The facade of an apartment building collapsed on Monday, October 29, in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. Superstorm Sandy smashed ashore in the northeastern United States Monday night, triggering floods, fires and devastation. See more photos of Sandy's destructive path.
(CNN) -- Beth Bartley clutched anything she could as she sat on the floor of her shuddering Manhattan building.
The superstorm knocked power out. East 96th Street below was a river. And she was trapped on the fifth floor in darkness as the usually sturdy building trembled.
"The winds were so strong that the building heaved. It was eerie," said Bartley, an actress. "It was really scary. We were just bracing as the building shook and creaked."
This is one of the many harrowing stories that are being told about Sandy, a storm that has even veteran weather watchers scratching their heads, marveling at its power.
Watch the evolution of the superstorm
See damage inside cruise ship from Sandy
Kite boarders take on Hurricane Sandy
Raw video: Long Island flooding
"This is the most unusual storm I've ever chased. We'll probably never see anything like it again in our lifetime," said Reed Trimmer, a XXX storm chaser. "This is a nor'easter on steroids."
Trevor Mann was one of the few people in his area of Ocean City, New Jersey who did not heed emergency evacuation orders. And by Monday evening he may have wished he had.
He watched as the eye of storm the passed over his coastal city and the flood waters rushed like a relentless linebacker. Patio furniture was thrown into homes. Rushing waters made seem to make beach houses disappear. The destruction was breathtaking
"I am not going outside," said Mann. "But when people do go outside the clean up is going to be tremendous and there is going to be a lot of damage."
Shahir Daud was watching the lights go out in his Upper East Side New York neighborhood, hoping that his place would not be next.
He saw manhole covers blown out of the street and wondered if there was a fire nearby. He watched as dark waters from the East River submerged parts of Franklin D. Roosevelt East River Drive.
But by late Monday evening it seemed that the worst of the storm had passed his neighborhood. And the 33 year-old filmmaker wondered when he would be able to get back to his job at MTV.
"I work in lower Manhattan, I don't know when the (the trains) are going to run again," said Daud. " We are just going to hunker down here. We are lucky. The lights are still on."
Millions were not that lucky and were still in the dark, officials said. Another danger was the more than 60 mph wind gusts that were predicted to batter a large number of northeastern states.
CNN iReporter Earl Bateman, a stock broker, who has lived in New York for 30 years said he saw something he never saw before Monday.
"We just looked out the window and there's this river flowing through the middle of Manhattan," Bateman said.
The power was still on in his building but the elevators had stopped working. Not a good thing for a man that lives on the 18th floor.
Brooklyn was hard hit also said Borough President Mark Markowitz., with many without power.
"We have many more hours and many more days of restoring this great city . It is going to take the effort of a all of us collectively to restore this great city," Markowitz said.
In sothern Vermont, Ireporter Caleb Clark said he felt the howling winds and his town was also battered by rain.
On Monday, most in his neighborhood in the town of Brattleboro had taken shelter and less than 500 had lost power, Clark said.
It was was his son's Shaw's 6-month birthday and the family spent it listening to weather reports about downed trees and closed roads.
"Shaw what do you think about this storm?" the father asked.
"Ba Ba Baaa," the baby said and then burst into a wide, toothless smile.
Little Shaw may have been one of the few smiling as Sandy continues to bear down.
CNN's Tom Watkins, Josh Levs, Jareen Imam, Sarah Brown and Chelsea Carter contributed to this report.
© 2013 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Two men wade through the flooded streets of Brooklyn on Monday as Sandy made landfall.
Floodwater is pumped out of a building in the financial district of New York on Monday evening.
A pedestrian walks across a New York street where the power was out late Monday. The storm surge set records in Lower Manhattan, where flooded substations caused a widespread power outage.
Firefighters use a saw in an attempt to remove a partially collapsed door during the storm in New York on Monday.
Rising water rushes into an underground parking garage in New York's financial district on Monday.
A visitor does a cartwheel in the rain in New York's Times Square on Monday, October 29.
A construction vehicle drives through flooded streets in Brooklyn on Monday as Sandy makes its way north.
Firefighters evaluate an apartment building in New York City where the front wall collapsed due to Hurricane Sandy on Monday.
A police car looks out over Manhattan from near the Brooklyn Bridge as Sandy begins to affect the area on Monday.
People drink at a bar in New York's East Village during the stormy weather on Monday.
Empty toll booths remain closed on Monday at the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel in New York.
New York City firefighters and emergency workers view a collapsing crane hanging from a 90-story residential building in New York on Monday.
Part of a crane boom is seen hanging off a building under construction in Manhattan on Monday.
A car goes through standing water along FDR Drive as New Yorkers venture out into the stormy conditions on Monday, October 29.
A woman walks down the promenade along the East River in New York on Monday.
The Holland Tunnel in New York is closed due to Hurricane Sandy on Monday.
Motorists drive on FDR Drive along the banks of the East River in Manhattan on Monday before Hurricane Sandy makes landfall.
Two people cross the street near the closed Holland Tunnel on Monday as Hurricane Sandy moves up the coast.
The East River in New York churns as Hurricane Sandy approaches on Monday.
Workers close the Holland Tunnel before Hurricane Sandy makes landfall on Monday. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the closing of that tunnel, as well as the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, due to flooding concerns.
People pose outside the sandbagged entrance of the closed Fifth Avenue Apple Store on Monday.
A man walks near the Verrazano Bridge in Brooklyn as Hurricane Sandy moves in.
A woman watches waves crash onto a pier on New York's City Island on Monday. Residents were ordered to evacute the island.
A jogger runs along East River Drive near the Queensboro Bridge in New York City as a police car closed the area down on Monday.
The Hudson River comes over the seawall along the West Side Promenade in the Battery Park area of New York City on Monday.
A tourist stands in Times Square early Monday, October 29, as New Yorkers prepare to endure Hurricane Sandy.
A sailboat smashes on the rocks after breaking free from its mooring on City Island, New York, on Monday.
A security guard looks over Times Square on Monday.
A New York City police officer stands guard at the 42nd Street subway station in Times Square on Monday.
Dark clouds mask the Manhattan skyline as Hurricane Sandy approaches New York on Monday.
People walk across a rainy Brooklyn Bridge as New York City braces for Hurricane Sandy's arrival.
A man watches the waves in New York Harbor from Battery Park on October 29. The core of Sandy's force is supposed to hit the New York area Monday night.
A man runs to make the last Metro North Train as the last people are cleared out of Grand Central Station on October 28. The MTA began an orderly shutdown of commuter rail and subway service in preparation for Hurricane Sandy.
People pose for pictures on the Rockaway Beach Boulevard in Queens ahead of the storm on October 29.
The subway platform at Columbus Circle stands empty after the closure on October 28 due to the storm.
New York City police officers cordon off the subway entrance at Broadway and 72nd Street as the city shuts down public transportation ahead of the storm on October 28.
A pedestrian rides past fruit and vegetable stalls covered with tarps on Broadway on October 28.
|