redcross.org or donate online or just text the words redcross to 90999 and that will make a $10 donation, 90999. they will thank you for it and you will have done president obama travels to new jersey to survey the jaw dropping devastation inflicted by sandy. thousands remain stranded in hoboken. millions will remain without power for much of the week as the massive rebuilding and cleanup gets underway and all of this when millions of americans are getting ready to vote. certainly not a time for tricks and treats on this halloween wednesday. i'm lynn berry. this is "first look" on msnbc.

46 people have now been killed in the disastrous wrath of hurricane sandy and many more remain trapped. the storm could wind up costing $50 billion in property damage and lost business. these are the newest images coming in to us from the height of the storm on monday night. surveillance video shows water filling the tunnel used by amtrak and commuter trains that go under new york's east river, but the damage along the jersey shore is something we have never seen before. these are ariel photos you can see. most of the six people killed in that state died on long beach island and a neighboring barrier island. governor chris christie calls the devastation unthinkable. tuesday he tried to comfort one of the many victims. >> very difficult day. i know. we'll rebuild. we're tough. >> we're tough.

>> not far away in seaside heights an incredible sight here. that's a roller coaster partially submerged in the ocean. we're going to have more on that in a moment. first, in new york city the subway system remains crippled after heavy flooding caused what officials say the worst damage in its 108 year history. no one knows when it will be up and running again. let's go back to new jersey. there were countless rescues there and for some the realization that they were no match for mother nature. >> terrible. it was awful. it was the worst thing i ever saw. the waters came down like crazy. we were sorry we stayed. new jersey appears to have taken the brunt. the weather channel's dave malkoff is live for us in toms river, new jersey. one of the hfof the hardest hit. thanks for being with us.

what's it look like this morning? >> good morning. you can see where we are right now. we are standing right next to a boat. but as we pull out, you can see the boat is nowhere near the marina. we're right in the middle of the highway. the 30-foot boat is just contained of sitting there. if you read the back, it says that it came from beachwood which is down about that way, but if you look across that bridge, that is seaside heights. let me show you ariel video so we can see what kind of devastation was rocked there overnight and over the whole time of the storm just pounding on the seaside heights and all of the jersey shore. the governor flew sorry there, he called it unthinkable, he saw all the rides and food carts, they were all in the ocean.there called it unthinkable, he saw all the rides and food carts, they were all in the ocean. i just talked to a man who is driving from seaside heights and driving to new york city right

now. he says that there are still people over there, most of the people who needed rescue actually got out of here. they said search and rescue teams were across the bridge to get all the people who were stranded out of there. so the people who were there are okay for now, but they are without power, they are flooded out and you can see some of the jersey shore has actually come over here. this is a bench and you can probably imagine that that came in the jersey shore across the river. so there's a lot of definivasta and there will be a long time before what the governor calls the soul of new jersey comes back to life here. >> looks like a much different place. dave, thanks so much. bill karins has your weather channel forecast. you and i were talking about this this morning. if you live in this area, you've spent a significant amount of time down on the jersey shore

because it's one of those places that is so quintessential and charming and it looks completely different. >> and we're getting into november. usually that season starts there the end of may, beginning of july. definitely july 4th. and hopefully it won't be a brutal winter so maybe we can try to get crowds there to help out the economy. the number two economy income chris christie said is tourism in new jersey. that's how important it is to the state there. and the pictures, just up and down the coast, don't want to forget about our flepds in connecticut and all of long island. and even as we've seen the out he boroughs. i just posted a picture on my twitter feed of coney island, brooke lin. i can get there in five minutes from my house and the picture i just put on my dwiter account is crazy showing how deep the water was at the peak of storm surge. now that we're getting the assessments coming in and you can see the damage, early

estimates are up at $50 billion that this will cost. and this would put it up there with all the all-time most expensive hurricanes in our country. this does take into account inflation, too. so that's why andrew is one of the costliest storms in our country's history at $46 billion. of course this will be about half of katrina's damage. and of course we know what katrina today and especially the new orleans area. so this is rare territory. and this was a category 1. at one time katrina a category 5. 3 at landfall. so just shows you what happens. even if it's a category 1, if you go in to a very populated area of the country is where this storm made landfall and that's why these numbers are astronomical for on the insurance industry. the loss is just insane. so the storm still lingers today. the damage is all done. a lot of the heavy snow is just about overwith. west virginia, some areas got

two to three feet of snow. it remains kind of stuck, though, because the weather pattern that enabled this storm to come at us from the ocean, from the unusual direction, the high pressure, the blocking responsible for this mess is still sitting off the coast. it will take two or three days for the storm to slowly weaken and head up in to canada, but it's a cold morning for everyone without power. there is some of that snow still left over in the mountains of west virginia and just outside of pittsburgh. still a raw halloween day for this area as they begin to slowly again assessment and cleanup and hopefully the power companies, it doesn't look like any rain in the forecast for a couple days, hopefully they can make a date in the 8 million people without power. >> yeah, that's the hope. since it's not raining, the hope is it will be easier in the clean up. thanks so much. the presidential election is less than 140 hours away and sandy could end up being the major factor in choosing our next president. plus years of medical research at one of the nation's top colleges destroyed by sandy, much more ahead this morning on

