'Shore People' Battle To Rebuild After Sandy

They pride themselves on being tough, resilient "shore people".

But Superstorm Sandy has made even them wonder whether life can ever be the same again.

A small bay-front corner of Pleasantville, New Jersey, is where Sandy made its second touchdown on land.

Houses that have withstood a century of extreme weather were picked and smashed to pieces inland.

Mike and Tracey Rock returned to their home on East Edgewater Avenue to find it had been shifted off its foundations.

A house where Mike's grandmother had lived, where he had sat through countless hurricanes since childhood, will now have to be demolished.

"It is devastating. This is our past. We all grew up here. We'll rebuild but it won't be the same."

As they picked through the debris down the street, they found their front porch and paintings that had hung in their living room.

They found a half-finished bottle of wine but are still searching for their bath.

They joke that at least their view of the bay is better - the house that was in the way has disappeared altogether.

A cash register is seen among the debris in Sea Bright, New Jersey

The owner of that house was picking around a demolished roof in a garden a hundred yards away, trying to find any signs of home.

The neighbourhood is criss-crossed by narrow waterways, all now full of bits of houses tossed around by Sandy.

Lisa Broomsmith's home was shattered by a houseboat which was ripped from its moorings and thrown inland.

The garage where her husband had carried on the family tradition of toy-making has gone.

She said: "Seeing the defeat in his face has been the hardest thing.

"But this is not going to defeat us, this one perfect storm."

Like many families here, the Broomsmiths must wait for assessors to decide what happens next to their battered home. They did not have insurance.

All are thankful to have survived a storm that has been so deadly in their state.

John Tansey says his home - maybe his life - was saved by his old brown Ford van which stopped a boat dock from smashing through his house.

With remarkable efficiency, the Egg Harbour authorities are collecting piles of debris as fast as residents can place them on the pavement.

The memories and the scars of Sandy will take much longer to remove.

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U-Turn On Amsterdam Tourist Cannabis Ban

A new law that would have banned tourists from smoking cannabis in Amsterdam's notorious coffee shops has been scrapped.

The mayor of Amsterdam has rejected the legislation, which the incoming Dutch government has ruled will be up to local authorities to adopt it - or not.

Eberhard van der Laan said enforcing the law in the city would only force pot smokers onto the streets.

He told the De Volkskrant newspaper that the city's tourists will not accept restrictions on the availability of marijuana.

"They will swarm all over the city looking for drugs. This would lead to more robberies, quarrels about fake drugs and no control of the quality of drugs on the market," he said. "Everything we have worked toward would be lost to misery."

Under the new rules, due to be fully introduced by January, the government will issue "weed passes" to those who want to smoke marijuana and hash.

Amsterdam coffee shops are to remain open to tourists

This would mean only Netherlands residents could buy cannabis openly. Foreigners, who flood to Amsterdam each year to buy and smoke drugs, would be banned from such consumption.

Some 1.5 million visitors are estimated to go to the Dutch capital, which relies heavily on tourism, every year to take advantage of its libera approach to drugs.

The change in law has caused lengthy arguments between politicians, some of whom believe it will curb drug use in the country, and coffee shop owners, who fear it could seriously damage their business.

It was brought in by the previous conservative-led government but MPs in the new administration have decided to let individual cities make up their own minds.

There are currently around 750 coffee shops in the country, with around 220 of in Amsterdam, mostly in the city's famous red light district where prostitution is also legal.

While marijuana trafficking is illegal in the Netherlands, people cannot be prosecuted for possession of small amounts and the drug is sold openly in designated cafes.

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Sandy: Fuel Crisis Grows On US East Coast

A US motorist has reportedly threatened another with a gun as the fuel crisis escalated along the US East Coast in the wake of superstorm Sandy.

Huge queues have been developing outside petrol stations throughout the stretch of the country battered by a storm that has killed more than 90 people.

New York District Attorney Richard Brown said 35-year-old Sean Bailey, of Queens, was arrested after he tried to jump the queue at a petrol station - and pointed a pistol at another driver who complained.

He was arrested on charges of menacing and criminal possession of a weapon.

Queues of cars stretching back more than a mile could be seen in areas including New Jersey and parts of neighbouring state Pennsylvania.

New York mayor Michael Bloomberg said he expected the shortages to ease over the coming days.

"Some of the gas stations aren't open because they don't have electricity," he said.

"That, over the next few days, should be accommodated. Once mass transit comes back you will have a lot fewer cars trying to buy gasoline."

Meanwhile, fears of lawlessness were rife, with more than 4.6 million homes and businesses across the country still without electricity because of the storm - which has caused up to $50bn worth of damage.

People wait in line to fill containers with fuel in Edison, New Jersey

The Guardian Angels, a group of anti-crime volunteers, have been carrying out patrols in Manhattan island.

Wolfgang Ban, a restaurant owner in Manhattan's Alphabet City neighbourhood, said: "People feel safe during the day but as soon as the sun sets, people are extremely scared.

"The fact that Guardian Angels are on the streets trying to restore law just shows how out of control the situation is in lower Manhattan."

