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hurricane sandy
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.”
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Here is a selection of links to help you keep updated on the progress of Hurricane Sandy and find other useful information.
United States
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) dedicated Hurricane Sandy page contains links to the latest advisories, satellite images and weather reports.
The NOAA’s National Weather Service page has the latest US weather reports.
The NOAA’s National Hurricane Centre has the latest US hurricane advisories.
Twitter updates are available from the National Hurricane Centre (@NHC_Atlantic) and NOAA (@NOAA).
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has advice on hurricane preparation and evacuation plans.
Fema’s Twitter feed (@Fema) and Facebook page also provide updates.
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).
The latest information on sea levels and high tides is available from the NOAA’s National Ocean Service.
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.
Watch a live stream from the top of the Statue of Liberty in New York harbour as the storm approaches.
This live map shows the winds currently flowing over the United States.
Canada
The Canadian Hurricane Centre has the latest updates on how the storm is expected to affect Eastern Canada including a clickable map of local weather warnings.
State-by-state
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.
New Jersey: Visit the New Jersey Office of Emergency Management for forecasts and travel information, or see the Twitter feed (@NJOEM2010) and Facebook page.
Maryland: Maryland’s Emergency Management Agency website has details of the state’s evacuation plan, and are tweeting at @MDMEMA.
Massachusetts: Massachusetts state authorities have information on storm preparations, while the latest weather reports and forecast can be found by searching #MASandy on Twitter.
Pennsylvania: Visit Pennsylvania’s Emergency Management Agency website here.
Connecticut: Visit the Connecticut governor’s website for information or call 211 for storm shelter information in the state.
Delaware: Visit the Delaware Emergency Management Agency website for more information, or residents can call the Delaware Hurricane Sandy Hotline on (800) 464-4357.
Washington DC: The District of Columbia website has information on relief centres as well as public building and transport closures.
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.
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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.
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Seventeen people aboard HMS Bounty have abandoned ship off the coast of North Carolina amid Hurricane Sandy.
The captain gave the order for the crew to enter the lifeboats at 4:30 EST and a rescue attempt by a US coastguard helicopter is under way.
The HMS Bounty Organization said it would assess whether the ship could be saved but its concern was for the crew.
HMS Bounty is a replica of the original Bounty, famous for its ill-fated trip to Tahiti and the West Indies in 1789.
Tracie Simonin, director of the HMS Bounty Organization, said that the ship began to experience difficulties at about 18:30 EST on Sunday when it lost power and was unable to continue “de-watering”.
Seventeen people aboard HMS Bounty have abandoned ship off the coast of North Carolina amid Hurricane Sandy
“At that time we contacted the US coastguard for assistance,” she said.
“A C-130 plane was sent to their position, which was 90 miles south-east of Cape Hatteras, and then at 04:30 EST this morning the captain ordered all hands to abandon ship.
“All 17 crew were accounted for in the liferafts and a US coastguard helicopter is on the scene rescuing them now.”
Tracie Simonin added: “As far as we know the ship is still upright and we’re going to assess the situation to see if anything can be done to save the ship but at this point our main concern is with the crew.”
Tracie Simonin said everyone on board was American.
President Barack Obama has warned Americans to take Hurricane Sandy seriously as authorities started shutting down the eastern seaboard ahead of its arrival.
Several states have declared emergencies, with tens of millions of people affected as schools are closed and transport services suspended.
Experts fear Hurricane Sandy may become a super-storm when it makes landfall later.
Some election rallies have been called off, with Barack Obama warning affected citizens to take precautions.
International travel has been badly affected. Air France, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic grounded Monday’s transatlantic flights to and from East Coast cities, including New York, Baltimore, Newark, Washington, Boston and Philadelphia.
At 02:00 EDT, the storm was turning north, its eye swirling about 425 miles (760 km) south-east of New York City, according to the National Hurricane Center.
With winds of 75 mph, Hurricane Sandy, dubbed “Frankenstorm”or “Superstorm”, is expected to bring a “life-threatening” surge flood to the mid-Atlantic coast, including Long Island Sound and New York Harbour.
The winds are expected to strengthen when Hurricane Sandy makes landfall anywhere between Virginia and southern New England on Monday.
The prospect of merging with a wintry storm coming from the west during a full moon has many fearing dangerous high tides.
Sandy is some 520 miles (835 km) across. It is also very slow, moving north-east at just 15 mph, and could linger over as many as 12 states for 24-36 hours, bringing up to 25 cm of rain, 60 cm of snow, extreme storm surges and power cuts.
States of emergency have been declared in Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington DC and parts of North Carolina.
