with us. >> nightline is going to be next. they're going to be on for an hour. these two are going to monitor. >> good morning maryland will have the latest coming up in the morning. >> be safe. of "nightline." landfall. sandy, the biggest atlantic storm in a decade slams into the eastern united states, whipping of winds of nearly 100 miles an hour and 30-foot wave and some 60-some million americans in its path and we're live as the superstorm 1,000 miles wides at the island of manhattan, cut off, under water and in the dark. and warning that the worst is not over. nine governors declare states of emergency as the megastorm hurtles north and rescuers search for survivors of the tall

ship gone down. and good evening. i'm cynthia mcfadden in new york city and tonight we're in the midst of a deadly storm unlike any this city has seen before. for the first time since 9/11, all bridges and tunnels leading in and out of the city are closed down, and this is what manhattan looks like tonight. eerily dark and quiet as this massive superstorm has left half of the city without power and partially under water. at nyu hospital one of the biggest in the city and the country, the backup generators have failed forcing rescue personnel to evacuate patients. this historic storm tonight is

wreaking havoc up and down the atlantic seaboard from the carolinas to connecticut, claiming at least ten lives so far. flooding entire towns, causing blackouts across the midatlantic and midwest and snoerms frwstor maryland to tennessee. juju chang spent the day in lower manhattan and comes to us from the dangerously flooded streetings. what is the latest? >> reporter: we've sent much of this evening wading through the floodwaters ofmanhattan, through the evacuation zone, this storm now has the dubious distinction of setting a record for a record storm surge but it's deceptively calm now, not a lot of rain or wind, we're penned in by flood waters and blocked by sky scrapers in the historic canyons of lower man hasn't and the 9/11 memorial

began flooding this evening. behind me is literally the financial heart of the stage, new york stock exchange shut down today and tomorrow. detectly behind me is what new york officials feared, tonight a huge swath of lower manhattan is under water and without power. storm surges of up to 11 feet battering the southern tip of this island. streets and avenues turning to rivers as the water surrounding manhattan poured over seawalls and the full moon high tide. we were with new york governor cuomo as he watched the water surge at the mouth of one tunnel at the height of the storm. what is your biggest concern at this hour? >> where it stops, that's the question, where it stops and when it stops. and what damage it's doing in the meantime. >> reporter: water flooded the newly opened 9/11 memorial and a facade of a building came toppling down, exposing

apartment inside, miraculously leave no one injured. all bridges and tunnels were closed. were hurricane force winds coming ashore, officials were so concerned about 90-mile-an-hour gusts of wind that they shout down the historic brooklyn bridge as well as just about every bridge and tunnel into manhattan. remember, we're on an island we're essentially cut off as the storm hits. across the river the waterfront had been flooding since morning in brooklyn and jersey city. the subways and buses normally moving 7 million people a day stopped running last night. people encouraged to stay in place. now, though, subways are submerged in four feet of water. we were with the chairman of mta when one of the tidal surges they were warning about happened. >> what surprises me is the power of the water. it's unbelievably flowing. i'm a new yorker, i've never seen anything like this into a tunnel. >> reporter: power was cut in

the brook llyn battery tunnel. our satellite truck was stranded and we had to make our way through the waters any way we could. we can hang on to the fence. it's flooded here. offshore laerd liberty's torch has been extingished as power outages spread across town, a small explosion hitting a con ed son plant. 375,000 people who live in the evacuation zones and low-lying areas prone to flooding, deep in the heart of the zone we ran across stubborn holdouts who decided to ride out the storm. the hurricane was on tv and beer on tap. >> happy hurricane! >> reporter: three friends all zone a residents were hunkering to down. what's the plan? >> we're on the third floor and plenty of provisions. >> reporter: what are the provisions? >> let's see. we have -- what did we get?

tune th tuna, peanut butter, wheat bread. >> reporter: where is a once in a lifetime storm. >> as much as this is bad, for like a lot of reasons, it's like exhilarating for people, it makes humanity stop and have do nothing. >> reporter: a few blocks away in the shad oest freedom tower still under construction, they plan to ride out the storm with their 18-month-old son. what played into your decision to stay here instead of evacuating? you're in a mandatory evacuate site. >> yes, we are, we're taking this seriously and we're prepared. that's half the battle is being prepared. >> reporter: they stockpiled the fridge and filled the tub with water. you lived through quite a bit in lower manhattan. >> blackout, flood of the building, living through the reconstruction of after 9/11. it's been a tough road.

