Millions of people on the US northeastern seaboard were bracing themselves on Monday as powerful Hurricane Sandy swept toward the coast, packing life-threatening high winds, heavy rains and the potential for massive flooding across the nation’s most densely populated region.
“This is serious, killer storm,” Maryland Governor Maryland Martin O’Malley said. “This storm has already killed a number of people in the Caribbean and will likely take more lives as the storm hits the mid-Atlantic and the eastern US.”
The gigantic hurricane stretches more than 1,000 miles (1,609 km) across, and as of Monday morning was located about 285 miles (459 km) off the North Carolina Coast.
Forecasters say it is expected to make landfall in New Jersey on Monday evening, a circumstance one official told The Associated Press was a “worst case scenario.”
Another said the sheer size of the storm – even with relatively low wind speeds for a hurricane of around 85 mph (137 kph) – raised the potential for destruction to record levels.
"You have a lot of wind acting over a long distance of water for hundreds of miles," said meteorologist Jeff Masters of Weather Underground, a commercial Internet weather service.
Forecasters said Sandy could turn into a “super storm” when it combines with a cold front and winter storm system likely to turn rain into snowfall in higher elevations, and make the storm the worst the eastern US has seen in decades.
The pending storm forced mass evacuations and shut down transport systems, government offices and schools up and down the East Coast, home to an estimated 50 million people.
In anticipation of heavy damage and huge power outages, states of emergency were declared in several states and Washington, DC.
Hundreds of thousands of residents in low-lying coastal areas from Maryland to Connecticut were ordered to evacuate.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has dealt with residents reluctant to leave their homes before, and this time, with his state forecast to take a direct hit from the hurricane, he was characteristically blunt.
“Staying on the barrier islands for 36 hours of hurricane force winds of 75 mph (120 kph) or more sustained, not gusting, is stupid,” he said at a news conference.
“Don’t be stupid. Get out. Go to higher and safer ground,” Christie said.
In New York City, forecasters have warned that a storm surge could bring a wall of water as high as 11 feet (3.3 meters), potentially flooding lower Manhattan.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has ordered the evacuations of 375,000 residents.
"If you don't evacuate, you are not only endangering your life, you are also endangering the lives of the first responders who are going in to rescue you," Bloomberg told reporters.
"This is a serious and dangerous storm."
Mass transit systems throughout the region were shut down, including the Washington, Philadelphia and New York City subway system, the largest rapid transit system in the US.
It transports more than five million people a day, and many New Yorkers do not have cars.
More than 5,500 flights have been cancelled for Monday, including more than a thousand in Philadelphia alone.
A week before the US presidential election, the storm is also wreaking havoc on the chaotic, final week of campaigning for President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney.
Obama spent part of Sunday being briefed on the latest state and local preparations at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in Washington.
"Anything they need, we will be there," he said.
He left Washington late Sunday and flew to Florida for a campaign appearance on Monday, but cancelled events in the critically important swing states of Ohio and Virginia later in the day with plans to return to the White House to monitor the storm.
Romney skipped three appearances in Virginia on Sunday and campaigned in Ohio. He was heading to Wisconsin on Monday, but cancelled an appearance in New Hampshire on Tuesday.
"The top priority is the safety and security of people who may be in harm’s way,” senior Romney campaign adviser Kevin Madden said on Sunday.
Madden said Romney campaign staffers would help collect supplies for storm victims in Virginia and a campaign bus would be used for relief efforts.
The hurricane is also having an impact on early voting taking place across the US. Officials in Maryland cancelled early voting for Monday, and said a decision would be made later in the day about voting on Tuesday.
Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell said early voting facilities that lost power from the storm would be “moved up to the same level as hospitals and police stations to have power restored.”
“Obviously, we want unfettered access to the polls, because we think the more people that come out, the better we're going to do," top Obama campaign adviser David Axelrod told CNN.
"To the extent that it makes it harder, that's a source of concern."
The approaching storm also forced the US stock market to close.
“The dangerous conditions developing as a result of Hurricane Sandy will make it extremely difficult to ensure the safety of our people and communities, and safety must be our first priority,” the New York Stock Exchange said in a statement late on Sunday.
