Aftermath PHOTOs-Hurricane Sandy ('Frankenstorm') Ravages Northeast USA
 

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Hurricane Sandy is a wolf in sheep's skin poised to assail New England at the beginning of next week, with the potential to cause widespread damage in the highly populated area.

It weakened early Friday but remains huge and is likely to merge with a winter storm front, turning into a "Frankenstorm," as the National Weather Service calls it, over the northeastern United States, right around Halloween.

Sandy already left at least 21 dead as it ground over Haiti, Jamaica and Cuba. It weakened to a Category 1 hurricane late Thursday and could drop down to a tropical storm before rolling onto land, says the weather service. But it warns the storm "could become a menace to the Northeast."

Local forecasters in Philadelphia are warning viewers that Sandy could be a storm of historic proportions and that the City of Brotherly Love could take a direct hit.

Residents in South Jersey have already begun stocking up on batteries and bottled water, and hardware stores have put up preparedness displays, reported CNN affiliate KYW in Philadelphia. One location quickly sold out of electric generators.

With a cloud field stretching over 1,600 miles, Sandy is massive, said CNN meteorologist Pedram Javaheri. That's about the distance from Memphis to Los Angeles. "Sandy should continue to expand in size," according to a National Weather Service advisory.

There is a 90% chance it will hit the American Northeast, Javaheri said, where a billion dollars in damage could mount as it rolls inland, even affecting states in the Midwest. "From Sunday through Wednesday, winds of hurricane force are expected to lash exposed areas of the Northeast / Mid-Atlantic states, leading to potentially serious coastal erosion and coastal flooding," the weather service forecasts.

Even if it weakens to a tropical storm before a potential landfall, its initial winds could still be as high as 60 mph, toppling trees still laden with leaves, which makes them heavier and more susceptible to gusts, according to KYW. But wind damage is not the biggest concern.

With the load of moisture it is carrying, the storm is expected to dump 6 to 8 -- and maybe even 10 inches -- of rain in the hardest-hit coastal regions, KYW reported. It is expected to hit during a full moon, when tides are at their peak, which could increase the storm surge.

The weather service also warns that "the build-up of tides over multiple tidal cycles should exacerbate the situation." Bulldozers shored up piers with mounds of sand in New Jersey, and people filled water and sand bags in preparation. "We will be piling up as much sand as possible along the beachfront," said Margate Public Works Director Frank Ricciotti. "I think the water damage is worse than another type of damage, and the hardest thing is to stop water, once it starts coming up."

As Sandy turns landward next week, it may be met by a winter storm front crawling to the east out of U.S. heartland, according to the weather service. They could collide and join, producing an even larger, stronger storm. "This could be like the 'Perfect Storm' 21 years ago," CNN meteorologist Chad Meyers said of the potential damage.

A combination of three weather systems produced the famed "Perfect Storm" in the north Atlantic over Halloween 1991, when moisture flung north by Hurricane Grace combined with a high pressure system and a cold front, according to the weather service.

The current weather conditions are not duplicate circumstances of what produced the 1991 tempest. Although Grace contributed significantly to the storm, it did not progress to New England and did not make landfall, weather records show.

On Thursday 11 people died when Sandy pummeled Cuba, according to state media. More than 3,000 buildings were damaged in the country's east.

Haiti's state news agency reported nine dead and two missing in Sandy's wake. A man in Jamaica was killed when he was hit by a boulder sent tumbling downhill by the storm's rain, according to CNN affiliate TV J. Sandy has proved to be a windfall for surfers in Florida familiar with tamer tides. Even hundreds of miles away, the storm kicked up powerful surf off Fort Lauderdale.

Early Friday Sandy had maximum sustained winds of 80 mph, down from 90 mph late Thursday. It is passing near the northwestern Bahamas, and will continue fanning tropical storm conditions over Florida, said the National Weather Service says, predicts the storm will turn northeast, away from Florida, before curving back into New England. After merging with the cold system, it is expect to "settle back toward the interior northeast through Halloween," dumping snow in some places, the weather service said.

The weather service gave the hybrid storm the "ghoulish nickname" Frankenstorm as "an allusion to Mary Shelley's Gothic creature of synthesized elements."

re: Aftermath PHOTOs-Hurricane Sandy ('Frankenstorm') Ravages Northeast USA
 

PHOTOs

Many thanks to the suppliers of all these photos;

Port Authority of New York & New Jersey
AP - Richard Drew/Seth Wenig/Charles Sykes/John Minchillo/Jason DeCrow/Mel Evans
Janine White, The Philly Post


Cars are submerged at the entrance to a parking garage in New York’s Financial District on Tuesday, October 30th. [AP Photo/Richard Drew]

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Foundations and pilings are all that remain of a section of the Atlantic City boardwalk on Tuesday, October 30th. [AP Photo/Seth Wenig]

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A boat rests on the tracks at Metro-North’s Ossining Station on Tuesday, October 30th in New York. [AP Photo/Metropolitan Transportation Authority of the State of New York]

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A flooded parking lot full of yellow cabs in Hoboken on Tuesday, October 30th. [AP Photo/Charles Sykes]

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Sea water floods the Ground Zero construction site on Monday, October 29th in New York. [AP Photo/ John Minchillo]

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A surveillance camera captures the PATH station in Hoboken as it is flooded shortly before 9:30 p.m. EDT on Monday, October 29th. [AP Photo/Port Authority of New York and New Jersey]

http://blogs.phillymag.com/the_phill...onFlooding.jpg

As flood waters recede, a boat and other wreckage litter a street in the aftermath of Sandy on Tuesday, October 30th, in Massapequa, New York. [AP Photo/Jason DeCrow]

