New York Will Be Shut Down Beginning at 6 thru 9 pm
It is so strange to have the mayor do like he did the last time. Close the city down. I never remember this happening before the last time.
I always remember trains,buses and the Ferry always running no matter what. It seems strange to me. I don’t question it, I just wonder if its so good why we didn’t do it before and if it’s not so good, why are we doing it now. Does it have to do with iphone 5? Have we gotten smarter with the technology or more careful or just silly. I don’t know the answer to that I wonder if you do? Adam G.
New York City's public transport system is to be suspended ahead of the arrival on Monday of Hurricane Sandy.
Governor Andrew Cuomo said the subway, bus and train services would shut down from 19:00 (23:00 GMT) on Sunday.
As many as 375,000 people have been ordered to evacuate low-lying areas, and schools will be shut.
Sandy's winds are set to intensify as it merges with a wintry storm from the western US. A number of states on the East Coast have declared an emergency.
"It is important for us to respond big and to respond fast," he said.
Up to 60 million people could be affected by the storm, which is set to hit several states key to the 6 November presidential election.
Republican candidate Mitt Romney cancelled an event scheduled for Sunday in Virginia, a key election state, because of the weather, and was instead heading to Ohio.
Sandy has already killed 60 people in the Caribbean during the past week.
'Life-threatening' surge
At 11:00 EDT (15:00 GMT), the eye of Hurricane Sandy was about 250 miles (400km) South of Cape Hatteras in North Carolina, and 575 miles south of New York City, according to the National Hurricane Center.
With winds of 75mph, it was expected to bring a "life-threatening" surge flooding to the Mid-Atlantic coast, including Long Island Sound and New York Harbour.
The centre said winds were expected to be near hurricane force at landfall.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said people needed to start taking action immediately.
He said the worst of the storm would hit New York on Monday, but warned that a storm surge expected later on Sunday could do "plenty of damage".
"I don't want anybody to go to bed tonight thinking that they can spend the day worrying about the night after," he said.
The mayor said 375,000 people living in low-lying areas should leave on Sunday.
In his warning, Governor Cuomo said he did not want to overreact, but to be "prudent". He urged people not in low-lying areas to stay at home.
Flights were expected to be affected - Air France says it will cancel all flights into New York and Washington DC on Monday.
However, the New York Stock Exchange announced it would open as usual on Monday.
"We continue to monitor the situation and to communicate with government officials, regulators, and markets participants," NYSE spokesman Rich Adamonis told Reuters news agency.
Similar precautions were taken last year as Hurricane Irene approached the East Coast. It killed more than 40 people from North Carolina to Maine and caused an estimated $10bn (£6bn) worth of damage.
Craig Fugate, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said: "This is not a coastal threat alone. This is a very large area."
Its safety tips include preparations for and what to do during and after a hurricane.
While the East Coast is used to extreme weather, Sandy is causing concern to meteorologists who fear it could mutate into a "Frankenstorm" as it merges with a winter storm in the run-up to Halloween.
It is only moving north-east at 14mph, and could hit as many as 12 states, bringing up to 25cm of rain, 60cm of snow, extreme storm surges and power cuts.
States of emergency have been declared in Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington DC and a coastal county in North Carolina.
The NHC said further strengthening was possible on Sunday, before Sandy touched down anywhere between Virginia and southern New England late on Monday.
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