accompany his new single Finally Found You two weeks ago, has now provided the music video in its entirety.
Enrique Iglesias, 37, said no to an American Idol hosting job because he wanted to concentrate on his music career.
Fans will be happy to see that the singer’s 3 minute and 58 second video doesn’t disappoint.
In one sexy scene, Enrique Iglesias is standing shirtless over a bed where he’s just made love to the woman of his dreams. Then he pulls on his T-shirt as he watches her sleeping.
Other parts of the video has Enrique Iglesias showing his stuff in a tight grey T-shirt and flashing back to when he was an adolescent boy.
The clip also features him jetting down a nighttime freeway in a sports car and then standing in a crowded disco while staring at a mysterious blonde dressed all in black. She’s watching him over her shoulder watching her and next thing you know they’re making out against a wall.
Enrique Iglesias Finally Found You videoclip gets 5 million hits on YouTube after one week
Flash forward to the bedroom where Enrique Iglesias and the blonde heat up some more. The blonde gets up and all you see are her bare legs kicking the sheets away.
All this while his body-shaking single, Finally Found You, is playing.
The new single from the upcoming album Reloaded – Enrique Iglesias’ 10th studio effort – is definitely a hit with his fans as it gets almost 5 million hits on YouTube after less than one week.
Chris Brown attended the same Halloween party on Sunday night as Karrueche Tran – prompting reports that he has got back together with his ex.
Chris Brown, 23, and Karrueche reportedly ended their relationship earlier this month, with rumors suggesting that he has rekindled his relationship with music superstar Rihanna.
However, Rihanna will be less than happy when she discovers that Chris Brown and Karrueche Tran both attended the GreyStone Manor Halloween Party together.
Chris Brown and Karrueche Tran arrived and left in separate vehicles during the horror themed event, which saw Brown dress up in a baseball top and ghoulish white and black make-up.
Karrueche Tran wore an Oriental style dress as she partied with revellers.
Chris Brown and Karrueche Tran at GreyStone Manor Halloween Party
Chris Brown looked to be in high spirits on the night, and certainly has been struck by Halloween fever.
On Saturday, Chris Brown was spotted at a Halloween themed party at the Playboy mansion.
While he never dressed up that night, he made some effort for Sunday’s night bash – and pulled a series of creepy faces as he attended the party.
Despite the partygoing atmosphere, Karrueche Tran was seen almost constantly on the phone.
Steve Jobs’ custom-built 260-foot yacht was finally completed by a Dutch shipbuilder this month – one year after his death.
The sleek ship is made of light-weight aluminum and Steve Jobs employed the chief engineer of his Apple stores to help design special glass that allowed the ship to be installed with ten-foot-high windows across the hull.
The yacht is christened Venus, after the Roman goddess of love.
The cost of the superyacht is unknown, though Steve Jobs was obsessed with completing it near the end of his life.
“I know that it’s possible I will die and leave Laurene with a half-built boat,” he told biographer Walter Isaacson.
“But I have to keep going on it. If I don’t, it’s an admission that I’m about to die.”
Steve Jobs’ custom-built 260-foot yacht Venus was finally completed by a Dutch shipbuilder this month
Sadly, Steve Jobs, who died in October 2011 of complications from pancreatic cancer, never saw his creation finished.
The Dutch technology blog One More Thing reports that the Jobs family will be on hand for the formal unveiling of the yacht at the Feadship custom yacht building company in Aalsmeer, Netherlands.
Steve Jobs’ family gave out custom iPod Shuffle mp3 players to each of the crew members who helped build the yacht. Each one came with a note thanking them for their “hard work and craftsmanship”.
Among the high-tech features inside the ship are seven 27-inch iMac computers.
Steve Jobs employed renowned designer Philippe Starck to lay out in the interior.
It is unknown when the breathtaking ship will make its maiden voyage.
Nancy Shevell is normally seen in stylish outfits, but she opted for some comfortable gear as she and Sir Paul McCartney took in a stroll in New York.
Nancy Shevell, 51, and Paul McCartney, 70, walked arm in arm as they pounded the city’s pavements, with the Beatles legend seemingly hanging onto his wife’s every word.
And the clever couple also made sure they were wearing the right gear for their long walk.
Paul McCartney and Nancy Shevell both wore comfortable trainers for their stroll – with Nancy wearing black trousers and a tight pink sports top.
Sir Paul McCartney wrapped up warm in jeans, a hooded top and a jacket as they took in the long walk.
Nancy Shevell opted for some comfortable gear as she and Sir Paul McCartney took in a stroll in New York
Meteorologists have called Frankestorm a “once-in-a-lifetime” storm but as East Coast residents stockpile imperishables and fill their bathtubs with water in preparation for the looming tempest, many are left scratching their heads over what makes this particular weather system so epic.
The Frankenstorm, as it has been dubbed given its proximity to Halloween, is the mash-up of Hurricane Sandy from the South and an unnamed nor’easter gaining strength as it moves from the West.
