More than coast at risk, officials warn
SHIP BOTTOM, N. J. — Forget distinctions like tropical storm or hurricane. Don’t get fixated on a particular track.
Wherever it hits, the rare behemoth storm gathering in the eastern U. S. will afflict a third of the country with sheets of rain, high winds and heavy snow, say officials who have warned millions in coastal areas to get out of the way.
“We’re looking at impact of greater than 50 to 60 million people,” said Louis Uccellini, head of environmental prediction for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
As Hurricane Sandy barreled north from the Caribbean— where it left nearly five dozen dead— to meet two other powerful winter storms, experts said it didn’t matter how strong the storm was when it hit land: The rare hybrid storm that follows will cause havoc over 800 miles from the East Coast to the Great Lakes.
“This is not a coastal threat alone,” said Craig Fugate, director of the Federal EmergencyManagement Agency. “This is a very large area.”
Heading for New Jersey
New Jersey was set to close its casinos this weekend, New York’s governor was considering shutting down the subways to avoid flooding and half a dozen states warned residents to prepare for several days of lost power.
Sandy weakened briefly to a tropical storm early Saturday but was soon back up to Category 1 strength, with 75- mph winds about 355 miles southeast of Charleston, S. C., as of 7 p. m. CDT.
Experts said the storm was most likely to hit the southern New Jersey coastline by lateMonday or early Tuesday.
Governors from North Carolina, where heavy rain was expected Sunday, to Connecticut declared states of emergency.
Delaware ordered mandatory evacuations for coastal communities.
New Jersey’s Chris Christie, who was widely criticized for not interrupting a family vacation in Florida while a snowstorm pummeled the state in 2010, on Friday broke off campaigning for Republican presidential nomineeMitt Romney in North Carolina to return home.
“I can be as cynical as anyone,” the pugnacious chief executive said Saturday. “But when the storm comes, if it’s as bad as they’re predicting, you’re going to wish you weren’t as cynical as you otherwise might have been.”
‘ Really frightening’
In Ship Bottom, just north of Atlantic City, Alice and Giovanni Stockton- Rossini spent Saturday packing clothing in the backyard of their home, a few hundred yards from the ocean on Long Beach Island.
The couple’s neighborhood was under a voluntary evacuation order, but they said they didn’t need to be forced.
“It’s really frightening,” Alice Stockton- Rossi said. “But you know how many times they tell you, ‘ This is it, it’s really coming and it’s really the big one’ and then it turns out not to be? I’m afraid people will tune it out because of all the false alarms before, and the one time you need to take it seriously, you won’t. This one might be the one.”