NEW YORK – International air travel from Europe and Asia was hit Monday by flight cancelations as much of the United States' eastern region battened down for the threatened impact of Hurricane Sandy. Forecasters warned that the New York City region could face the worst of Sandy as it picked up strength and turned toward the US East Coast's largest cities Monday, forcing the shutdown of financial markets and mass transit, sending coastal residents fleeing and threatening high winds, rain and a wall of water up to 11 feet (3.35 meters) high. It could endanger up to 50 million people for days. Damage from the massive storm could hit as much as $20 billion, disaster estimator Eqecat said. US President Barack Obama warned Monday that Hurricane Sandy was a powerful storm that could cause deaths, and said his concern for now was the safety of Americans and not next week's election. “The most important message to the public I have right now, is ‘please listen to what your state and local officials are saying.' When they tell you to evacuate you need to evacuate,” Obama said in a televised White House appearance. The storm grounded thousands of flights in the US northeast and upended travel plans across the globe, stranding passengers from Hong Kong to Europe. The massive storm threatens to bring a near halt to air travel for at least two days in a key region for both domestic and international flights. Air France canceled all flights to Washington and New York. In Britain, holiday-makers bound for the US for this week's school holidays were left stranded after British Airways and Virgin Atlantic were among the airlines to scrap all connections to the US East Coast, including New York and Washington.
Cancelations also hit Amsterdam's Schiphol airport as well as Rome-Fiumicino, Frankfurt Airport, which is Germany's busiest hub, and Geneva and Zurich airports in Switzerland. In Asia, Hong Kong flag carrier Cathay Pacific announced it was scrapping a total of eight direct flights between the southern Chinese city and New York Monday and Tuesday. Air India said it had scrubbed both of its daily flights to the US. Flights from Japan were not immune either. Sandy strengthened before dawn and stayed on a predicted path toward New York, Washington, Baltimore and Philadelphia— putting it on a collision course with two other weather systems that would create a superstorm with the potential for havoc over 800 miles (1,280 kilometers) from the East Coast to the Great Lakes. Up to 3 feet (0.9 meters) of snow were even forecast for mountainous parts of West Virginia. Authorities warned that the time for evacuation was running out or already past. As rain from the leading edges began to fall over the Northeast Sunday, hundreds of thousands of people from Maryland to Connecticut were ordered to leave low-lying coastal areas, including 375,000 in lower Manhattan and other parts of New York City, 50,000 in Delaware and 30,000 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Obama declared emergencies in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, authorizing federal relief work to begin well ahead of time. He promised the government would “respond big and respond fast” after the storm hits. Obama canceled a campaign appearance in Florida to stay in Washington and monitor the storm, with Election Day just a week away.
Major US financial markets, including the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq and CME Group in Chicago, planned a rare shutdown Monday. The United Nations also shut down. New York shut down all train, bus and subway service Sunday night.
More than 5 million riders a day depend on the transit system. Boston, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., also shut down their transit systems. Authorities moved to close the Holland Tunnel, which connects New York and New Jersey, and a tunnel between Manhattan and Brooklyn. The US Supreme Court, responding to the havoc created by Hurricane Sandy, will not convene Tuesday, spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said. US Coast Guard helicopters plucked 14 crew members of the HMS Bounty to safety Monday, but two others were missing in the storm-tossed seas off North Carolina. The daring rescue came after the crew abandoned the replica tall ship. – Agencies
