Superstorm Sandy plows into Jersey shore

Hurricane Sandy began breaking up as it hit the New Jersey shore Monday evening on what's expected to be a destructive path across the Northeast, plunging more than 2 million into darkness, flooding beach towns and crippling transportation across a huge swath of the Eastern U.S.

Sandy made landfall at Atlantic City, N.J., about 6:45 p.m. ET, throwing off sustained winds of 90 mph, NBC New York reported.

The National Hurricane Center re-designated Sandy as a "post-tropical cyclone," saying it was rapidly losing its tropical characteristics as it merged into an enormous nor'easter. Regardless, it was still packing hurricane-force winds, and "it's only going to get worse," Mike Seidel, a meteorologist with The Weather Channel, told MSNBC from Point Pleasant, N.J.

"If you're in your home or somewhere safe where you can remain, stay there," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. "The time for relocation or evacuation is over."

With hurricane-force winds extending 175 miles from its center, Sandy is as broad as any hurricane to ever hit the U.S., sucked in by the lowest central pressure ever recorded for landfall of a major storm in the continental U.S., said Bryan Norcross, a meteorologist with The Weather Channel.

About 2.2 million customers ? half of them in New York and New Jersey ? had already lost power. Schools, offices, roads and transit systems shut down across an area of 50 million people.

As Sandy's winds howled and rain poured over Atlantic City ? parts of which were already under 5 feet of water ? Gov. Chris Christie said Monday evening that it was now too late to evacuate.

"Rescue is no longer an option," Christie said at a news conference, where he 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, NBCPhiladelphia reported.

PhotoBlog: US trading floors silent as Cyclone Sandy passes

And landfall "does not mean this is the end of the event," said Rick Knabb, director of the National Hurricane Center.

Weather Channel coverage of Sandy

That means, Knabb said, that "for many folks, it is just beginning":

• Surrounding buildings were evacuated after a multi-dwelling structure collapsed on 8th Avenue in New York, NBC New York reported. No one was believed to have been in the two-building, four-story structure, the interiors of which were visible from the street.
• Despite a mandatory evacuation order for 375,000 people living in low-lying areas Monday, many New Yorkers stayed put, hunkering down in in their homes.
• Hospitals across the Eastern Seaboard kicked disaster plans into place, telling emergency room crews to bring clothes and personal supplies to last several days.
• Business experts feared long-term, potentially catastrophic economic damage because of Sandy's tidal surge carries, which produces more damage than wind because water is heavier. U.S. stock exchanges didn't trade Monday and will be closed Tuesday. In Washington, federal offices closed Monday and Tuesday, and federal courts in affected areas announced that they would be shuttered.
• Thousands of flights were canceled, and rail traffic was heavily affected, with Amtrak canceling all of its Northeast Corridor service in addition to some other lines. Workers began shutting down New York City's subway, bus and commuter railroads Sunday night. The city's Holland and Brooklyn-Battery tunnels were shut down at 2 p.m. ET Monday.
• In New York, a crane atop a high-rise building under construction toppled overand was dangling over the side. Nearby offices and streets were evacuated.
• Out at sea, two people were missing after they and 14 others abandoned a replica of the HMS Bounty 90 miles southeast of Hatteras, N.C. The ship later sank in 18-foot seas.

Forecasters said the storm could bring close to a foot of rain in some regions, a potentially lethal storm surge across much of the coastline, and punishing winds that could cause widespread power failures that last for days.

"The size of this alone, affecting a heavily populated area, is going to be history-making," said Jeff Masters, a hurricane specialist for Weather Underground.

The immediate concern was beach erosion because Sandy was hitting during a full moon, which could lead to record flooding, NBC News meteorologist Al Roker said.

"It's the worst possible time," Roker said. "We're not even at the highest of high tides, and we've lost about 150 feet of beach."

BreakingNews.com's coverage of Sandy

Later on, Sandy is expected to collide with arctic air and a storm moving in from the west to create windy, wet, even snowy conditions far inland.

Winter storm warnings were issued through Wednesday morning for southwest Virginia and the East Tennessee mountains, where snow had already started falling. Forecasters said blizzard conditions were possible at elevations over 3,000 feet.

Share your images of Hurricane Sandy

Power failures, meanwhile, were expected to affect millions of residents and businesses and could continue through the presidential election, NBC meteorologist Bill Karins said.

"After the storm hits, expect the cleanup and power outage restoration to continue right up through Election Day," he said.

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

More Hurricane Sandy coverage:

This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49593609/ns/weather/

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