The two presidential election contenders have modified their campaign engagements, with Mitt Romney pulling out of an event in Virginia and Barack Obama cancelling rallies in Virginia and Colorado.
The president has pulled out of a Monday event in Ohio – considered a key swing state – in order to return to Washington to monitor the storm – although he is still set to attend a rally with former President Bill Clinton in Florida earlier on Monday.
Visiting the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in Washington on Sunday, Barack Obama vowed his government would “respond big and respond fast” after Hurricane Sandy had passed.
Con Edison workers prepare for Hurricane Sandy using sandbags to cover up power vaults in New York
Amtrak has started suspending passenger train services across the north-eastern US and air travel has been badly hit, with some 6,800 flights cancelled.
New York City’s subway, bus and train services were suspended from 19:00 on Sunday, and schools will be shut on Monday.
With predicted storm surges of up to 11 ft, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg ordered 375,000 people in the city’s vulnerable low-lying areas to leave their homes.
Evacuation shelters have been set up at 76 public schools.
“If you don’t evacuate you’re not just putting your own life in danger, you are also endangering lives of our first responders who would have to rescue you,” he said.
The Statue of Liberty was reopened on Sunday after a year of renovation, but only a group of army cadets got a tour before it was shut again until at least Wednesday.
Some 200 National Guardsmen will patrol Manhattan and 300 more will be deployed in Long Island.
The New York Stock Exchange will be fully closed on Monday, its operator said, and possibly on Tuesday as well.
It had earlier said electronic transactions would be possible but on Sunday announced it was closing fully because “the dangerous conditions developing as a result of Hurricane Sandy will make it extremely difficult to ensure the safety of our people and communities”.
Similar precautions were taken last year as Hurricane Irene approached the East Coast. It killed more than 40 people from North Carolina to Maine and caused an estimated $10 billion worth of damage.
FEMA has warned that the threat extends well inland, and has issued safety tips on how to cope with the hurricane.
Blustery winds were already being felt in New York on Sunday night and the anxiety felt on the streets indicated that residents were taking city orders seriously and with haste.
In New Jersey, Governor Chris Christie confirmed a swathe of mandatory evacuations, told civil servants to stay at home on Monday and said the casinos in Atlantic City had closed.
“The weather will turn ugly [on Monday] and we want everyone off the roads,” he said.
“Don’t be stupid. Get out. Don’t try to be a hero and act as if nothing is going on here.”
New Jersey authorities expect very significant flooding, with three increasingly high tides on Monday, possibly creating surges of 13-14 ft – the worst since 1903, authorities said.
Hurricane Sandy has already killed 60 people in the Caribbean during the past week.
TRAVEL CHAOS IN NEW YORK
• New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced service on subways will be curtailed beginning at 7:00 p.m.
• The bus network will cease to operate at 9:00 p.m.
• Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad will start their finals trains by 7:00 p.m. from terminal locations
• Stations will close once the last trains pass through
• New Jersey has suspended all services from 4 p.m. Sunday until 2 a.m. Monday
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New York City is on lockdown in anticipation of Hurricane Sandy, as it barrels towards America’s largest city, and its residents were quick to respond rushing to stock up the essentials.
Staples like bread, water, eggs, and produce have been flying off the shelves as the city’s 8 million residents prepare for the megastorm.
In addition, for only the second time in the subway’s hundred-year history, the entire metropolitan transit system, including buses, will be halted, starting at 7:00 p.m. tonight, adding a sense of urgency to New Yorker’s pre-storm preparations.
In a news conference shortly before noon, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said that those living in low-lying areas must evacuate, and said that all public schools will be closed tomorrow.
The mayor urged residents of New York to stay inside as much as possible starting at sundown tonight, warning of high winds up to 70 mph and torrential rain.
In addition to low-lying areas of Manhattan, Michael Bloomberg ordered that residents of the Rockaways, a low-lying area of Queens by Jamaica Bay, evacuate.
“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,” he said today.
“This is a serious and dangerous storm.”
New York City is on lockdown in anticipation of Hurricane Sandy and its residents were quick to respond rushing to stock up the essentials
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo echoed Michael Bloomberg’s warnings.
“A situation like this, you don’t want to be overly panicked and overly prepared, but you want to be prudent, you want to do what’s necessary,” he said.
Andrew Cuomo also said the National Guard would be deployed, 200 troops in New York City, and 400 on Long Island.
In addition, nearly 4,000 flights were canceled for Monday, with 857 cancellations at Newark in New Jersey, followed by 632 at New York’s Kennedy Airport and more than 500 cancellations at both New York’s LaGuardia and Philadelphia International.
