Hurricane Sandy: Superstorm Could Affect 60 Million People

Oct. 27, 2012— -- Hurricane Sandy is expected to affect between 50 million and 60 million people, emergency management and weather officials warned Saturday afternoon.

The storm will affect the eastern third of the country -- not just the coast -- and include inland flooding around Maryland and Pennsylvania and up to two feet of snow in West Virginia, said Louis Uccellini, director of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction.

"This is not just going to be a coastal event," said Rick Knabb, director of the National Hurricane Center. "Virginia northward should prepare for weather to go downhill over the weekend."

Given its size and expected duration of two to three days, Hurricane Sandy could turn out to be comparable to 1991's Hurricane Grace, also known as the "Perfect Storm," and a cyclone that struck near the Appalachians in November of 1950, FEMA administrator Craig Fugate said. But, Fugate said, officials don't try to make historical comparisons until after a storm hits.

Gov. Chris Christie declared a state of emergency this morning in New Jersey and issued evacuation orders for South Jersey barrier islands by Sunday afternoon in preparation for Sandy, which is expected to make landfall in Delaware late Monday or early Tuesday and has already killed 43 people in the Caribbean.

He said he expects greater damage during this storm than in Hurricane Irene last year, because Sandy is expected to linger for 48 to 60 hours. The state will be lowering its reservoir and lake levels in hopes of minimizing flooding to nearby areas. PATH trains are already using sand bags and pumps to prevent flooding, and New Jersey Central Power and Light warns residents to expect outages for a week or more after Sandy hits.

"I think this could be more severe than Irene given some of the rain projections that they're giving us," he said. "We're going to be looking at some pretty significant damage to the shore."

Hurricane Sandy: Full Coverage

Meteorologists downgraded Sandy from hurricane status this morning but upgraded it back to a hurricane a few hours later, after hurricane-force winds kicked up again.

"Air Force hurricane hunters have been out flying in and around the storm and they found that it's reintensified and it's gotten back to a hurricane with peak winds of about 75 miles per hour," National Hurricane Center meteorologist Chris Lancey said.

The Navy had initially ordered all ships to leave the port of Norfolk, Va., because of the storm, it has since canceled the order because the projected storm surge and winds aren't as bad as originally expected. The ships should be able to weather the storm in port, according to the Navy.

The storm is pounding Florida beaches today with 5- to 10-foot waves and is easily visible from space, stretching hundreds of miles across.

But soon, Sandy will meet up with a cold front coming from the northwest and a high pressure system from Greenland, fueling it with enough energy to make it more powerful than the "Perfect Storm," some meteorologists say.

"This storm that is going to be impacting the mid-Atlantic and parts of the Northeast ... is going to be destructive, historic, and unfortunately life threatening," AccuWeather's Bernie Rayno said.