>> reporter: out their road the footprints where the world trade center once stood and now the construction site for the freedom tower. now flooded. what is your biggest fear? >> that we have two very large cranes on the north side of our building that if something were to come unhinged a crane would collapse into the building. >> reporter: he's right to be concerned about that crane. in midtown this afternoon high above a luxury building a construction crane toppled over in the high winds. threatening pedestrians below. >> i heard this could come down, i thought i would check it out. >> reporter: a nearby high-end hotel evacuated their guests. >> watch your backs, folks. >> reporter: that crane dangles in fierce winds and the bradshaws have lost power. they say it will be a long couple of days. >> we are just about literally minutes from high tide. but this is not good. this is not good. >> reporter: an understatement. >> yeah. >> reporter: and clearly it's not looking good for the

bradshaws tonight. they have told us via e-mail their lobby is four feet under water. you have to understand when the power is cut off to a skyscraper, that particular building which had 400 units in it did not have a backup generator, they don't have sump pumps to pump out the floodwater rising. of the 400 units, about half of them decided to stay in, so it's a long couple of days for the people trapped in that blag blg. we're penned in by floodwaters and you saw the way we came in. i'm not sure how we'll get out tonight. >> oh, stay safe. we'll have some dramatic video now of a scene at one of new york's biggest hospitals. ambulances are lining up in front of nyu's medical center hoping to rescue patients who are stranded there after the hospital lost its backup generator. just now the first patients are coming out of the hospital into the waiting ambulances, including some infants.

we don't have word on whether the power outage caused any fatalities inside but of course we're there now and we'll bring you more as we know it. now we'll turn to new jersey and move to cape may, where my co-anchor terry moran, reporting from the shoreline that bore the powerful brunt of the storm's landfall earlier today. what is the latest there? >> reporter: we are about 175 miles from you and we're still getting hurricane-force winds just booming, thundering off the atlantic ocean, just about a block behind me. like millions of americans, we hunkered down as this storm roared ashore. here, just a few miles from where landfall was made, roads were flooded, the booming winds have been going for hours. power out all over the place and when we come back in just a minute, we will take you through the course of the day as sandy

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and welcome back to our special storm coverage. now breaking news out of new jersey. where the oyster creek nuclear power plant declared an alert due to flooding. they were offline due to fueling, not currently generating power. u.s. nuclear regulatory commission said this is the

second-lowest of four action levels and they anticipate the water levels will begin to abate over the next few hours. we will of course keep you updated. there are eight nuclear facility notice storm region. but so far oyster eek is the only facility on alert. coastal new jersey has been hard-hit by the storm and we're going to return now to my co-anchor terry moran who joins us again from cape may. it is windy out there, terry. >> reporter: it certainlis, no question about it. let me give you an idea of what this storm has done all day. thesewinds, hurricane-force winds blowing for hours, since before the storm made landfall shortly after 6:00 p.m. and they whip the sand, the droplets of rain into needle-sharp -- that stick in people's faces. devastating event. more powerful storms, windier storms but this massive storm has just caused havoc across the

eastern seaboard. here's how the day unfolded. sandy roared ashore this ev evening. the ocean is now flooding into the city. >> reporter: lashing out with fearsome winds and monstrous storm surge at communities up and down the coast for hundreds of miles. gigantic waves engulfed the coastline. >> oh, my god, it's washing everything away! >> reporter: in atlantic city, 15-foot waves crashed over the seawe seawall. in hatteras, the surf tore up roads and beaches. 70-mile-per-hour winds battered communities as millions of americans hunkered down under the fury of the storm. the drama began early this morning as the storm headed toward the eastern seaboard in the midst of the maelstrom an incredit helicopter rescue at sea.

