Monster storm takes dead aim at Northeast U.S.

were underwater and structures destroyed. In Maryland, the normally placid Sligo Creek in the Washington suburb of Takoma Park turned into a torrent. In Ocean City, Md., the boardwalk pier was “significantly damaged” overnight, said Mike Levy, a public information officer for the Police Department there. A replica of the H.M.S. Bounty, a tall ship built for Marlon Brando’s Mutiny on the Bounty and used in the recent Pirates of the Caribbean series, sank Monday off the North Carolina coast. Two crew members remained missing after the ship was battered by 18-foot high seas and thrashed by 40-mile-an-hour winds from Hurricane Sandy, the Coast Guard reported.

U.S. President Barack Obama returned to the White House on Monday and met with top advisors before speaking to reporters.

“This is going to be a big storm,” the president said, urging people to follow mandatory evacuation orders. “It’s going to be a difficult storm.”

Obama said the storm would disrupt the rhythms of daily life in the states it hit. “Transportation is going to be tied up for a long time,” he said, adding that besides flooding, there would probably be widespread power failures.

“The fact is, a lot of these emergency crews are not going to get into position to start restoring power until some of these winds die down,” he said, adding, “That may take several days.”

When a reporter asked about the hurricane’s impact on the campaign, Obama said: “I am not worried at this point about the impact on the election. I’m worried about the impact on families, and I’m worried about our first responders.”

Hurricane-force winds extend up to 175 miles from the center of the storm; tropicalstorm-force winds extend up to 485 miles from the center. This means that portions of the coast from Virginia to Massachusetts will feel hurricane-force winds as the storm moves toward land, according to forecasters. Winds of tropical-storm force could stretch all the way north to Canada and all the way west to the Great Lakes, where flood warnings were issued on Sunday. Some states expected snow, with blizzard warnings issued for mountainous stretches of Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia.

Officials warned that the powerful surge the storm was creating in the ocean, combined with the strong winds, could wreak destruction in the Northeast for days. The hurricane center warned that “normally dry areas near the coast” would be flooded. Millions of people were expected to lose electricity as the hurricane felled trees and light poles and ripped down power lines.

As the storm closed in on some of the nation’s most densely populated areas, city and state officials went into emergency mode. The New York City subway system and all of the region’s commuter trains and buses were shut down, and crews moved subway cars and locomotives to high ground. The major stock exchanges called off all trading for Monday and Tuesday, and Broadway theaters canceled their shows on Sunday evening and Monday.

Warning that the flooding would be “life-threatening,” forecasters and government officials implored residents in the areas designated for evacuation not to try to ride this storm out.

“We’re going to have a lot of impact, starting with the storm surge,” said Craig Fugate, the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. “Think, ‘Big.’ ”

EVACUATION MEASURES

In New York, Mayor Michael Bloomberg ordered the evacuation of more than 370,000 people in low-lying communities from Coney Island in Brooklyn to Battery Park City in Manhattan and gave 1.1 million schoolchildren a day off on Monday; he also announced that schools would remain closed on Tuesday. The city opened evacuation shelters at 76 public schools.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who warned that the surge from Hurricane Sandy could go two feet higher than Tropical Storm Irene last year, announced that the Holland and Brooklyn-Battery Tunnels would close at 2 p.m. State officials said the two tunnels were prone to flooding.

Cuomo later announced that a half-dozen bridges in and around New York City were closing. The Tappan Zee Bridge over the Hudson River, about 20 miles north of New York City, closed at 4 p.m. The George Washington Bridge, the VerrazanoNarrows Bridge, the Throgs Neck Bridge and the bridges to the Rockaways are closing at 7 p.m., the governor said.

Joseph Lhota, the chairman and chief executive of the transportation authority, said the Queens-Midtown Tunnel had never been closed because of high winds. But he said that if water poured in at one end or the other — in Manhattan or in Queens — “we will recommend to governor that that happen.”

Lhota said he expected the transit systems to restore at least some service about 12 hours after the storm ended. But he warned that the city could be without mass transit for as many as two full workdays. The PATH system, buses and the Staten Island Ferry system were also suspended.

Another fear in the Northeast was that winds from the storm might knock down power lines, and that surging waters could flood utility companies’ generators and other equipment. Consolidated Edison did not provide an estimate of how long customers in the New York City area might be without power if the storm played havoc with its network. But Jersey Central Power and Light warned as long ago as Friday that repairs could take 10 days after the storm passed through. Another utility in New Jersey, the Public Service Electric and Gas Company, said restoring power could take a week.

PECO, the southeastern Pennsylvania utility, reported only scattered power disruptions by about 9 a.m. on Monday but warned that customers would probably go days without electricity when the full effects of the storm were felt.

“With a storm of this magnitude, we are looking at a multiday restoration,” said Martha Phan, a spokeswoman for the utility.

Gov. Jack Markell of Delaware decided Sunday night to close all state roads at 5 a.m. on Monday, with exceptions for emergency workers and other essential personnel.

TRAFFIC HALTED

Forecasters said the hurricane was a strikingly powerful storm that could reach far inland. Forecasters said they expected high-altitude winds to whip every state east of the Mississippi River.

In Atlantic County, N.J., which includes Atlantic City, a curfew and a driving ban were put in place at midnight. Gov. Chris Christie had ordered residents to leave barrier islands from Sandy Hook to Cape May, and early on Monday, local authorities said about 400 people were staying in shelters.

For the most part, residents appeared to follow officials’ advice to stock up on bottled water, canned food and flashlights — so much so that stores ran low on batteries. Some gas stations in Connecticut had little gasoline left.

In an early briefing on Monday, Gov. Dannel Malloy, in Connecticut, said 850 national guardsmen and women had been deployed.

A storm surge of between 7 feet to 11 feet was expected, with New London and Bridgeport especially hard hit, and the worst winds would sweep through from 3 p.m. to about 3 a.m. Tuesday, with gusts of wind as high as 90 m.p.h.

Even before the storm landed, transportation systems were shut down. The nation’s major airlines canceled thousands of flights in the Northeast. Bradley International Airport near Hartford was closing on Monday afternoon, Malloy said.

But the three major airports in and around New York City remained open on Monday morning, even though the airlines had canceled all flights into and out of them, said Steve Coleman, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

The New York Stock Exchange, which initially said its trading floor would be open on Monday, decided to close the floor and suspend all trading for the day. The Nasdaq exchange also announced it would be closed on Monday.