AlHijjah 14, 1433, Oct 30, 2012, SPA - Superstorm Sandy slammed into the New Jersey coastline with 80 mph (130 kph) and hurled a record-breaking 13-foot (4-meter) surge of seawater at New York City, flooding tunnels, highways, subway stations and the electrical system that powers Wall Street. At least 16 deaths were blamed on the storm. Sandy knocked out power on Monday to at least 6.2 million people across the U.S. East, and New York's main utility said large sections of lower Manhattan had been plunged into darkness by the storm, according to a report of the Associated Press. The Superstorm also forced President Barack Obama and Republican nominee to cancel campaign events in the key battleground states, punching holes in both campaigns' carefully mapped out strategies to make their closing arguments to voters with only a week left before the November election. Just before its center reached land, Sandy was stripped of its hurricane status, but the distinction was purely technical, based on its shape and internal temperature. It still packed hurricane-force wind, and forecasters were careful to say it remained every bit as dangerous to the 50 million people in its path.