14 people pulled from the roiling waters of a the tal shatall ship "hms bounty" safrpg to the bottom of the sea, one crew member confirmed dead, another still missing. earlier today, in cape may, america's oldest seaside resort, sandy battered the grand homes, devoured the broad beaches and flooded streets, particularly turning the cape into an island. but sandy's real destructive force is focused north of here in her huge haymaker of a root hook that deadly northeast quadrant of the storm. and the most densely populated area of the country. >> millions of people are going to be affected. >> reporter: but noontime in washington, d.c., president obama breaking off from the campaign, took up the mantle of offense once again to urge americans to heed all the ominous warnings. >> the most important message that i have for the public right now is please listen to what your state and local officials

are saying. when they tell to you evacuate, you need to evacuate. do not delay. don't pause, don't question the instructions given. >> reporter: by afternoon, sandy spawned snowstorms in west virginia and flood warnings as far west as chicago. and tonight, as we see the massive impact all along the east coast the sheer scale of the storm is staggering, almost 3.7 million people are without power. more than 1.5 million ee vavace. 14,000 flight cancelations across the country. and from space tonight, the gigantic storm seems to have earned its halloween moniker, frankenstorm. from land tonight, the moon peeked through the clouds at the eye of the storm. that was a while ago. there is no question the storm is roaring back and while hundreds of thousands of people did evacuate a lot of people

stayed, especially here in cape may. this is a seafaring town. they're tough, they've seen a lot of storms. they say they've seen tougher but this one is wreaking havoc up and down the atlantic seaboard. >> the governor wasn't happy about that. he had a few choice words for those who chose to stay. >> reporter: they are hunkering down out here as they are those who stayed. cape hatteras -- cape mass has seen a lot of storms. they have held up pretty well, the buildings. >> stay safe. we'll check in with you later. just 48 miles up the shoreline from terry, ginger zee of our extreme weather team is on the ground in the hard-hit city of atlantic city where much of the city is under water. part of that famous boardwalk has been blown way and iconic neon lights have gone totally

dark. >> reporter: the winds are even more punishing on the back side of this storm, if you can imagine that. we had a 66-mile-per-hour gust earlier. i think we're easily outdoing this year. we'll get the official numbers coming in but i've got to tell you the entire day we're stuck here, there is water on both sides of us, most of this city is understood water and just one of so many problems that this huge storm has brought, even more than it promised. the superstorm is a super disaster and in atlantic city entire section of the good time town now completely under water. the water started rising with high tide early this morning. and street after street the water just didn't stop. carrying chunks of the city's famous boardwalk into the street. just a few miles from us a roof rip from the top of the building, debris slamming into the ground just inches from a

news cameraman. oh, my gosh. this is l ocean, the storm surge started, tide coming up and the storm is hitting right now. we drove around looking for a way to get back before the worst of the storm hit. there is stuff absolutely everywhere. you can see throughout the streets, rolling debris here. at the lights, one of the only lights we've seen on, beyond that, a lot of electricity already out. we met some people who decided to try their luck and ride out the storm. >> we've got our kids, snuggle in a ball and hope for the best. >> reporter: then bad news for people like them, governor chris christie announced no rescue services in atlantic city until tomorrow morning. >> i cannot in good conscience send them in the dark given all of the various hazards that would occur. >> reporter: he blasted the mayor for encouraging people to stay in shelters rather than moving inland. >> for those elected officials who decided to ignore my

admonition, it is your responsibility. >> reporter: the storm passed ferociously, at least 66-mile-per-hour wind gusts at the airport. then just a couple of hours ago, that strange moment when it all went quiet. when you're in the middle of the storm like this, it gets eerily calm. the light breeze tickling the trees. that is not normal. the onslaught reseumed and likey to keep pummelling the city tonight. we're not going to get a lot of rest here, we'll keep following the storm. at least the tide has gone down slightly. we'll watch that tide rise again into the morning hours. so the flooding and all of the conce concerns, they are not over. we'll head back cynthia. >> stay safe. you have been at it all day. a town under water,

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