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election day is now less than 140 hours away, but right now for millions of sandy's victims, the next two days will hold only uncertainty. today president obama will be touring new jersey's devastated coast with republican ghuf chris christie. tracie potts has the latest on that from washington. good morning to you. >> reporter: lynn, good morning. less than one week from the election, governor romney is cautiously venturing back out on to the campaign trail. president obama still focused on the storm. today the campaign is back on. sort of. paul ryan has rallies in wisconsin, the vice president in florida, avoiding questions about fema. >> and i pleerappreciate your n

generosity. >> president obama is not back on the campaign trail until tomorrow, he's still dealing with sandy's after math. >> i told the mayors and governors if it they're getting no for an answer somewhere in the federal government, they can call me personally at the white house. >> reporter: today the president visits new jersey where six days before the election, he got a pat on the back from republican rival governor chris christie. >> the president has been outstanding about this. i don't give a damn about election day. >> i don't think anybody thought much about that. >> reporter: the president is not scheduled to visit new york. >> we'd tlouf have him, but we have lots of things to do. i'm in the trying to diss him. >> reporter: after the election, we may see long lines again. early voting resumes again today in maryland and washington, d.c. with power still out, new york is looking at hand counting ballots during the election next week. new jersey may have to move some polling places in west virginia, looking at putting generators at its polling places to keep those voting machines powered. >> tracie potts for us in

washington. well, here is a quick look at some of the other political headlines thorng. in take, democrats are outnumbering republicans when it comes to early in person voting. that's a big difference of more than 100,000 votes for the democrats. however, florida republicans lead democrats by a wide margin when it comes to absentee voting. more than 2 million floridians have already cast their ballots. in the closely watched massachusetts race for u.s. senate, a new poll shows democrat whiz breath warren pulling away from republican incumbent scott brown 53% to 46%. last month only a four point difference separated the two. fact checkers are calling out the romney campaign for a new ad implying that the obama administration's overseeing the outsourcing of autoworkers jobs. >> obama took gm and chrysler into bankruptcy and sold chrysler to italians who will build jeeps in china. >> not so bad says the ceo of

chrysler issuing a statement reaching jeep production whether not be moved from the united states to china, it is inaccurate to suggest anything different. today president obama tours the storm devastation in atlantic city and vice president biden makes two campaign stops in florida. mr. romney will also be in florida as he makes three stops. paul ryan will spend the day campaigning in his home state of wisconsin. let's get back to sandy, because two of the three major airports serving the new york area, kennedy and newark, they'll start to reopen with limited service later this morning, but the super storm created a worldwide ripple effect. many are still stranded overseas. so we want to check in with michelle kosinski from london. good morning. >> reporter: right, it does have that sort of snowballing effect that we see with any major

travel destruction around the world, but of course this is a big one with so many airports closed for more than one day now. one expert was estimating that more than 50,000 travelers have been affected just between new york and london. sounds like a big number for a short period of time, but it's really not when you consider that about 7,000 people on average per day traveled just between jfk and heathrow. and even thorng, we're still seeing dozens upon dozens of cancellations in heathrow and other airports around the world. this is not a big problem considering what the east coast of the u.s. is dealing with right now. and when we talk to people who are stranded, most of them are just thinking of the people back home. however, many of them are stuck here overseas wanting to get back to loved ones who are affected by the storm. and that's been extremely frustrating for them. huge expense when you consider you have to be stuck in an expensive city like london. many airlines are not contrib e

contributing to the costs of hotel rooms, so people are having to tough it out. >> all right, michelle, thanks so much. one of the many headaches in the wake of the storm. another area devastated in sandy's wake, residents of breezy point queens. they are picking through the ashes of more than 100 homes that were destroyed by a fire monday night. hundreds of other homes suffered flood damage and dozens of houses were just completely swept off their foundations. the weather channel's stephanie abrams is there for us. >> reporter: pleat definite investigation state station. we pulled in, we were driving around, obviously no power here. the surge pushed in a couple blocks. i am shocked at the devastation that we've seen driving around. now behind me is where that big fire broke out. 80 homes are gone. you can still smell, you know, that smell in the air when something's on fire? you can still smell it here. very potent. and the surge was just tremendous ruining car, we saw cars that had been parked on

bridges when we were coming over, but complete devastation here in the rockaways from either the surge or the fire. >> thank you so much. well, it is back to business on wall street today after sandy sidelined the heartbeat of america's financial world. plus george lucas makes a blockbuster deal that will bring three new star wars movies to the silver screen. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. ♪ ♪

