Hurricane Sandy heads for US after killing 59 in Caribbean

MIAMI (AFP) - Across the eastern United States, Americans made frantic preparations on Saturday for a possible superstorm as Hurricane Sandy lumbered north after leaving 59 people dead in the Caribbean.

The so-called "Frankenstorm" was expected to make landfall somewhere between Virginia and Massachusetts early Tuesday, hitting during the frenzied final week of campaigning before the US elections on Nov 6.

The storm was at category one hurricane strength at 1800 GMT (2am, Singapore time), with sustained winds of 120 kmh as it moved along the east coast, the National Hurricane Centre said.

"Sandy (is) producing tropical storm-force winds over the Atlantic from the northern Bahamas to near the coast of North Carolina," the center said, adding that the storm was traveling in a north-easterly direction at 18 kmh.