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Sandy Wallops Lower Manhattan, Leaving It Dark And Flooded

Lower Mahanttan in the dark.
Alana Newhouse and David Samuels
/
via Twitter
Lower Mahanttan in the dark.

New York City has been experiencing the brunt of Sandy. The New York Times reports that one death has been reported when a tree fell on a man's house in Queens. NPR's Margot Adler reports that the New York State Homeland Security and Emergency Services estimates four others are dead. The situation in Lower Manhattan sounds dire: Flooding is now widespread and a good part of the city is in the dark.

"As the evening high tide was drawing closer, there were reports of flooding in several low-lying areas around the five boroughs, places that had not in recent memory experienced flooding," the Times reports.

Earlier today, Consolidated Edison cut power to a part of Lower Manhattan. A few minutes ago, the power company tweeted that it was also shutting down service in the Brighton Beach section of Brooklyn.

"Sea water from Hurricane #Sandy's storm surge threatened to flood the underground electrical delivery system,"the company said, explaining the shutoff.

The city's Metropolitan Transit Authority, said that "up to four feet of seawater is entering subway tunnels under the East River."

NPR member station WNYC is keeping close tabs on the situation, collecting live dispatches from their reporters and listeners. Here is their Storify collection:

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Eyder Peralta is NPR's East Africa correspondent based in Nairobi, Kenya.