NEW YORK CITY — More than a dozen people were confirmed dead in the United States as Superstorm Sandy slammed ashore along the New Jersey coastline on Monday evening, causing widespread damage from high winds and dangerously high water along low-lying areas. Sandy also claimed at least 16 lives across the United States, bringing the total number of deaths to at least 84 after the storm wreaked havoc in the Caribbean.
President Barack Obama signed disaster declarations for New Jersey and New York in the wake of superstorm Sandy.
Authorities estimate that over seven million customers are without power along the Eastern Seaboard on Monday night. There is no word on when power may be restored.
According to CNN, all of the major airports in the New York City area have been closed due to Sandy-related floodwaters, snarling air traffic across much of the nation.
In New Jersey, two children who were in a pickup truck struck by a tree in Mendham Township – killing a man and a woman inside – were rescued, said Morris County emergency management director Jeffrey Paul. Both children suffered non-life-threatening injuries, according to Paul. In Queens, a person was killed inside his home by a falling tree, authorities said.
Deaths have also been reported farther south, including one in a snow-related wreck in West Virginia as the storm drags blizzard conditions behind it across the Appalachains.
High water from Sandy’s storm surge has caused extensive flooding across lower Manhattan, flooding vehicular and subway tunnels and leaving much of the city stranded and without power. Water was reported flooding into the World Trade Center site on the Lower West Side of Manhattan as well.
Click here for the latest on the storm from CNN.
