Floods across New York as Sandy slams into eastern US
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REHOBOTH BEACH, Delaware (REUTERS) - Sandy, one of the biggest storms to hit the United States, pounded the east coast on Tuesday, flooding large parts of New York City, bringing transport to a halt and interrupting the US presidential campaign.
More than 5.5 million people were left without electrical power by the storm and more than one million people across a dozen states were ordered to evacuate.
Two people were killed in the New York borough of Queens - a man in a house hit by a falling tree and a woman who stepped into an electrified puddle of water. Massachusetts police said one man was killed in Peabody in an accident related to the bad weather. Toronto police also recorded one death, a woman hit by flying debris. Associated Press reported that at least 10 deaths are blamed on the storm so far.
Heavy snows threatened mountainous regions inland, and huge population centres of Baltimore, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. lay in the storm's path. Trees were downed across the region, falling debris closed a major bridge in Boston and floodwater and gusts of wind buffeted coastal towns such as Fairfield, Connecticut, home to many commuters into New York City, where police cruisers blocked access to the beaches.