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A street sign is partially buried in sand Tuesday morning, October 30th, in Cape May, after a storm surge from Sandy pushed the Atlantic Ocean over the beach and across Beach Avenue. [AP Photo/Mel Evans]

http://blogs.phillymag.com/the_phill...10/CapeMay.jpg


& For these below from The Huffington Post

http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slides...?1351618013412


Hurricane Sandy Aftermath


http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slides...?1351618060096

The passenger terminal for a ferry that takes passengers to the Statue of Liberty,in Battery Park is in shambles from superstorm Sandy, in New York, Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)


http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slides...?1351618058172


http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slides...?1351618039946


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A patient is wheeled to an ambulance in the rain during an evacuation of New York University Tisch Medical, Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012, in New York. Hurricane Sandy marched slowly inland, leaving millions without power or mass transit, with huge swatches of the nation's largest city unusually vacant and dark. New York was among the hardest hit, with its financial heart in Lower Manhattan shuttered for a second day and seawater cascading into the still-gaping construction pit at the World Trade Center. (AP Photo/ John Minchillo)


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Atlantic City N.J.


http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slides...?1351613704247

Virginia

http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slides...?1351613705642


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Arlene O'Dell stands in front of her home where several trees fell, one crushing her car on Barberry Lane, as a result of the powerful winds and rain of Hurricane Sandy on Tuesday, Oct., 30, 2012, in Sea Cliff, N.Y. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)


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NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 30: A crew works to pump water from the basement of the Verizon Building October 30, 2012 in lower Manhattan, New York. The storm has claimed at least 16 lives in the United States, and has caused massive flooding across much of the Atlantic seaboard. US President Barack Obama has declared the situation a 'major disaster' for large areas of the US East Coast including New York City. (Photo by Allison Joyce/Getty Images)


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NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 30: Water floods the Plaza Shops in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, on October 30, 2012 in Manhattan, New York.The storm has claimed at least 16 lives in the United States, and has caused massive flooding across much of the Atlantic seaboard. US President Barack Obama has declared the situation a 'major disaster' for large areas of the US East Coast including New York City. (Photo by Allison Joyce/Getty Images)

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Waves pound a lighthouse on the shores of Lake Erie Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012, near Cleveland. High winds spinning off the edge of superstorm Sandy took a vicious swipe at northeast Ohio early Tuesday, uprooting trees, cutting power to hundreds of thousands, closing schools and flooding parts of major commuter arteries that run along Lake Erie. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)


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People look at destruction in South Street Seaport October 30, 2012 as New Yorkers clean up the morning after Hurricane Sandy. The storm left large parts of New York City without power and transportation.


http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slides...?1351613559446


http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slides...?1351613550276


DANGEROUS CRANE IN NEW YORK


http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slides...?1351613536004

Onlookers watch as a construction crane dangles October 30, 2012 atop a 1.5 billion USD luxury high-rise in midtown Manhattan after collapsing in high winds as New Yorkers assess damage the morning after Hurricane Sandy made landfall.

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ATLANTIC CITY, NJ - OCTOBER 30: Kirk Dooley of the Atlantic City engineer's office inspects the area where a 2000-foot section of the 'uptown' boardwalk was destroyed by flooding from Hurricane Sandy on October 30, 2012 in Atlantic City, New Jersey.


'Frankenstorm' Sandy also Caused Fires



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Eileen Blair, second from right, and Keith Klein, right, assess the damage caused by a fire at Breezy Point, in the New York City borough of Queens Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012, in New York. The fire destroyed between 80 and 100 houses Monday night in the flooded neighborhood. More than 190 firefighters have contained the six-alarm blaze fire, but they are still putting out some pockets of fire. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

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People assess damage caused by a fire at Breezy Point in the New York City borough of Queens Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012. The fire destroyed between 80 and 100 houses Monday night in an area flooded by the superstorm that began sweeping through earlier. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slides...?1351613422405
Trees lie fallen across parked cars in the Brooklyn borough of New York the morning after superstorm Sandy made landfall, Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012. A record storm surge that was higher than predicted along with high winds damaged the electrical system and plunged millions of people into darkness. Utilities say it could be up to a week before power is fully restored. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)


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A man takes photos of a tree leaning against a house Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012, in Bay Ridge of the Brooklyn borough of New York in the aftermath of superstorm Sandy. New York City awakened Tuesday to a flooded subway system, shuttered financial markets and hundreds of thousands of people without power a day after a wall of seawater and high winds slammed into the city, destroying buildings and flooding tunnels. (AP Photo/David Boe)

http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slides...?1351613415878
Kathy Jones calls to let her family know she's ok after damage caused by flooding destroyed her home at Breezy Point in the New York City borough of Queens, Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012, in New York. A fire destroyed between 80 and 100 houses Monday night in the flooded neighborhood. More than 190 firefighters have contained the six-alarm blaze fire, but they are still putting out some pockets of fire. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slides...?1351613413726
Homes destroyed by a six-alarm fire at Breezy Point are shown, in the New York City borough of Queens Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012, in New York. The fire destroyed between 80 and 100 houses Monday night in the flooded neighborhood. More than 190 firefighters have contained the six-alarm blaze fire, but they are still putting out some pockets of fire. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

More to come,,,,,,,,,

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Re: Aftermath PHOTOs-Hurricane Sandy ('Frankenstorm') Ravages Northeast USA
 

Before & After Photos of Sandy

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Before and after shot in Mantoloking, New Jersey:

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Before and After Photos from Seaside Heights, N.J.

1. http://vortex.accuweather.com/adc200...4andafter1.jpg
2. http://vortex.accuweather.com/adc200...4andafter3.jpg
3. http://vortex.accuweather.com/adc200...4andafter4.jpg