There has also been anger in New York at Mr Bloomberg's decision to proceed with the city's marathon on Sunday - more than 40,000 runners are due in the city.

Frustration has been particularly acute in Staten Island, where rubbish has been piling up, a stench hangs in the air and mud-caked mattresses and furniture line the streets.

New York City councilman James Oddo said on his Twitter account: "If they take one first responder from Staten Island to cover this marathon, I will scream.

"We have people with no homes and no hope right now."

Elsewhere, the US Coast Guard said it had halted its search for the captain of tall ship HMS Bounty that sank off the North Carolina coast.

The search for 63-year-old Robin Walbridge - which employed ships, helicopters and planes - was suspended after more than three days of around-the-clock effort.

New Jersey officials say they will deploy military trucks to serve as polling places on Election Day in storm-battered communities, and are also extending the deadline for mail-in ballots.

The trucks will be parked at polling places that do not have power.

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Sandy: 'Mass Destruction' In Atlantic City

When the people of Atlantic City emerged from wherever they had been sheltering against Superstorm Sandy, there was only thing they wanted to see.

A stretch of the city's iconic boardwalk, ripped up and thrown inland, has become a nationwide symbol of the devastating impact of nature's assault on the New Jersey shore.

Ever since, locals have been stopping by: Simply to stare in wonder, or pick through what remains of the demolished boardwalk and abandoned buildings knocked over by Sandy.

The beach is littered with all kinds of debris: Massive chunks of timber, long buried maritime metal work, bits of brick wall, even local newspapers from as far back as 1974.

The site, at the end of Atlantic Avenue, has become something of a tourist attraction.

John Paxton outside his storm damaged home in Atlantic City

John Paxton, a lifelong resident of Atlantic City, said: "This is the first time I have been down to see it.  It is devastating, it looks like a bombed-out area.

"It is the first time I've seen mass destruction like this."

Like many, the 75-year-old ignored evacuation warnings. He saw out Sandy in a house which stands alone on a patch of waste ground four blocks from the beach.

He showed us how three feet of flood water had even left the food drawers in the bottom of his fridge filled with foul water. His home of 57 years is now caked in mud and sludge.

He said: "When I saw the road outside had become a river, there was nothing else to do. I went to bed."

Atlantic City has now begun a massive clean-up operation and almost every street is dotted with piles of damp or destroyed furniture and carpets.

A woman walks past storm damage in Atlantic City

Close to the bay, Kathleen Fitzgerald was dragging plastic rubbish bags full of soaking home goods out on to the pavement.

She says this is the first time that the city has been hit badly by a hurricane-like storm after several warnings came to nothing over the years.

"In a way we were lucky," she said. "As far as my family and all my neighbours, no loss of life, no injuries, so everyone did good."

Red Cross volunteers in the city say even those who prepared well for the storm are now running low on resources.

Catherine Barde said: "This has been incredibly difficult for the residents of this community. It is so completely devastating."

But she says that community spirit has helped: "Everyone comes together at a time like this."

It is perhaps a sign of the scale of Sandy that even Atlantic City's famed casinos were forced to close, at a cost of $5 million a day.

They will re-open and the city will re-build with the spirit demonstrated by residents like Shelley Grossman.

When the storm hit her apartment block, she said, residents retired to a safe room: "We were playing bingo during the height of the storm, it was like being on the Titanic, the music playing as the ship was going down.

"But it kept us all calm."

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Sandy: Face To Face With Storm's Devastation

The superstorm came ashore over a thousand miles of coastline to engulf 20 states - and counting.

In each state Sandy has had different consequences for different communities.

In Rockaway Park in the Queens borough of New York, the storm surge was overwhelming.

Like a tsunami, the sea rose by five or six feet, and swept through the town. It dumped much of the beach on the streets, flipped cars and ripped up the boardwalk.

For Frankie Burk, who was watching from a sixth-floor window, it felt like the end of days.

This was the work of God, he said, just as damaging as what terrorists wrought on 9/11 only more spread out.

The night it happened he ventured out in his waders, but was lifted up and pinned to a fence - but not before seeing electricity transformers above him explode down the street.

The fire they ignited was still burning in a block of properties almost completely destroyed.

Sky News found the Van Leirs, a couple who lived round the corner, hugging each other.

The historic Rockaway boardwalk was destroyed

Jan Van Leir was crying - it was too much to see their neighbourhood shops in smouldering ruins, she said. She wondered if the town would ever get its character back.

Rockaway Park is not affluent - it's a carefree seaside beach town say the people who live here. They are pulling together, helping neighbours remove sodden belongings. But the challenge is enormous.

Every building was flooded one way or another. Cars were carried down streets and flipped over. Basements and ground floors have been wrecked.

Further down this narrow peninsula in Breezy Point, people were killed and many homes went up in flames in a fire caused by a flooded electricity station.

On a dark, cold Halloween night for more than eight million Americans we drove back from Rockaway to Manhattan, the power was out for around two-thirds of the way, and it will be for days to come.

Beyond Brooklyn Bridge, Lower Manhattan stood dark and ghostly.