FlightAware said it expects the number of flight cancellations for Monday and Tuesday to “rise considerably”.
A spokesman for United Airlines parent United Continental Holdings Inc. told the Associated Press that the carrier has suspended an unspecified number of flights to New York and Washington-area airports beginning Sunday evening with plans to resume Tuesday as conditions permit.
JetBlue Airways, which flies out of JFK, said it has canceled more than 1,000 flights from Sunday through Wednesday morning.
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Hurricane Sandy could merge with a winter storm to create what they have dubbed “Frankenstorm” as it churns towards the US, forecasters warn.
Sandy has weakened to a category one hurricane, but is still packing maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (120 km/h).
Hurricane Sandy reportedly caused up to 40 deaths as it tore through the Caribbean on Thursday and Friday.
The storm is projected to hit the US late on Monday, a week before the presidential election.
States of emergency have been declared in Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington and a coastal county in North Carolina.
The US Navy base in Norfolk, Virginia was reportedly sending a whole fleet of ships out to sea to avoid the storm.
At 23:00 EDT, the hurricane was moving north over the Bahamas at about 7 mph, some 400 miles (630 km) south-east of Charleston in South Carolina, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC).
Hurricane-strength winds were being experienced 70 miles from the centre of the storm, which was expected to slowly weaken during the weekend, reported the NHC.
American meteorologists expect a combination of high winds, heavy rain and extreme tides, as well as snow in some areas.
Up to 10 in (25 cm) of rain, 2ft of snow and extreme storm surges are forecast.
“It’s going to be a long-lasting event, two to three days of impact for a lot of people,” said James Franklin, head forecaster at the NHC.
Hurricane Sandy could merge with a winter storm to create what they have dubbed “Frankenstorm” as it churns towards the US
Hurricane Sandy is expected to strike the US late on Monday or early Tuesday somewhere along the US east coast, a day before Halloween and a week before millions of Americans go to the polls to choose a next president.
It could make landfall anywhere between Virginia, Maryland or Delaware up through New York or southern New England.
In New York City, officials are already considering closing down mass transit before the storm hits.
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney cancelled an event scheduled for Sunday in Virginia, a key election state, because of the weather, said an aide.
Earlier on Friday, the White House declined to speculate on whether Hurricane Sandy would affect President Barack Obama’s campaign plans, saying the storm’s path was still uncertain.
Forecasters say Hurricane Sandy is similar to another late October storm – when several weather systems, including a hurricane, combined along the US Atlantic coast in 1991, leading to what was dubbed “the Perfect Storm”.
Jeff Masters, meteorology director at Weather Underground, estimated there could be more than $1 billion in damages from Hurricane Sandy.
On Thursday, Hurricane Sandy caused a storm surge leading to severe flooding along Cuba’s south-eastern coastline.
Civil emergency authorities said 11 people had died as the storm lashed the island – nine of those in Santiago province and two in Guantanamo province, despite Cuba’s well-rehearsed hurricane preparations. Most victims were killed by falling trees or collapsing buildings.
“The hurricane was very big. I have never seen anything like it in my 54 years,” said Santiago resident Reinaldo Rivas.
Elsewhere, 20 deaths were reported in Haiti – where much of the infrastructure remains in a poor condition following a massive earthquake in 2010.
More than 1,000 people sought refuge in shelters there, as Hurricane Sandy caused widespread power outages, flooded streets and damaged buildings.
Four fatalities were reported across the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and the Bahamas.
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Hurricane Sandy, which left 21 people dead as it barreled through the Caribbean, could likely metamorphose into frightening storm that could cause $1 billion in damages.
Experts say the tempest – dubbed Frankenstorm – has a 90% chance of hitting the East Coast of the U.S., having the potential to wreak havoc with heavy winds, rain, flooding, and downed trees and power lines.
In fact, longtime weatherman Chad Myers, who works for the NOAA, wrote: “After 26 years in TV weather and two years with NOAA, Sandy may pose the greatest risk to human life that I have seen.”
The projected course of Hurricane Sandy is difficult to guess at this time, though.
Experts from the Weather Channel are cautioning residents in the eastern states, including North Carolina, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia.
Residents in coastal areas are advised to take precaution as the deadly storm barrels its way up the U.S. shoreline. Early forecasting by NOAA reveals that the storm could hit somewhere between Pennsylvania and Long Island, putting central New Jersey at the greatest risk thus far.
Those in the tri-state area are no strangers to deadly super storm threats. Only last year, Hurricane Irene ploughed through the greater New York City area, causing extensive damage. However, the overall impact was less than expected.
