Super storm Hurricane Sandy

Super storm  Hurricane Sandy 

NEW YORK A Super storm threatening 50 million people in the corridor's most populous nation gained strength Monday with winds of 90 kilometers per hour, a few hours before it is supposed to make landfall, forecasters said.

The National Hurricane Center said on Monday Category 1 hurricane was moving north-northwest at 18 kilometers per hour, and will soon become northwest. At 11:00 pm, the storm was centered about 260 miles south-southeast of New York. Hurricane force winds extend up to 175 miles from the center of the storm, with winds of tropical storm force extended outward up to 485 miles.

Maximum sustained winds of 90 mph gusting to 115 mph were measured.
Strong winds were recorded off the coast of North Carolina, southeastern Virginia, the Delmarva Peninsula and New Jersey shore.

Hours before the storm made landfall, the winds had knocked out power to more than 67,000 customers in several states Monday morning.

Sandy Hook is expected inward Monday, clashing with a winter storm moving through western and cold air flowing from the Arctic. Forecasters say the storm makes landfall along the center or south of the southern New Jersey coast Monday night.

CBS News hurricane consultant David Bernard reported that wind gusts of 38 mph and 41 mph have been reported in New York and Boston, respectively.

Sandy is likely to further strengthen the focus of the East Coast, reports Bernard, with winds reaching land Monday afternoon. Storm pressure is decreasing, which means that more force.

Flooding is a huge threat, with many areas potentially see rainfall amounts between 5 and 8 inches in a 48 hour period.

The full moon will be the worst storm emerges as high tides along the east coast will increase by 20 percent higher than normal. Chip Reid reports for Ocean City, Maryland, that sea levels could rise by 8 feet above normal - enough to flood much of the city.

In addition to the rains and floods, 2 to 3 feet of snow is expected in the mountainous areas of West Virginia.

The storm could threaten 50 million people per day. "This is the worst," said Louis Uccellini, head of Prediction of Oceanic and Atmospheric Environment.

Washington to Boston, big cities and small cities were buttoned against the attack of the sand, with forecasters warning that the New York area could be worse - a wall of water 11 feet.

"Many people are under the influence of this" Federal Emergency Management Administrator Craig Fugate said "CBS This Morning" Monday. "You know, we have blizzard warnings in the west to western Appalachian Virginia, but I think the main concern in these moments are the people in the evacuation areas. faced the most immediate threats to the storm surge. "

"The biggest challenge will not know exactly where the most affected areas," Fugate said, "and that the storm will take several days to cover the area with heavy rain and wind, so this will delay activities recovery while utility crews off and then on again. "

U.S. Coast Guard rescued 14 crew were forced to abandon a sailboat about 90 miles off the coast of North Carolina and continued to search for two crew. The storm hit the barrier islands and visited several homes and businesses near inaccessible.

Meteorologists, the storm could jump ashore Monday night along the coast of New Jersey, then cut through Pennsylvania and travel through New York on Wednesday.

Forecasters said the combination of the sandstorm from the west and the cold Arctic air could take nearly a foot of rain in some places, a potentially deadly storm surge, from April to November in the region long standing, and punishing winds could cause power outages lasting days. The storm also could dump up to 2 feet of snow in Kentucky, North Carolina and West Virginia.