Hurricane Sandy wreaks havoc in eastern US; 16 killed

"Super-storm" Sandy has swept into the US East Coast, bringing flooding, cutting power and claiming at least 16 people, news reports said.

An empty street in Atlantic City, New Jersey, the United States as Hurricane Sandy is on Monday churning its way towards the U.S. East Coast, poised to make landfall near Atlantic City on Jersey Shore in the evening. The city itself is like a ghost town, with casinos shuttered, tourists fled and many parts of the town inundated in knee-high water. nepalnews.com/Xinhua

By early Tuesday morning, at least 6.5 million people shivered in the dark across 13 states and the District of Columbia, CNN said. And Sandy claimed at least 16 lives across the United States, adding to the 61 people already killed by the storm in the Caribbean.

Sandy caused a record surge of seawater in New York City, flooding subway and road tunnels and plunging much of Lower Manhattan into darkness. President Obama has declared a "major disaster" in New York state. Public transport has been halted in several eastern US cities, and thousands of flights have been grounded.

Over the past week Sandy has killed dozens of people as it carved a path of destruction through the Caribbean.

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) Monday, packing winds of more than 80mph (129km/h).

Much of Atlantic City is under water, and 30,000 residents were evacuated, the report further said. nepalnews.com