The Frankenstorm could also deposit snowfall as far south as North Carolina, according to The Wall Street Journal’s Metropolis blog.
Government meteorologists are giving the storm a 70% chance of hitting land next week, ruining Halloween celebrations for millions of children who have dressed up for trick or treating door knocks.
“The potential is there,” said National Weather Service scientist Charlie Foley.
The horrific storm could happen if Hurricane Sandy in the Caribbean, an early winter storm in the West, and a blast of arctic air from the North collide, sloshing and parking over the country’s most populous coastal corridor starting Sunday.
The worst of it should peak early Tuesday, but it will stretch into midweek, forecasters say.
“It’ll be a rough couple days from Hatteras up to Cape Cod,” said forecaster Jim Cisco of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) prediction center in College Park, Maryland.
“We don’t have many modern precedents for what the models are suggesting.”
It is likely to hit during a full moon when tides are near their highest, increasing coastal flooding potential, NOAA forecasts warn. And with some trees still leafy and the potential for snow, power outages could last to Election Day, some meteorologists fear. They say it has all the earmarks of a billion-dollar storm.
Currently, Hurricane Sandy is moving through the Caribbean with high winds and heavy rain.
It made landfall in southeastern Jamaica yesterday with a wind speed of 80 mph and has already been responsible for the death of one person in Haiti and two in Jamaica.
Some have compared it to the so-called Perfect Storm that struck off the coast of New England in 1991, but Jim Cisco said that one didn’t hit as populated an area and is not comparable to what the East Coast may be facing. Nor is it like last year’s Halloween storm, which was merely an early snowstorm in the Northeast.
Multiple elements must come together for Hurricane Sandy to become a repeat or match the Perfect Storm of 1991.
The worst-case scenario occurs as Sandy, in the form of a Category 1 hurricane or hybrid storm traveling north to be captured by chilly air coming down from Canada to be met by strong high level winds off the North Atlantic coast.
This nightmare outcome is referred to by meteorologists as an atmospheric “bomb” according to Accuweather.
Fearing this, people from North Carolina to Maine and Nova Scotia have been told to keep watching weather forecasts in case the Halloween storm does hit with full force.
This has much more mess potential because it is a combination of different storm types that could produce a real whopper of weather problems, meteorologists say.
“The Perfect Storm only did $200 million of damage and I’m thinking a billion,” said Jeff Masters, meteorology director of the private service Weather Underground.
“Yeah, it will be worse.”
But this is several days in advance, when weather forecasts are far less accurate. The National Hurricane Center only predicts five days in advance, and on Wednesday their forecasts had what’s left of Sandy off the North Carolina coast on Monday.
But the hurricane center’s chief hurricane specialist, James Franklin, said the threat keeps increasing for a major impact in the Northeast, New York area.
“In fact it would be such a big storm that it would affect all of the Northeast.”
Late Thursday, the hurricane’s center was about 185 miles (300 kilometers) east-southeast of Freeport, Bahamas. The storm had maximum sustained winds of 90 mph (150 km/h) and was moving north-northwest at 13 mph (20 km/h).
Sandy, which crossed Cuba and reached the Bahamas as a category 2 hurricane, was expected to maintain its category 1 storm status for the next several days.
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Hurricane Sandy has strengthened into a strong category two as it makes landfall in south-east Cuba.
The hurricane was carrying maximum sustained winds of 110 mph (175 km/h) as it hit land just west of Santiago de Cuba, said the US-based National Hurricane Center (NHC).
On Wednesday, one man was killed as Sandy swept over Jamaica.
A hurricane watch is in place in the Bahamas, and Florida has been placed on tropical storm watch.
The NHC said wind gusts of up to 114 mph had been reported in Santiago de Cuba.
It warned the hurricane was bringing heavy rain which could “produce life-threatening flash floods and mudslides, especially in areas of mountainous terrain”.
Hurricane Sandy has strengthened into a strong category two as it makes landfall in south-east Cuba
Local officials in Cuba said about 1,700 people had been evacuated as a precaution.
“We cannot put a single human life in danger. We must evacuate people in areas we know are likely to be flooded, without losing time,” defence official Lazaro Esposito told local media.
In Jamaica, more than 1,000 people sought refuge in shelters, with residents reporting widespread power outages, flooded streets and damages to buildings.
The authorities said one person, an elderly man, died when he was crushed by falling boulders as he tried to reach his home.
A 48-hour curfew has been imposed in all major towns, though some looting has been reported.
The country’s sole energy provider, the Jamaica Public Service Company, said earlier that 70% of its customers were without electricity.
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