We had seen military helicopters patrolling the skies over Queens, helmeted National Guardsmen touring in Humvees, and scenes of devastation you do not expect to see in America.

If the scientists are right, this is just the beginning. The weather is only going to become more extreme because of climate change.

Ironically that issue has received barely a mention in the election contest that culminates next week. 

The Breezy Point fire razed dozens of homes

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Superstorm Sandy: Thousands Stranded In Floods

Millions of people are still without power and tens of thousands are stranded in their properties due to flooding three days after superstorm Sandy battered the US East Coast and killed at least 72 people.

Nearly 20,000 people have been trapped at home in the New Jersey city of Hoboken, just across the river from New York City, amid accusations that officials were slow to deliver food and water.

One man blew up an air mattress and floated to City Hall, demanding to know why supplies had not reached residents - at least a quarter of homes there are flooded and 90% do not have power.

National Guard troops have arrived in Hoboken to help evacuate stranded people.

In total, about six million homes and businesses remain without power, mostly in New York and New Jersey - while miles of coastline, including Atlantic City, was ripped apart by the storm.

Residents in the flooded city of Hoboken

As the region struggles to recover, a clean-up operation in that state has begun while New York City has taken the first tentative steps to getting back to some form of normality as it re-opens some unaffected parts of the subway system - which suffered the worst damage in its 108-year history.

Two of the region's main airports, John F Kennedy and Newark Liberty, have also opened and officials promised the third, LaGuardia Airport, would be operational today.

Broadway shows have resumed and people packed on to buses that returned for the first time to city streets since the storm.

Electricity outages continue as far west as Wisconsin in the Midwest and as far south as the Carolinas.

Flood-damaged food is removed from New York shops

The superstorm, which also hit parts of Canada, came ashore over a thousand miles of coastline to engulf 20 states. It is now winding down and its remnants have been felt in the Appalachian mountains.

Sandy brought up to 3ft of snow to parts of West Virginia and Maryland and several more inches are possible before it dies out for good later this week.

Restoring the usually vibrant New York City to its ordinarily frenetic pace could take days, while rebuilding the hardest-hit communities and the transportation networks could take considerably longer.

Power company Consolidated Edison says it could be the weekend before power is restored to Manhattan and Brooklyn, perhaps longer for other New York boroughs and the New York suburbs.

There are still only hints of the economic impact of the storm.

Part of a home rests upside-down in Seaside Heights, New Jersey

Forecasting firm IHS Global Insight predicted it would cause $20bn in damage and $10bn to $30bn in lost business. Another firm, AIR Worldwide, estimated losses up to $15bn.

Amtrak said the amount of water in train tunnels under the Hudson and East rivers was unprecedented, but it said it planned to restore some service on Friday to and from New York City.

Speaking on Wednesday, US President Barack Obama told New Jersey residents that the government will support them "for the long haul".

The region took the brunt of its impact and is among the worst affected areas on the East Coast.

The bill for Sandy could top $20bn

Joined by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Mr Obama -  who described the disaster as "heartbreaking for the nation"  - inspected the impact from Sandy, flying high over flooded neighbourhoods and sand-strewn streets.

He told those affected by the storm: "Our hearts go out to the families who have lost loved ones. Their world has been torn apart ... they are in our thoughts and prayers.

"For those like the people I have had a chance to meet on this block, throughout New Jersey and throughout the region whose lives have been upended, my second message is: We are here for you, and we will not forget, we will follow up to make sure that you get all the help that you need until you've rebuilt."

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Sandy's Victims Speak Of 'Devastating Sight'

People in the path of the devastating Superstorm Sandy have begun to assess the widespread damage along the US East Coast.

The high winds and driving rain knocked out power to more than nine million people and 39 people lost their lives as a result of the storm.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said the storm was "beyond anything I thought I'd ever see" and parts of the Atlantic coast were a "devastating sight right now".

Authorities urged people to stay inside as the storm hit, but people all along the East coast described the damage.

Ziad Shehady, Mayor of Springfield in New Jersey, told Sky News: "Fortunately we don't have any serious injuries reported but the devastation is certainly causing a big hamper on things in this town and the operations of our community.

"We're just getting over the tragedy and devastation caused by Hurricane Irene last year that caused flooding problems.

"This one was high winds, gusts over 60mph, knocked out power lines got 50-70 trees fallen on the town many of them on to homes or power lines."

Tom Johnson is on holiday in New York, but is unable to return home.

He told Sky News: "It's quite weird, it's mostly empty if you go out in the streets, most of the cabs are not out, obviously there's no buses. It's weird.

"The phone signal here is terrible for obvious reasons, so I don't know what I am going to do about it really.

"The damage is not quite as bad as I thought it was going to be from what the storm sounded like last night, but it's significant."

Juan Allen, who lives in a mobile home in New Jersey, said: "I saw trees not just knocked down but ripped right out of the ground.

"I watched a tree crush a guy's house like a wet sponge."

Peter Sandomeno, owner of the Broadway Court Motel in Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey, said: "There are boats in the street five blocks from the ocean.

