New York:
I opened my room window to get a sense of how strong the wind is and there's no way to really describe what wind at some 40 mph hitting you on the face feels like. Occasionally I can hear my wall vibrate, I know that doesn't sound too good. But New York buildings are strong, my apartment is over 100 years old, it's seen many a storm.
Imagine watching a plane take off. That's the sound you hear every second and that's the only sound you hear. Am just wondering how many trees will survive this powerful storm. I see leaves fly as high as a 10 storey buildings.
Almost everyone is glued to their television sets for weather updates, evacuation news etc. But my cable connection is off since yesterday afternoon. A friend of mine mailed to say there's a power cut at her place. A lot of contacts are sending updates on social media.
Another friend had the fire brigade at her apartment building at 2am! She is safe but she stays on Riverside, facing the Hudson River. She says 'the waves are getting bigger'.
I stay two blocks behind, on Broadway, one of the busiest roads. Today it's empty. I usually wake up to the sound of the subway, as it passes my house. It comes out of hiding from underground right outside my window, today it's nowhere to be seen. The subway closed at 7pm on Sunday and is likely to resume services on Wednesday!
A message on a social networking site said "if you are not evacuating and you have been asked to, just stick your Social Security Number on to your body, so that rescue officers can identify you." If all the news about Sandy didn't scare you, then this message might.
School has closed and my professor just mailed to tell the class our guest lecturer won't be able to make it to class tomorrow and it's not likely that students from New Jersey will make it, so it's an off tomorrow too.
I hope everyone has enough supplies or everything they need and hopefully there won't be any power cuts and everyone is safe.