Hurricane Sandy batters New York with floods, howling winds

Fire fighters evaluate the scene of an apartment building which had the front wall collapse due to Hurricane Sandy on October 29, 2012 in New York, United States. AFP

NEW YORK — Howling winds and a major sea surge thrown up by Hurricane Sandy on Monday brought floods into New York streets, cut power and buckled a crane atop a skyscraper in an alarming show of force.

Seawater burst the banks of the East and Hudson rivers, rushing into Manhattan cutting power to giant apartment blocks.

Floods swamped cars in Brooklyn, while fierce 95 mile (150 kilometer) guests pushed over a crane on a Midtown skyscraper — leaving it dangling — and pulled down the facade of another building.

Tens of thousands of people ignored appeals by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to leave the districts at risk. But Bloomberg said the only reported casualty from the day was a jogger injured by a falling tree.

New York authorities closed the subway train system and nearly all tunnels and bridges that take traffic off Manhattan as the full force of Sandy hit America’s biggest city.

With Wall Street closed for the first time since the September 11, 2001 attacks and the city at a near standstill, police went to several districts with loud speakers and special buses trying to persuade people to move.

New York state also called up more than 2,100 National Guard troops on Sunday and Monday to patrol threatened districts.

Authorities issued a mandatory evacuation order for 375,000 people at risk from a storm surge predicted to be over 11 feet (3.5 meters), but the vast majority decided to brave it out.

As night fell, Bloomberg said it may be too late to get away.

On the streets of Manhattan, police cars used to block streets gradually retreated as flood water moved further into the island.

The ConEd power company said that more than 150,000 homes across New York lost electricity because of floods and trees torn up by the hurricane.

Gale force winds buckled a crane on top of a 90-story luxury apartment block which was left dangling as the storm intensified.

The boom of the crane swayed in the fierce gusts over streets near Central Park that police and fire services evacuated because of the risk that it could fall.

Gas and water pipes at street level were closed and city engineers and fire department experts climbed the 1,004-foot (306-meter) building to assess the danger, Bloomberg said.

“We just don’t want to risk the lives of anybody trying to be a hero and secure it at the moment,” the mayor said. “With the winds as they are we just cannot secure it. The best we can do is take precautions.”

In another spectacular demonstration of its power, the hurricane pulled off the facade of a three-story building in the Chelsea district. Again no injuries were reported.

Schools and landmark attractions such as the Empire State Building were all closed and were to stay closed Tuesday. Hardly a car ventured onto the streets.

Only the hardiest store-owners stayed open. Supermarkets had been stripped of batteries, pocket lamps, bread and water amid widespread fears of power cuts.

David Blythe, an official with an international student exchange organization, lives in Brooklyn but booked himself into a Manhattan hotel.

“I have meetings I could not miss,” he said as he ate breakfast in one of the rare eateries open.

Albert Mustaj, a doorman at The Caroline, an elegant apartment block on 23rd Street, said staff at the building had been asked to stay for three days. But he was not nervous. “I come from Montenegro, I’ve seen worse,” he said.

Candace Ruland, a 67-year-old inhabitant of the Battery Park district, said she left for Hurricane Irene last year. “I went uptown and I had a nice dinner with a lot of wine. This year, I just decided to stay,” she said.