"That's the worst storm I've ever seen, and I've been there for 11 years."

In New York, at least ten people are thought to have been killed by the storm and seven subway stations were flooded with seawater after a massive storm surge hit Manhattan.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg: "This was a devastating storm, maybe the worst that we have ever experienced."

Large parts of Manhattan have been left without power after the floodwaters damaged sub-substations and underground wiring.

Sandy is predicted to have caused up to $20bn of damage, with billions more lost as people are unable to work.

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Sandy 'Heartbreaking For The Nation'

President Barack Obama is due to visit New Jersey to survey some of the widespread devastation caused by superstorm Sandy in eastern US and Canada.

With at least 50 people killed - most by falling trees - and millions affected by the high winds, power cuts and flooding, Mr Obama cancelled campaign appearances in key state Ohio to oversee the government response.

He described the disaster at "heartbreaking for the nation".

The President is fighting a close race with Republican rival Mitt Romney and the White House has been keen to portray him as a strong leader ahead of election day on November 6.

More than eight million homes have been left without electricity by the biggest storm to hit the country in generations, which swamped parts of New York's subways system and Lower Manhattan's financial district.

Darkness continued to envelope a large stretch of the Manhattan skyline

Much of the Manhattan skyline was still in darkness on Tuesday night and it is feared it could be days before electricity is restored to some of those cut off.

Forecasters predict the storm could end up causing around $20bn (£12bn) worth of damages in the US.

Sky News weather presenter Nazaneen Ghaffar said the bad weather will continue.

"The storm is still reacting with cold air from the west, so there will be further heavy snowfall as well as inland flooding," she said.

"Rainfall totals could reach around 6-8 inches, and winds will remain gale force in strength.

"The forecast suggests that the centre of the low will move northwards from western Pennsylvania into the west of New York and then into Quebec by Thursday."

Businesses and homes along New Jersey's shore were wrecked and communities were submerged under floodwater across a large area on Tuesday.

Flood water from Sandy surrounds homes in South Bethany, Delaware

After seeing pictures of the shore, State Governor Chris Christie said: "The devastation is unthinkable."

A strong supporter of fellow Republican Mr Romney, Mr Christie also praised Mr Obama's federal response to the disaster.

Amid the despair, talk of recovery was already beginning.

"It's heartbreaking after being here 37 years," Barry Prezioso of Point Pleasant, New Jersey, said as he returned to his house in the coastal community to survey the damage.

"You see your home demolished like this, it's tough. But nobody got hurt and the upstairs is still livable, so we can still live upstairs and clean this out. I'm sure there's people that had worse. I feel kind of lucky."

The storm reached as far inland as Ohio and caused thousands of flight cancellations, while mobile phone network outages also were widespread.

Meanwhile, parts of West Virginia were buried under 3ft (1m) of drifting snow from the storm.

Mr Obama has issued federal emergency decrees and declared "major disasters" in both New Jersey and New York.

Speaking during a visit to Red Cross headquarters in Washington, he said: "New Jersey, New York in particular have been pounded by this storm. Connecticut has taken a big hit."

More than 80 homes in New York City's borough of Queens were destroyed in a fire caused by the storm.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who toured the area, said: "To describe it as looking like pictures we've seen of the end of World War Two is not overstating it. The area was completely levelled.

"Chimneys and foundations were all that was left of many of these homes."

Neighbour John Frawley, 57, said: "I stayed up all night. The screams. The fire. It was horrifying."

Hundreds of miles away from Sandy's turbulent centre, winds were churning up the waters of Lake Michigan to near record levels.

Officials in Chicago warned people to stay away from the lakefront, and parts of the bicycle path along the shore was closed.

The strong wind and rain has had other unexpected consequences.

Police in New Haven said a skeleton was revealed beneath the town green that may have been there since Colonial times.

Police spokesman David Hartman said a woman was with other bystanders looking at a fallen oak tree, and spotted bones in the upturned roots.

Hurricane Sandy - which was reclassified as a post-tropical storm upon making US landfall - had already killed 69 people in the Caribbean.

Many islands were ravaged by the storm, with an estimated $16.5m (£10.3m) worth of damage in Jamaica and 70% of crops destroyed in southern Haiti.

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Sandy: Man Drowned While Rescuing His Family

An off-duty police officer drowned in his basement while rescuing his family from superstorm Sandy.

Police confirmed the circumstances surrounding his death, as more details begin to emerge of how at least 50 people were killed across the US and Canada.

The unnamed police officer is reported to have helped his father, girlfriend and baby into the attic of their home on the southern end of Staten Island, New York.

He then went downstairs and never returned. Fellow officers found him in the basement at about 5am on Tuesday.

"Somehow he got trapped in his basement and he drowned in the basement," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.

Falling trees have proved particularly deadly

The number of deaths could rise further, with two boys aged two and four listed as missing nearly 24 hours after they got separated from their mother after her car became submerged on Staten Island.

New York was the worst-hit city in the US. In Queens, a 23-year-old woman was electrocuted after stepping on a live wire while taking photographs of a power line that had caught fire.