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by keeping my airways open for 24 hours. plus, it reduces copd flare-ups. spiriva is the only once-daily inhaled copd maintenance treatment that does both. spiriva handihaler tiotropium bromide inhalation powder does not replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms. tell your doctor if you have kidney problems, glaucoma, trouble urinating, or an enlarged prostate. these may worsen with spiriva. discuss all medicines you take, even eye drops. stop taking spiriva and seek immediate medical help if your breathing suddenly worsens, your throat or tongue swells, you get hives, vision changes or eye pain, or problems passing urine. either the surge or the fire. msnbc. nothing can reverse copd. spiriva helps me breathe better. (blowing sound) ask your doctor about spiriva. some of the stories making

news this morning, from new york staten island, officers made a dramatic rooftop rescue. members of the scuba unit were annual to lower a basket to the roof and they rescued five adults and one child. the chopper helicopter 23 was named after the 23 new york city police officer ons killed on 9/11 just an amazing job right there. here is important medical research when the nyu medical center in new york was evacuated during hurricane sandy because of a power failure. thousands of research mice also perished. a man whose twitter handle is @comfortably smug is apologizing for tweets during sandy including one saying the new york stock exchange was underwater. he has resigned from the campaign of a house candidate in new york. south dakota executed donald

moeller for the 1990 rape of a 9-year-old little girl. it was the second execution in a state that executed only two other people since 1913. police say they have caught the man accused of stealing $1.6 million worth of casino chips at the venetian in las vegas. akingide cole was arrested at his mother's home and police recovered $396,000 in chips. u.s. markets will reopen today. it is unlikely to be business as usual, but trading will resume on and off the floor of the new york stock exchange and nasdaq this morning. the last time weather interrupted u.s. markets to this degree, 1888. incredibly the spc says the unprecedented super storm knocked out 25% of wireless cell towers and a quarter of cable services in ten states.

governor bob mcdonnell is giving sandy's virginia victims until november 9th to renew expiring driver's licenses and permits. late fees for state tax returns or payments received by november 9th will be waived. jpmorgan chase bank is extending its late fee waiver for states impacted by sandy through tomorrow, november 1st. an out of this world deal is sure to spark wall street. disney is buying "star wars" from george lucas. just over $4 billion. plans are already in the works for star wars episodes 7, 8 and 9. movie fans who had power but were stranded at home by sandy gave netflix a boost by about 20% nationwide in hard hit northeast. streaming spiked 100%. not much else to do. we want to show you powerful images of the storm's wrath that come to us from wnbc.

here is the image i talked about at the beginning of the show. this is close to home to me and probably millions of those who have visited. this is coney island at the peak of storm surge. the water was 6 to 8 feet defendant. bottom left of your screen is the world famous wooden roller coaster, the cyclone. to the far right is nathan's hot dog place and the meinor league football field.

also the new york and yquarium. and they had introduced a baby wall husband and it made it through the storm surge. as we mentioned, the storm's effects are pretty much over with. just lingering clouds and showers through the region and chilly out there, too. >> as the cleanup begins. bill, thanks so much. it wasn't until daylight yesterday that the full measure of sandy's devastation was realized along the 130 miles of the new jersey shoreline. ron allen spoke with some residents of bay head, new jersey, south of point pleasant beach who decided not to evacuate. >> reporter: long-time new jersey shore residents were determined to stick the storm out. >> to me, it's more about my house, my home. this is my roof over my head. i don't want to leave it. >> reporter: hours before, shelly, kim, and kim's husband john took a walk to the shoreline. >> i don't think i've ever seen it like that.

>> look at the size of the waves. >> reporter: 150 feet of beach was now underwater. >> this is what this looks like now. >> no. when we come back even at midnight tonight this will all be gone. >> no way. >> reporter: kim and shelly hunkered down, worried about what was going on outside and wondering if they had made a bad decision. >> you know what, i'm going to -- i swear to god, i'm going to cry in a second. you know what just hit me? this town is going to be destroyed. >> reporter: when dawn finally came, the extent of the disaster was shocking. up and down the coast dunes were toppled, seawalls breached, houses submerged. tourist meccas like seaside heights were destroyed. kim and shelly were the lucky ones. >> we're good. are you okay? >> reporter: with just four inches of water inside their houses, but many of their neighbors had it rougher. >> nobody's ever seen this. it's never done this.

>> that was ron allen reporting. i'm lynn berry and this is "first look" on on msnbc. way too early with willie geist starts right now. my instructions to the federal agency has been do not figure out why we can't do something. i want you to figure out how we to something. i want you to cut through red tape, i want you to cut through bureaucracy. there is no excuse for inaction. i want every agency to lean forward and to make sure that we are getting the resources where they're needed as quickly as possible. this is a tough time for a lot of people. millions of folks all across the eastern seaboard. but america is tougher. and we're