Floods, Power Cuts Hit New York as Sandy Slams into Eastern US

Superstorm Sandy slammed into the U.S. east coast on Tuesday and hurled a record 14-foot surge of seawater at New York City, flooding the financial district, bringing transport to a standstill and putting the presidential campaign on hold a week before election day.
A huge fire also ripped through Breezy Point in the borough of Queens in New York City destroying 50 homes in one of the city's most remote neighborhoods.

The neighborhood had been extensively flooded by Sandy's record storm surge, and firefighters were hampered in their efforts to bring the blaze under control, a spokesman for the New York Fire Department said.

No casualties were immediately reported and the cause of the fire was under investigation. The fire still was not under control by 5 a.m., the department said.

President Barack Obama signed a declaration of emergency for the state of New York making federal funding available to affected individuals in the counties of Bronx, Kings, Nassau, New York, Richmond, Suffolk and Queens, the statement said.

Meanwhile, more than 5.5 million people were left without electrical power by the storm, which crashed ashore late on Monday near the gambling resort of Atlantic City, New Jersey.

At least 13 deaths were blamed on the storm, according to the Associated Press, while more than 1 million people across a dozen states were ordered to evacuate.

The record storm surge prompted Exelon Corp to declare an "alert" at its New Jersey Oyster Creek nuclear power plant, while stock markets in New York were set to be closed on Tuesday for a second day - the first time the stock exchange has been shut since the September 11, 2001 attacks.

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