"She couldn't move. She didn't have a chance," said neighbour Renny Bhagretta, 44.

In Brooklyn, a teacher and student were crushed in the street by giant trees that came crashing down during the height of the storm.

Their bodies were discovered the next morning.

A 75-year-old Manhattan woman was reported to have died after her oxygen machine lost power.

Her grandson ran to nearby Bellevue Hospital for a manually operated tank, but the woman had already gone into cardiac arrest by the time paramedics arrived.

A 13-year-old girl was found dead under a pile of debris in the Tottenville area of Staten Island where four beach front homes were washed away.

Her mother, a church worker, was critically injured and her father, a plumber, was missing, neighbours said.

"They wanted to stay. We tried to convince them to leave. They said they didn't think it would be that bad," said neighbour John Alleva, 47.

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Sandy Could Mean Costly Delays For Travellers

Airline passengers delayed by Sandy may have to pay out thousands and wait days to reach their destinations, following the grounding of thousands of flights.

Flight-tracking service FlightAware posted details of 13,500 cancelled national and international flights for Monday and Tuesday, almost all related to the stormy conditions.

By early Tuesday, more than 500 flights scheduled for Wednesday were on hold, with more delays expected to be announced later.

More than a hundred UK departures and arrivals from New York and other East Coast cities were cancelled on Tuesday alone. The majority were due to operate via Heathrow. 

A British Airways spokesman said: "We are doing all we can to help customers whose flights have been cancelled and will look to use larger aircraft on some routes when the full flying schedule resumes to help get customers to their correct destination as quickly as we can."

BA's other US flights are operating normally and the company is also flying as usual to Toronto and Montreal in Canada.

Virgin Atlantic had to scrap most of its US East Coast services on Monday and Tuesday. 

"Our flights to America had been very busy at the beginning of this week due to the half-term school holiday. It's very unfortunate that this major storm has come when it has," a Virgin spokesperson said.

Some airports like this one in Washington DC virtually closed down

UK airports were advising passengers due to travel to the US to contact their airline before travelling.

All airlines flying out of the European Union are obliged under the EU Denied Boarding Regulations to provide or pay for later flights, accommodation and refreshments if travellers are delayed.

But there is no such obligation for US carriers. Passengers on these flights should contact their insurers for compensation. 

Under ABTA regulations anyone who booked their flight as part of a package deal can change or cancel their trip with a refund on the package price.

Businessman Alan Shrem was due to return home to Florida from Hong Kong via New York on Monday.

He is now on a waiting list with the next confirmed seat not until November 4.

"They just say: Yeah, it's a pretty big waiting list," said Mr Shrem, throwing up his hands.

In the meantime, he will have to fork out $400 a night to continue staying at a nearby hotel.

The impact on the airline's finances is less clear. Many of the customers on flights currently being cancelled will reschedule later on, so the airlines will still collect the fares.

But the cost of parking planes for days, along with potential damage, will undoubtedly cost airlines millions.

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New York Storm: Sandy Batters US Eastern Coast

Superstorm Sandy has battered parts of the eastern United States and Canada, flooding major cities and killing at least 16 people.

President Barack Obama has declared a major disaster in New York and Long Island, freeing up government funding to help people in the area.

The "post-tropical" storm brought gusts of more than 85mph (135kph) and a record-breaking 13ft surge of seawater in Manhattan, submerging seven subway tunnels and many roads.

At Breezy Point in the New York borough of Queens, 190 firefighters are tackling a huge fire that has destroyed more than 50 homes.

An explosion rocks a flooded New York power plant

New York University hospital was forced to move patients to other hospitals after it lost power and its back-up generator broke down. Among them were 20 babies from neonatal intensive care - some on respirators operating on battery power.

Firefighters said one man had been killed by a falling tree, while two people were also killed when a tree fell onto a vehicle in New Jersey.

Elsewhere in New Jersey a levee has broken, flooding the towns of Moonachie, Little Ferry and Carlstadt with up to five feet of water.

Some 670,000 New York homes have been left without power by the storm, with electricity knocked out to more than six million Americans.

CCTV captures the PATH station in Hoboken, N.J., as it is flooded.

Torrential rains and wind made landfall along the New Jersey coast near Atlantic City at around 8pm EDT (12am UK time).

A total of 15 people have been reported dead by local officials in New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, West Virginia and North Carolina, while in Toronto, Canadian police said a woman died after being hit by flying debris.

New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg said the worst of the storm had passed and officials expected the tidal surge to recede by Wednesday.

But thousands of flights have been cancelled at airports in cities up and down the coast, causing widespread travel chaos.

Sea water floods the Ground Zero construction site.

Some 84 flights have been cancelled between London Heathrow and the US east coast. Flights from Manchestr, Glasgow and Birmingham have also been cancelled.

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.

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the Nasdaq suspended trading for a weather event for the first time since Hurricane Gloria in 1985.

Sandy killed 69 people in the Caribbean, where many islands were left devastated by the extreme weather conditions.

The collapsed front wall of an apartment building in New York

Haiti was worst-hit, with 52 confirmed dead and many more still missing. Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe described the storm as a "disaster of major proportions".

