Storm Sandy hits New York, claims 13 lives along east coast

Super-storm Sandy has caused a record surge of seawater in New York City, flooding subway and road tunnels and plunging the majority of Lower Manhattan into darkness.

An estimated 50 million people could be affected, with up to one million ordered to evacuate homes, while there are currently at least five million people across several states without electricity.

The full extent of the damage may not be known until assessment teams are able to get on the ground and survey the damage.

In New York, some 375,000 residents were ordered out of Lower Manhattan and other areas, as the Hudson and East rivers began overflowing as a record storm surge of 13.7ft (4.15m) swept into Lower Manhattan, flooding seven major subway tunnels.

"The New York City subway system is 108 years old, but it has never faced a disaster as devastating as what we experienced last night," city transport director Joseph Lhota was quoted as saying on early Tuesday.

"Lower Manhattan is being covered by seawater," Howard Glaser, director of operations for the New York state government, was quoted as saying. "I am not exaggerating. Seawater is rushing into the Battery Tunnel."

The city's Consolidated Edison utility provider said some 500,000 homes in Manhattan were without power, in the midst of reports of an explosion at a Con Edison power station on the east side of Manhattan.

Vice president John Miksad said the explosion was caused by flooding or flying debris, adding it could take a week for power to be restored completely.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the storm surge was higher than the highest forecast, but he expected the waters to start receding from midnight local time.

Back-up power at New York University hospital had failed and authorities were trying to get people out, he said.

Sandy threatens an 800-mile (1,290-km) swathe of the US, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes in the Mid-West.

Officials reported at least 12 deaths in New Jersey, New York, Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Connecticut - several due to fallen trees.

In addition to the US deaths, a Canadian woman was reported killed by flying debris in Toronto.

Forecasters have said Sandy could linger over as many as 12 states for 24-36 hours.

President Obama has already declared emergencies in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania while in Washington DC, federal government offices were to be closed until Wednesday.

The disaster-estimating firm Eqecat has forecast that Sandy could cause economic losses to the US of between $10bn and $20bn (£6.2bn-£12.4bn).

Both President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney cancelled campaign appearances little more than a week before the presidential election.

The storm made landfall close to Atlantic City in New Jersey at about 20:00 local time (midnight GMT), packing winds of more than 80mph (129km/h).

Much of Atlantic City was under water, and 30,000 residents were evacuated.