And when Hurricane Sandy and the wintery blast finally meet, East Coasters could be on the receiving end of one of the coldest, wettest and most dangerous assaults from nature.
Hurricane Sandy is arriving on the tail end of the hurricane season, with September typically the most active period.
The storm threatening to wreak havoc on the Atlantic coast began to form on October 19 in the Caribbean Sea and in October 22 forecasters labeled it a Tropical Storm and named it Sandy.
It made landfall on October 24 near Kingston, Jamaica with 80 mph winds and it moved toward Cuba the same day, sustaining winds of 110 mph and claiming an estimated 51 lives.
Its strength has waned and then re-intensified as it moved toward the Atlantic Coast of the U.S., with meteorologists saying a high pressure ridge of air centered around Greenland is steering it toward land, as it is expected to make landfall off the New Jersey coast on Monday.
The Frankenstorm is the mash-up of Hurricane Sandy from the South and an unnamed nor’easter gaining strength as it moves from the West
Hurricane Sandy is responsible for an estimated 67 deaths so far in the Bahamas, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica and Puerto Rico.
Meanwhile, the wintery storm from the West is helping to pull the hurricane to land when it might have otherwise fled back into the Atlantic.
The nor’easter is a winter storm conceived by the meeting of cold arctic air with the warmer ocean air from the Gulf Stream.
The storms usually develop from a low-pressure system in the south, typically in the Gulf of Mexico, and then pushed upward.
Nor’easters usually bring massive amounts of precipitation, high winds and large waves and with a full moon, when tides are at their highest, the storm surge could reach as high as 6 to 11 feet.
“The total is greater than the sum of the individual parts,” said Louis Uccellini, the environmental prediction chief of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration meteorologists about the dramatic weather.
Another meteorologist has said the weather system is combining the end of the hurricane season with the start of the winter storm season, “it’s kind of taking something from both – part hurricane, part nor’easter, all trouble”, Jeff Masters, director of the private service Weather Underground told the Associated Press.
The first deadly signs of Hurricane Sandy’s monstrous power were revealed as it barreled towards land on Monday – with snow falling, rivers breaching and floodwaters submerging cities across the East Coast.
Hurricane Sandy, which forecasters said could be the largest in U.S. history, strengthened overnight to nearly 1,000 miles wide with winds in excess of 85 miles per hour as it accelerated towards Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York.
The worst of the Category 1 storm is expected to bring a “life-threatening” surge of seawater up to 11 feet high, coastal hurricane winds and a barrage of heavy snow in the Appalachian Mountains.
Already the hurricane is showing its breathtaking power as hundreds of thousands of residents scrambled to higher ground, public transport systems shut down and thousands of flights across the country were cancelled.
The Hudson River which connects New Jersey and Manhattan’s west side has breached – already inflicting more damage than Hurricane Irene last year.
Across Norfolk, Virginia, residents were knee-deep in floodwaters as they travelled to work or scrambled to stock up on last-minute groceries. In the southeast of the state, tides are expected to run between five and eight feet above normal.
Floodwaters were also seeping into New York, with homes in Gilgo, Long Island becoming quickly submerged.
In Boone, North Carolina, snow began falling at 8:00 a.m.; the Appalachian mountain town is expected to suffer a miserable few days with snow, rain and temperatures struggling to get out of the 30s. Up to eight inches of snow is expected but, in places of higher elevation, there may be as many as 12.
In Oak Orchard, Delaware, rescue efforts by the National Guard and local authorities were already underway for residents who had failed to heed the mandatory evacuation issued over the weekend.
Hurricane Sandy has already killed at least 66 people – including 51 in Haiti – in the Caribbean before pounding U.S. coastal areas with rain.
But the New Jersey shore is expected to take the brunt of the massive weather front as Sandy hits near Atlantic City, which has already suffered heavy flooding, on Monday night and churns north, with 50 million people in its path.
Nine U.S. states have declared states of emergency with the National Guard poised to swoop in, and President Barack Obama has warned the nation to brace itself.
“This is a serious and big storm,” Barack Obama said after a briefing at the federal government’s storm response center in Washington.
“We don’t yet know where it’s going to hit, where we’re going to see the biggest impacts.”
National Guard and local authorities are underway for East Coast residents who had failed to heed the mandatory evacuation issued ahead of Hurricane Sandy
Between 2:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. on Monday, winds increased by 10 mph to a maximum of 85 mph, the National Hurricane Center said. Landfall is expected between late Monday and early Tuesday, with Google providing a tracking map to show the storm’s progress.
Forecasters said Sandy, dubbed Frankenstorm, could surge to a “super storm” as it joins an Arctic jet stream, sparking flash floods and snow storms – and making it unlike anything seen over the eastern United States in decades.
“The last time we saw anything like this was never,” Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy said on Sunday.
“I don’t know how to say it any clearer than that it is the largest threat to human life our state has experienced in anyone’s lifetime.”
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie added: “Don’t be stupid. Get out!”