Residents of Cuba's second-largest city of Santiago were left without power and running water for four days.

After battering the Caribbean, Sandy then made its way up the Atlantic. 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.

Subways, buses, trains and schools were closed across a region of more than 50 million people from Washington to Boston.

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

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

At the White House, Mr Obama had 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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HMS Bounty Sinks: Rescued Crew Member Dies

A woman rescued from the Atlantic Ocean hours after the HMS Bounty was caught by Hurricane Sandy has died.

Claudene Christian, 42, was pulled from the water on Monday - hours after the historic ship went down in the storm off the coast of North Carolina - but was unresponsive.

Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class David Weydert said Ms Christian, who lived and sailed on the ship, was taken to hospital in a critical condition but was later pronounced dead.

The Coast Guard is still searching for the ship's captain, Robin Walbridge, 63.

The famous HMS Bounty was hit by 18ft waves

Ms Christian, a keen sailor, said on Twitter that she joined the ship's crew in May and a series of posts described how much she was enjoying her life on the sea.

On June 7, she wrote: "So I had a tough day, lost in the sails. But it was sunny warm and I am on a TALL SHIP AT SEA. It's a "Bountyful" life."

Fourteen other crew members were rescued from the stricken vessel, which was about 160 miles from the hurricane's centre.

The captain ordered his crew to abandon ship at about 5am on Monday after the vessel lost power and started to take on water.

Sixteen people were on board the ship when it sank

Coast guards said the crew had put on cold water survival suits and life-jackets before launching in two 25-man lifeboats with canopies.

The suits are designed to protect people from the cold waters for up to 15 hours.

Rescuers faced 40mph winds and 18ft waves at the scene, which is 90 miles southeast of Hatteras in North Carolina.

The rescued crew were flown to Air Station Elizabeth City for treatment.

Coast Guard Sector North Carolina received a call from the owner of the 180ft, three-mast ship, saying she had lost communication with the vessel's crew late on Sunday evening.

The rescued crew were flown to Air Station Elizabeth City for treatment

It regained contact with the ship after receiving a signal from the emergency position indicating beacon registered to the Bounty.

HMS Bounty was built for the 1962 movie Mutiny On The Bounty with Marlon Brando and also appeared in Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.

The original Bounty was known for the mutiny that took place in Tahiti in 1789.

People could apply to work on the ship, which was built in 1960 and restored in 2001.

The HMS Bounty Organisation said on its website that it was "dedicated to keeping the ship sailing and using her as a vehicle for teaching the nearly lost arts of square rigged sailing and seamanship."

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Syria: Rebel Fighters Are Becoming Radicalised

By Alex Crawford, Sky News Special Correspondent

Sky has seen new evidence that the Syrian uprising is becoming more and more radicalised and being fought by Islamic fundamentalists and extremists.

The Syrian rebels have all but given up on military intervention by the West but after 18 months of grinding battle and a feeling they have been abandoned by the international community, they are making their own bombs and weapons and becoming much more self-sufficient.

There are some weapons and arms being smuggled across the borders from sympathetic Muslim neighbours.

We saw brand new rocket propelled grenade launchers with their rockets still in their plastic wrappers which had been smuggled across the Turkish border and an anti-aircraft gun which the rebels told us had come from Iraq.

But although that means that the rebels have many more weapons than they have had before, it is still small fry in comparison to the heavy weaponry, tanks and artillery employed by the regime.

What is increasingly obvious is the number of Jihad (holy war) flags and Jihad paraphernalia worn and used by the rebel fighters. The black headbands worn by many of the fighters are a symbol of Islamic fundamentalism - used by extremist groups and usually anti-Western.

The common refrain from many of the rebel fighters is that they have been forgotten by the outside world.

A cache of weapons seized by rebel fighters

A number of commanders told us they were disappointed, angry and frustrated by the lack of help from the international community.

One said: "All we get is words, not actions."

I asked him how many fighters were from outside Syria. He replied: "Most of the fighters are Syrians. I would say 90% of the fighters are Syrian. Only a few hundred in the whole of Syria are from outside the country and most of them are from sympathetic countries."

We met a Libyan medic and former rebel in his own country who said he had come to help the rebels in Syria as a fellow Muslim.

He said: "We know what it is like to suffer. I have come to help in the hospital but if I had to pick up a gun and shoot Assad soldiers, of course I would.

"The real problem here is not foreign fighters, not Al Qaeda or any other group but the regime which has done far more damage than any other group."

The rebels have been making significant gains in the north, crushing regime bases and the Assad army has been losing men as well as arms.

But the frustration by the rebels and the inaction by the international community is driving the rebels towards religious extremism.

If Assad falls, the West's lack of help may have lost them a potential ally in the Middle East and even worse, may have created an angry and resentful new enemy.

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Ukraine Election: Leader's Party Claims Victory

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich's party has claimed victory in a parliamentary vote tainted by the jailing of the country's top opposition leader.

With former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko in jail and widespread fears of election fraud, the West is paying close attention to the vote in the strategic ex-Soviet state.

