A view of a flooded street in New York on Monday. Click image to see more photos. (Photo courtesy of Nick Cope via Melissa Walker/Yahoo! Contributor Network)
From Florida to New England, residents along the eastern seaboard are sharing their anecdotes, photos and videos of Hurricane Sandy. Below are excerpts from the latest dispatches from people living through the storm. All times on posts are ET. Interested in writing about your experiences? Share your story at Yahoo! Contributor Network and your Hurricane Sandy photos on Flickr.
4:10 p.m.
Power still on in Far Rockaway in Queens
QUEENS—Folks around town crowded the local grocery store, Food Dynasty, and purchased huge amounts of food. I was one of them. While some people left Far Rockaway, others in the houses near me and the apartment building I live in stayed. For a while, things seemed calmed. The wind picked up, then died down.
By late this morning, the wind hit the building pretty hard and I could hear the wind's blasts. While there has been rain, my apartment in Far Rockaway has not experienced flooding as of 2:10 p.m.
At times, though, the whole building seems to shake. Power has not been affected. One lone man left the building during the storm. I wasn't sure who he was or why he was leaving the building in the middle of the storm on his bicycle. I just sat in my room, waiting for the storm to blow over, thankful I still had power.
— Justin Samuels
4:03 p.m.
Wind gusts increasing in Morris County, New Jersey
DENVILLE, N.J.—Hurricane Sandy is a monster to be sure. My family and I have tied down everything we can outside. We have a make-shift camp in our basement for fear of downed tree limbs. We are as ready as we can be for power outages. We sit and wait for Sandy's approaching wrath.
Gusts have already started that will reach upward of 60 to 70 mph by this evening. The trees swaying in the back are a fearful reminder of the damage that this storm can bring to us in northern New Jersey. While we do not have the ocean to contend with, we do have many rivers and large trees that can damage our homes.
— Gioia Degenaars
3:59 p.m.
Sandy already bringing down tree limbs in New York
BROOKLYN—As the storm approaches New York City, residents are preparing to hunker down for the immediate future. As of 2 p.m. on Monday in Crown Heights (in central Brooklyn) the storm gusts are increasing and the streets are pretty much empty.
Trees are starting to go down and branches litter the street. The winds are not very high, but as they increase, the damage will be much greater. With expected gusts up to 75 mph and with trees already going down with gusts of around 35 mph, this has the potential to be damaging as the buildings start creating a wind-tunnel effect.
Transportation has ground to a halt and the schools are closed. As a transplant from the South, weathering a storm of this magnitude in the Northeast is a bit odd. As the flooding in areas in NYC increases, watching the news turns those of us not in the evacuation zones into outsiders looking in, as well.
— Melissa Walker
3:42 p.m.
A stormy wedding, thanks to Hurricane Sandy
QUEENS—My wedding is in four days. And while most of the preparations are ready, there are a few things that went wrong and need to be handled last-minute.
Last night, I was visiting my fiance's relatives in Massapequa. An hour after we got back to my mom's house in Elmont, we found out that they had to evacuate their home. His cousins in Long Beach were supposed to evacuate as well since they live right by the water, but they decided to stay home. They've since put up pictures on Facebook of the deluge outside their front steps as well as a snapshot of a reporter from ABC News coming over to interview them.
When I first heard about the magnitude of the storm, one of my first thoughts was, Oh no, I never got wedding insurance. And I sure as heck won't be able to get it now. When I was on the fence about purchasing wedding insurance, I thought that it ultimately wouldn't come in handy because the only disaster I could think of was a snowstorm, and those don't happen in this part of New York in November.
— Tricia Bangit
2:46 p.m.
On Upper East Side, Sandy is bad, but not horrible yet
MANHATTAN—Power remains on, the streets still have people and cars and, except for the pending arrival of the really bad weather, it seems like any other day.
Reports from friends and co-workers from the Jersey shore to Long Island say that the ocean is really kicking up and flooding has been anywhere from moderate to very bad. A friend reports that water was coming up to Ocean Avenue in Belmar, N.J., and another friend who decided to stay in her apartment in Battery Park is reporting water on the rise.
Do not be fooled, the worst is yet to come! Rain, wind and flooding will all increasingly worse as the day progresses. Stay inside or head to a shelter.
— TR Threston
1:27 p.m.
Blustering hollers of wind in New York
QUEENS—Earlier, I tweeted, "Hurricanes are always such teases. It's 2012. Bring on a real apocalypse already." Perhaps that was a bit arrogant, and I'll fully understand the irony should this hurricane murder me. However, I'm confident that it will sweep over with little impact on my life.
Outside, its effects are definitely being felt. The closure of the MTA for any given amount of time surely impacts business and industry substantially. I'm curious what operations may still be up and running during this windy mess. I've occasionally looked outside to see the trees moving back and forth from the gusts. The streets are mostly empty. I've seen no people today, but did see a single car driving around earlier.
I'm doing what I should do to stay safe: absolutely nothing. The real danger, if there is any, would be outside. So, I'm staying inside, and you should probably do the same. There are mandatory evacuations apparently happening in the major flood zones. I happen to be in a groove surrounded by Zone C, the least likely to flood. So, even if Zone A is in danger, my apartment building should be fine.
— Clayburn Griffin
11:01 a.m.
Hurricane Sandy takes aim at northeastern Pennsylvania
MILFORD, Pa. -- As of 10 a.m. on Monday morning, the track of Hurricane Sandy puts it just a few short hours away from here in northeastern Pennsylvania.
But already the winds are picking up in Pike County.
It is anticipated to make landfall along the Delaware coast, just south of Philadelphia. By the time the eye reaches inland, the winds are expected to cause it to be downgraded to a tropical storm. But by then, the damage for areas such as Pike County will have been done. Traditionally in this area, the rain will loosen the ground beneath trees and power poles. The high winds then rip these from the ground. In the past power has been off for days and weeks at a time. With the predictions calling for this storm to be worse than Irene of just two years ago, residents are gearing up for the worst: They're buying up water and staple foods at our local Wal-Mart, Kmart and other grocery stores. Even convenience stores like the Turkey Hill in Milford are feeling the panic.
— Charles B Reynolds