New York and other cities and towns have closed their transit systems and ordered mass evacuations from low-lying areas ahead of the storm surge.
Classes were cancelled on Monday for more than two million public school students in New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Baltimore, while universities and government offices in states including Washington and New Jersey were shut down.
All U.S. stock markets will be closed on Monday and possibly Tuesday, the operator of the New York Stock Exchange said late on Sunday, reversing an earlier plan that would have kept electronic trading going on Monday.
Hurricane Sandy forced Barack Obama and Mitt Romney to cancel some campaign stops and fuelled concern it could disrupt early voting – encouraged by the candidates this year more than ever – before the November 6 election.
The United Nations, Broadway theaters, New Jersey casinos, schools up and down the Eastern Seaboard, and myriad corporate events were also being shut down on Monday.
Residents along the New Jersey coast were warned they may not survive Hurricane Sandy if they do not evacuate low-lying areas.
The National Weather Service issued the stark warning last night as the massive weather front surged closer to the East Coast.
A statement read: “If you are reluctant [to evacuate], think about your loved ones…think about the rescue/recovery teams who will rescue you if you are injured or recover your remains if you do not survive.”
About 50 million people from the Mid-Atlantic to Canada are in the path of the 1,000-mile-wide monster, which is expected to topple trees, damage buildings, cause power outages and trigger heavy flooding.
Many workers planned to stay home on Monday, while thousands of flights into and out of the U.S. northeast were grounded on as airports closed, stranding passengers from Hong Kong to Europe.
The massive storm threatens to bring a near halt to air travel for at least two days in a key region for both domestic and international flights.
Frankestorm is also expected to inflict power outages along the east coast, with officials already expressing fears that homes and businesses could be without power for days.
“We could be talking about weeks,”Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy warned.
Officials told residents to head for higher ground as evacuations were ordered on the East Coast including a mandatory one for New York City which saw Mayor Michael Bloomberg advise 375,000 people to leave low-lying areas.
Buses were no longer running and flights in and out of the city cancelled. More than 7,000 flights have been cancelled so far – already leaving a backlog of tens of thousands.
The New York subway closed at 7:00 p.m. on Sunday for only the second time in history, meaning that almost 12 million people will be prevented from taking their usual route to work.
The MTA said the duration of the service suspension is “unknown” and that “service will be restored only when it is safe to do so, after careful inspections of all equipment and tracks”.
Transport officials warned: “Even with minimal damage this is expected to be a lengthy process.”
The New York Stock Exchange said on Sunday it is putting in place contingency plans and will announce later when the trading floor will reopen.
It is the first time in 27 years the NYSE has been forced to close due to the weather.
Singer-songwriter Terry Callier, who collaborated with Massive Attack and Beth Orton, has died at the age of 67.
Chicago-born Terry Callier, who began his career at 17 when he signed to Chess records, recorded his final album in 2009.
Hidden Conversations was written and produced with Bristol collective Massive Attack.
He also worked on Orton’s Mercury prize nominated album, Central Reservations.
Terry Callier died in hospital in Chicago.
The news was confirmed by record label Mr. Bongo, which worked with him on six albums between 2001 and 2009.
His funeral will take place on 3 November in his home city and a memorial is planned for London. The date is yet to be announced.
Many musicians have taken to Twitter and YouTube to pay tribute to the jazz and soul musician.
Beth Orton shared a YouTube video with fans, saying: “This was one of the best nights of my life. Such a privilege and joy – RIP dear Terry Callier.”
Singer-songwriter Terry Callier has died at the age of 67
Tim Burgess of The Charlatans posted: “The world has lost another beautiful voice. Rest in peace Terry Callier.”
Snow Patrol’s Gary Lightbody posted a video of Terry Callier’s track Ordinary Joe, saying: “Terry Callier RIP. A great soul-folk legend. A sad day.”
David Buttle, founder of Mr. Bongo, wrote on the company’s website: “I first worked with Terry when recording him at the Jazz Cafe in Camden, London in the late 90s. This was a spiritual home for Terry’s fans; most nights that he played you could hear a pin drop when he sang and many people passed out, overwhelmed by the light that shone from him.”
Terry Callier was born on 24 May, 1945.
He grew up singing alongside soul singers Jerry Butler, Major Lance and Curtis Mayfield.
“That was a dynamite neighborhood. All of us were doo-woping at the time in different groups,” Terry Callier wrote on his MySpace page.
He released his first single Look at me now in 1963.
Terry Callier released three jazz-funk albums in the 1970s but in the 1980s, he left music behind after he was granted custody of his only daughter Sundiata, and re-trained as a computer programmer.
“When I got custody of my daughter I had to give up music to raise her properly, she needed me and the music business just didn’t seem like a viable option at that point,” Terry Callier said, although he continued to perform.
His music career was resurrected in the early 1990s when his Chess/Cadet recordings were re-discovered by acid jazz fans in the UK.
Terry Callier sang vocals on Massive Attack’s single Live With Me, which was released in 2006.