Ukraine lies between Russia and the European Union, and serves as a key conduit for transit of Russian energy supplies to many EU countries.

An election deemed undemocratic by international observers could freeze Kiev's ties with the West and push Ukraine toward Moscow.

An exit poll conducted by three leading polling agencies showed the Party of Regions ahead with some 28.1% of the vote.

Tymoshenko's Fatherland party is poised to get about 25% of the proportional vote.

Meanwhile, Udar (Punch), led by world boxing champion Vitali Klitschko, is set to get around 15%, according to the survey. 

The anti-government nationalist Svoboda (Freedom) party and the Communists, Yanukovich's traditional allies, both look set to get about 12%.

And even though the three opposition parties have more proportional votes than the Regions and the Communists combined, Yanukovich candidates are likely to win enough individual races to form a majority in parliament.

Official results were slow to trickle in.

With the votes at less than 1% of all polling stations counted, Yanukovich's Party got 50%.

Tymoshenko's and Klitschko's parties got about 15% each, Svoboda got 7% and the Communists 5%, according to election officials.

"We believe that this is an undisputable victory of the Party of Regions," Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said shortly after polls closed.

"Above all, it shows the people's trust to the (policy) course that is being pursued."

It remains to be seen whether Tymoshenko's group, Klitschko's party and Svoboda can forge a strong alliance and challenge Yanukovich.

The election has been tainted by Tymoshenko's jailing on charges of abuse of office.

It has also been compromised by the creation of fake opposition parties and campaigns by politically unskilled celebrities.

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Hurricane Sandy: NY Braces For Superstorm

Rain and wind from Hurricane Sandy have started lashing the northeast of the US, as forecasters warn New York could bear the brunt of the one-of-a-kind superstorm.

Sandy is on a collision course with two other weather systems leading to fears it could develop into one of the worst storms on record in the US.

The superstorm is threatening up to 50 million people on the heavily populated East Coast, and forecasters say it could wreak havoc over 800 miles (1,300km) from the Atlantic coast to the Great Lakes.

Sandy, a Category 1 hurricane, is currently about 380 miles (615km) southeast of New York City, with winds of about 85mph (140kph).

The US National Hurricane Centre (NHC) said Sandy had strengthened as it turned toward the coast and was moving at 15 mph (24 kph).

Key evacuation areas affecting New York City and adjoining areas

It is expected to make its way inland tonight, hitting Atlantic City in New Jersey before crossing through Pennsylvania.

The massive storm, which is hundreds of miles across, is set to stay until at least mid-week, bringing a huge storm surge, hurricane winds, flooding rains and snow in the Appalachian mountains.

Hundreds of thousands of people have already evacuated coastal areas, but much focus remains on New York.

New York mayor Michael Bloomberg has ordered the evacuation of 375,000 people in low-lying areas of lower Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens.

Sandbags have been used to thwart flooding in low-lying areas

"If you don't evacuate, you are not only endangering your life, you are also endangering the lives of the first responders who are going in to rescue you," he said.

"This is a serious and dangerous storm."

Authorities are warning New York could get hit with an 11ft (3.3-metre) wall of water that could swamp parts of lower Manhattan, flood subway tunnels and cripple the network of electrical and communications lines that are vital to the nation's financial centre.

New York and other cities shut down schools and suspended all train, bus and subway services on Sunday night because of the risk of flooding.

Nearly the entire coastline of Staten Island has been evacuated. Parts of lower Manhattan, like Battery Park and Ground Zero, have also been evacuated amid the threat of flooding.

Police officers monitor Times Square subway station

All US stock markets will be closed on Monday and possibly Tuesday, the operator of the New York Stock Exchange said, reversing an earlier plan that would have kept electronic trading going on Monday.

A state of emergency has already been declared in nine states - including New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts.

US President Barack Obama has cancelled a planned campaign appearance in Florida and returned to Washington to oversee the federal government's response to the ever-threatening hurricane.

Mr Obama promised the government would "respond big and respond fast" after the storm hits.

"My message to the governors as well as to the mayors is anything they need, we will be there, and we will cut through red tape. We are not going to get bogged down with a lot of rules," he said.

Federal Emergency management administrator Craig Fugate warned the "time for preparing and talking is about over".

The projected storm track passes over New York

"People need to be acting now," he said.

Nearly 100 miles (160 km) off the coast of North Carolina, a replica of the tall ship made famous in the film Munity on the Bounty has been taking on water with 17 people aboard. The US Coast Guard was monitoring the situation early Monday.

Airlines have cancelled more than 7,600 flights, with British Airways, Virgin and American Airlines halting all departures to the United States.

From Heathrow, 28 flights have been cancelled to New York, Washington and Boston.

Sandy was blamed for 66 deaths in the Caribbean before it began travelling northward parallel to the eastern seaboard.

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Syria: Rebel Fighters Are Becoming Radicalised

By Alex Crawford, Sky News Special Correspondent

Sky has seen new evidence that the Syrian uprising is becoming more and more radicalised and being fought by Islamic fundamentalists and extremists.

