Superstorm Sandy Batters US Eastern Coast

Former hurricane Sandy has battered parts of the eastern United States, flooding major cities and killing at least 13 people.

The National Hurricane Centre, which reclassified the storm as 'post-tropical', said torrential rains and wind made landfall along the New Jersey coast near Atlantic City at around 8pm EDT (12am UK time).

The huge storm brought gusts of more than 85mph (135kph) and a record-breaking 13ft surge of seawater in Manhattan. Firefighters in New York said one man had been killed by a falling tree.

Two people were also killed when a tree fell onto a vehicle in New Jersey, an official from the local emergency management office said.

The collapsed front wall of an apartment building in New York

A total of 12 people were reported dead by local officials in New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and North Carolina, while in Toronto, Canada, police said a woman died after being hit by flying debris.

Authorities in New York were concerned salt water would seep through the boarded-up street grates and through the sandbags placed at subway entrances, crippling the electrical connections needed to operate the subway.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg told a news conference 250,000 Manhattan homes had been left without power by the storm, which had already knocked out electricity to more than 1.5 million people and is expected to affect tens of millions more.

Cars in Manhattan were submerged by floodwater

Mr Bloomberg said authorities expected the tidal surge to recede by 12am EDT on Wednesday, but warned those who had not evacuated the city to stay indoors.

It had been feared the surge of seawater could damage the underground electrical and communications lines in lower Manhattan that are vital to the nation's financial centre.

Sandy, which killed 69 people in the Caribbean before making its way up the Atlantic, has seen subways, buses, trains and schools closed across a region of more than 50 million people from Washington to Boston.

Rain caused by sandy could last for days

As it made its way toward land, it converged with a cold-weather system that turned into a hybrid consisting not only of rain, high wind and snow.

Earlier, a US sailor on board a replica of the HMS Bounty was recovered from the sea in an "unresponsive" condition, and the captain was missing and feared dead after the tall ship went down off the Carolinas.

President Barack Obama and Republican rival Mitt Romney suspended their campaigning with just over a week to go before election day.

An explosion rocks a flooded New York power plant

At the White House, Mr Obama made a direct appeal to those at risk

"Please listen to what your state and local officials are saying," he said.

"When they tell you to evacuate, you need to evacuate. Don't delay, don't pause, don't question the instructions that are being given, because this is a powerful storm."

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