40 people have been killed, millions are without power and transport
across the north-eastern US has been severely disrupted as storm Sandy heads
north for Canada.
In
New York City, 18 people have been killed and the public transport system
remains closed until further notice. More than 15,000 flights were cancelled,
the flight-tracking website FlightAware estimates. Earlier, Sandy killed more
than 60 people as it hit the Caribbean.
Sandy
brought a record storm surge of almost 14ft (4.2m) to central Manhattan, well
above the previous record of 10 feet (3m) during Hurricane Donna in 1960, the
National Weather Service said.
The
storm was causing heavy snowfalls over the Appalachian mountains on Tuesday
afternoon. It was expected to turn towards western New York state during the
evening before moving into Canada on Wednesday, the forecaster said.
Flooding
At
least eight million homes and businesses are without power because of the
storm, says the US Department of Energy.
The
New York Stock Exchange says it will re-open on Wednesday after two days'
closure, as will the Nasdaq exchange. The last time the stock exchange shut
down for two days was in 1888.
New
York's subway system sustained the worst damage in its 108-year history, said
Joseph Lhota, head of the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA). Subway tunnels were flooded and electrical
equipment will have to be cleaned before the network can re-open.
New
York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said there was "no timeline" for when
the subway would restart, but he hoped buses could begin running again on
Wednesday. All New York's major airports
are closed as their runways are flooded. It is likely to be two or three days before
power is restored to most of the city, Mr Bloomberg said.
The
Path commuter train service, which links New Jersey and New York City, is
likely to remain suspended for seven to 10 days, New Jersey Governor Chris
Christie told a news conference. The tidal surge from the storm left fields of
debris 7ft (2.25m) high and carried small railway goods cars onto elevated
sections of the New Jersey Turnpike, he said.
President
Barack Obama suspended campaigning for a third day ahead of next week's
presidential election so that he could supervise the clean-up.
His
Republican challenger Mitt Romney resumed low-key campaigning on Tuesday,
converting a rally into a storm relief event in the swing state of Ohio.
Governor
Christie, a Republican and staunch supporter of Mr Romney, went out of his way
to praise the Democratic president for his handling of the storm. "I spoke to the president three times
yesterday," Mr Christie told CNN. "He's been incredibly supportive
and helpful to our state and not once did he bring up the election... If he's
not bringing it up, I'm certainly not going to bring it up."
The
cost of clearing up after the storm is likely to run to $30-40bn (£18-24bn),
says the BBC's business correspondent Mark Gregory - far less than than the
$100bn cost of clearing up after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
In
other developments:
- US federal agencies in Washington
DC will re-open on Wednesday
- Fire destroyed about 50 homes in
the New York City borough of Queens
- More than 200 patients were
evacuated from New York University's Tisch Hospital after power went out
and a backup generator failed
- The oldest nuclear power plant in
the US, Oyster Creek in New Jersey, remains on alert due to rising water
President
Obama has also declared emergencies in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode
Island, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
BBC News
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