The Syrian rebels have all but given up on military intervention by the West but after 18 months of grinding battle and a feeling they have been abandoned by the international community, they are making their own bombs and weapons and becoming much more self-sufficient.

There are some weapons and arms being smuggled across the borders from sympathetic Muslim neighbours.

We saw brand new rocket propelled grenade launchers with their rockets still in their plastic wrappers which had been smuggled across the Turkish border and an anti-aircraft gun which the rebels told us had come from Iraq.

But although that means that the rebels have many more weapons than they have had before, it is still small fry in comparison to the heavy weaponry, tanks and artillery employed by the regime.

What is increasingly obvious is the number of Jihad (holy war) flags and Jihad paraphernalia worn and used by the rebel fighters. The black headbands worn by many of the fighters are a symbol of Islamic fundamentalism - used by extremist groups and usually anti-Western.

The common refrain from many of the rebel fighters is that they have been forgotten by the outside world.

A cache of weapons seized by rebel fighters

A number of commanders told us they were disappointed, angry and frustrated by the lack of help from the international community.

One said: "All we get is words, not actions."

I asked him how many fighters were from outside Syria. He replied: "Most of the fighters are Syrians. I would say 90% of the fighters are Syrian. Only a few hundred in the whole of Syria are from outside the country and most of them are from sympathetic countries."

We met a Libyan medic and former rebel in his own country who said he had come to help the rebels in Syria as a fellow Muslim.

He said: "We know what it is like to suffer. I have come to help in the hospital but if I had to pick up a gun and shoot Assad soldiers, of course I would.

"The real problem here is not foreign fighters, not Al Qaeda or any other group but the regime which has done far more damage than any other group."

The rebels have been making significant gains in the north, crushing regime bases and the Assad army has been losing men as well as arms.

But the frustration by the rebels and the inaction by the international community is driving the rebels towards religious extremism.

If Assad falls, the West's lack of help may have lost them a potential ally in the Middle East and even worse, may have created an angry and resentful new enemy.

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Nanny 'Was Losing Her Mind' Before Child Murders

The New York nanny accused of murdering two children in her care told relatives she was "losing her mind", according to reports.

Yoselyn Ortega, who remains in a critical condition in hospital after apparently stabbing herself, was struggling emotionally and financially, friends said.

Celia Ortega told the New York Post that her sister "had snapped", adding: "We don't understand what happened to her mind."

Neighbour Ruben Rivas told reporters she seemed to have suddenly aged in recent weeks and had lost weight.

Other friends said that Ortega had suffered a financial setback and was forced to move out of her rented apartment in the Bronx and into her sister's home.

Juan Pozo, who had rented a room from the Ortega family, told The New York Times that the nanny's sister told him that she had "felt like she was losing her mind" lately.

She had recently been taken by relatives to visit a psychologist, Mr Pozo said.

"Apparently over the last month she was not herself," said police department spokesman Paul Browne.

Police said they were unaware of any significant history of psychological problems for Ortega, but were investigating whether she had recently sought treatment.

Police say the children - Leo Krim, two, and Lucia, six - were found horrifically injured by their mother Marina Krim when she returned to their Upper West Side apartment.

Mrs Krim was with her other daughter Nessie while her husband Kevin was away on business.

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Tsunami Downgraded After Waves Hit Hawaii

Residents in Hawaii are breathing a sigh of relief after the first waves of a tsunami were not as forceful as had been feared.

Hawaii governor Neil Abercrombie said the tsunami warning has now been downgraded to an advisory.

Hawaii was hit by one metre high waves - triggered by a 7.7 magnitude earthquake off the west coast of Canada.

The quake happened at just after 8pm local about 96 miles (155km) south of Masset in the Haida Gwaii region, formerly known as the Queen Charlotte Islands.

Shortly after, television images from the island of Oahu, Hawaii, showed relatively small waves peacefully rolling toward the shore.

Small tsunami waves hit parts of Hawaii

An estimated 100,000 to 150,000 people who live in Hawaii's coastal zones had been urged to move to higher ground.

The US Geological Survey said the earthquake was followed by a 5.8 magnitude aftershock several minutes later.

Lenore Lawrence, a resident of Queen Charlotte City on the Haida Gwaii, said the quake was "definitely scary".

She said the shaking lasted more than a minute and that several things had fallen off her mantlepiece. 

Residents in parts of British Columbia were evacuated but the province seemed to escape the biggest quake in Canada since 1949 largely unscathed.

Lucy Jones, a USGS seismologist, said: "This isn't that big of an earthquake on tsunami scales. The really big tsunamis are usually up in the high 8s and 9s."

Tremors were felt across a wide area in British Columbia, both on its Pacific islands and on the mainland.

"It looks like the damage and the risk are at a very low level. We're certainly grateful," said Shirley Bond, British Columbia's minister responsible for emergency management.

Officials downgraded a tsunami warning to an advisory for southern Alaska and British Columbia. They also issued an advisory for areas of northern California and southern Oregon.

The first wave of the small tsunami, about four inches hit the southeast Alaska coastal community of Craig.

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