Hurricane Sandy and the "Frankenstorm"

Supermarkets and other stores ran out of bottled water as early as Friday night as people in Manhattan started frantically stocking up on that and on--it seemed--just about any kind of food available in the preparation for enduring Hurricane Sandy and the "Frankenstorm."

They call it the Frankenstorm because it is so huge, and looks now like it will be unprecedented in terms of its size and the amount of damage it will cause along the East Coast of the United States from Virginia up to Massachusetts.

As of Friday night, New York's Mayor Bloomberg had ordered evacuation of low lying land in NYC that will be flooded by the storm surge Monday evening--affecting something like 375,000 people. 

In City-owned projects, people were herded out on Friday afternoon, with the gas, electricity and  turned off...

One of the areas that will be hit worst will be Battery Park City down on the Southern tip of Manhattan.

These pictures do not convey the intensity  of last minute shopping ( lines inside stores were gigantic and it took forever to get out of the stores..)

Woman in bottom picture gets out of a Rite Aid at Kips Bay Plaza where the line inside was enormous...

Following the storm has become a major project for the media, with constant updates...

One of the worst aspects of the storm is that it will sit over the New Jersey- New York area for some 36 hours ( whereas Hurricane Irene last year just flew through).

All coastal areas will suffer major damage in terms of erosion and flooding...