Obama declares NY disaster; Sandy death toll rises

President Barack Obama declared a major disaster in the New York City area and New Jersey Tuesday after Superstorm Sandy pounded the Northeast, killing at least 34 people, sweeping homes into the ocean, flooding large swaths of coastal areas and crippling public transit.

As the day wore on, millions without power faced the prospect of up to a week without heat, light or refrigeration, while authorities tried to measure the full wrath of the once-in-a-generation hurricane.

The deaths included at least 13 people in New York City, where a quarter of residents were without power.

Obama, speaking at the headquarters of the American Red Cross in Washington, said Tuesday that the federal government would do all it could to help local authorities cope with damage.

The storm, he warned, is "not yet over ... it is still moving north.'' The president will visit damaged areas in New Jersey on Wednesday, the White House said.

Details of the devastation were also becoming clear:

• More than 8.2 million homes and businesses were without power across 20 states, and half of the outages were in New York and New Jersey, according to a tally by the federal government. NBC News meteorologist Bill Karins warned to "expect the cleanup and power outage restoration to continue right up through Election Day."
• A massive fire destroyed at least 80 homes in Breezy Point, a seaside community in Queens, N.Y. Firefighters had difficulty reaching the blaze due to the severe weather. The cause of the fire was not immediately known.
• Ten subway tunnels under the East River in New York City were flooded, leading MTA Chairman Joseph Lhota to declare: "The New York City subway system is 108 years old, but it has never faced a disaster as devastating as what we experienced last night." Subway service was unlikely to resume for 4 to 5 days, Bloomberg said.
• PATH train service between Manhattan and New Jersey is likely to be suspended for 7-10 days, Gov. Chris Christie said Tuesday.
• Half of Hoboken, N.J., was underwater, preventing emergency crews from reaching areas of the city, according to Mayor Dawn Zimmer. "We want people to be aware that it's a very dangerous situation," she told MSNBC.
• At least four towns in north New Jersey were submerged by up to 6 feet of water after a levee broke.
• New York University Medical Center evacuated 215 patients to other hospitals because its backup generator was out.
• The storm surge destroyed homes, boats and other property in beach communities like Long Beach Island, N.J., and Fire Island, N.Y. Sand several blocks inland remained after the water receded.
• More than 15,000 flights have been canceled so far and New York City's airports remained closed Tuesday. Amtrak canceled all of its Northeast Corridor rail service, in addition to some other lines.
• A half-dozen nuclear power plants were shut down or impacted, while the nation's oldest facility declared a rare "alert" after the record storm surge pushed flood waters high enough to endanger a key cooling system.

The dollar value of Sandy's destruction was still unclear.

"I think the losses will be almost incalculable," New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie told NBC's TODAY show.

Video: Floods hit Point Pleasant, NJ, hard (on this page)

One disaster forecasting company predicted economic losses could ultimately reach $20 billion, Reuters said . Major U.S. stock exchanges were closed Tuesday for a second day but planned to reopen Wednesday.

Get live coverage on the storm from Weather.com

The historic storm, which made landfall at 6:45 p.m. ET Monday, hurled a wall of water up to 13 feet high at the Northeast coast.

"There are boats in the street five blocks from the ocean,'' Peter Sandomeno, one of the owners of a motel in Point Pleasant Beach, N.J., said Tuesday.

Tuesday's disaster declaration for New York City,as well as one for New Jersey, means that federal funds will be available to people affected by the storm, according to a White House statement.

"This was a devastating storm, maybe the worst that we have ever experienced," Bloomberg said, adding that schools would be closed Tuesday and Wednesday.

Seawater surged into lower Manhattan and areas of Brooklyn, submerging entire streets and parks Monday. An all-time record tide level of 13.88 feet was set at The Battery in Lower Manhattan, Monday night, breaking the previous record of 11.2 feet from 1821.

Video: Aerials show N.J. Shore devastation (on this page)

Sandy Hook, N.J., also shattered its previous storm surge record from the December 1992 nor'easter and Hurricane Donna in 1960, according to weather.com.

New York City's major utility said damage to its power infrastructure was "unprecedented."

On Long Island, 90 percent of homes were without power, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday.

In New Jersey, two thirds of all utility customers, nearly 2.5 million homes and businesses, were without power.

Slideshow: Sandy slams into East Coast (on this page)

Sandy was crossing Pennsylvania on Tuesday with winds of 45 mph, and was expected to make a turn into western New York state on Tuesday night. Although weakening, continued heavy rain and flooding is expected over the next day.

In a measure of Sandy's immense size and power, waves on southern Lake Michigan rose to a record-tying 20.3 feet.

High winds clobbered parts of Canada , cutting power to more than 100,000, as well as the Cleveland area, uprooting trees, cutting power to hundreds of thousands, closing schools and flooding major roads along Lake Erie.

Blizzard warnings were also posted for the mountains of West Virginia, western Virginia and Garrett County, Md. More than 2 feet of snow fell in parts of West Virginia, where a federal emergency declaration was issued Tuesday.

BreakingNews.com's coverage of Sandy
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The powerful storm flooded sections of Atlantic City and other areas of the New Jersey shore. Part of the Atlantic City boardwalk was washed away.

Christie sharply criticized Atlantic City Mayor Lorenzo Langford, whom he blamed for having "advised people to stay in shelters in the city."

"Despite my admonition to evacuate, he gave them comfort, for some reason, to stay," Christie said.

Langford lashed back on TODAY, saying that Christie was "either misinformed or ill-advised."

Video: Hoboken mayor estimates 50% of city underwater

NBC News has been able to confirm 34 deaths so far along the East Coast:

• New York (17): 13 of the deaths were in New York City, according to NBCNewYork.com.
• New Jersey (3): Two people died when a tree fell on their car in northern New Jersey, authorities told NBCPhiladelphia.com. Gov. Christie told NBC that a third person died as well, but details were not available.
• Connecticut (3): A woman, 90, and a firefighter were killed by falling trees while a man who went swimming in high surf drowned, NBCConnecticut.com reported.
• Pennsylvania (5): Three people, including a boy, 8, were killed by falling trees, while one person was pulled from a river and another fell while trimming a tree, NBCPhiladelphia.com reported.
• Virginia (2): Two traffic deaths were tied to Sandy, NBC station WWBT-TV reported.
• Maryland (2): A man was killed by a falling tree and a woman died in a traffic accident, NBCWashington.com reported.
• West Virginia (1): A woman died in an accident on a snow-covered road in Tucker County, NBC station WSAZ reported.
• At sea (1): One person died when a replica of the HMS Bounty sank 90 miles southeast of Hatteras, N.C. Fourteen others were rescued, but the captain was missing.

Before it made its way north, Sandy was blamed for at least 65 deaths in the Caribbean.

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NBC's Ian Johnston and M. Alex Johnson, as well as Reuters and The Associated Press, contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49605748/ns/weather/

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