In Picture: Superstorm Sandy Slams New Jersey Coast, Sends 13 Feet Surge In NYC

Sea water floods the Ground Zero construction site, Monday, Oct. 29, 2012, in New York. Sandy continued on its path Monday, as the storm forced the shutdown of mass transit, schools and financial markets, sending coastal residents fleeing, and threatening a dangerous mix of high winds and soaking rain. (AP Photo/ John Minchillo)

Superstorm Sandy made landfall at 8 p.m. just south of Atlantic City, about 120 miles southwest of Manhattan which was already mostly under water while its world-famous Boardwalk was washed away earlier in the day.

It slammed into the New Jersey coastline with 80 mph winds Monday night and hurled an unprecedented 13-foot surge of seawater at New York City.

At least 10 U.S. deaths and one death in Canada were blamed on the storm.

It was a very big storm that an AccuWeather meteorologist said Sandy “is unfolding as the Northeast’s Katrina”.

Authorities reported a record surge more than 13 feet high at the Battery at the southern tip of Manhattan, from the storm and high tide combined.

The center the storm, a combination of Sandy, a wintry system from the West and cold air streaming from the Arctic, threatened to knock out the underground network of power, phone and high-speed Internet lines that are the lifeblood of America’s financial capital.

The New York Daily News reported that water was six feet deep outside its offices in lower Manhattan.

City officials evacuated neighbors of a 90-story super luxury apartment building under construction after its crane partially collapsed in high winds, prompting fears the entire rig could crash to the ground.

Firefighters look up at a partially collapsed crane hanging from a high-rise building in Manhattan as Hurricane Sandy makes its approach in New York October 29, 2012. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

Serious flooding was also reported miles north in Greenwich Village and Chelsea.

The facade of a four-story Manhattan building in the Chelsea neighborhood crumbled and collapsed suddenly, leaving the lights, couches, cabinets and desks inside visible from the street.

No one was hurt, although some of the falling debris hit a car.

The facade of a four-story building on 14th Street and 8th Avenue collapsed onto the sidewalk as FDNY firefighters respond, Monday, Oct. 29, 2012, in New York. Hurricane Sandy bore down on the Eastern Seaboard’s largest cities Monday, forcing the shutdown of mass transit, schools and financial markets, sending coastal residents fleeing, and threatening a dangerous mix of high winds, soaking rain and a surging wall of water up to 11 feet tall. (AP Photo/ John Minchillo)

An historic ferry boat named the Binghamton is swamped by the waves of the Hudson River in Edgewater, N.J., Monday, Oct. 29, 2012, as Hurricane Sandy lashes the East Coast. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)

Streets are flooded under the Manhattan Bridge in the Dumbo section of Brooklyn, N.Y., Monday, Oct. 29, 2012. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

Michael Wirtz, of Wilmington, Del., braves flood waters and high winds that arrive with Hurricane Sandy along North Michigan Avenue in Atlantic City, N.J., Monday Oct. 29, 2012. (AP Photo/The Press of Atlantic City, Michael Ein)

Storm surf kicked up by the high winds from Hurricane Sandy break onto homes in Southampton, New York, October 29, 2012. Hurricane Sandy, the monster storm bearing down on the East Coast, strengthened on Monday after hundreds of thousands moved to higher ground, public transport shut down and the stock market suffered its first weather-related closure in 27 years. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

Sailboats rock in choppy water at a dock along the Hudson River Greenway during a storm, Monday, Oct. 29, 2012, in New York. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Furticella)

A man reacts to waves crashing over a seawall in Narragansett, R.I., Monday, Oct. 29, 2012. A fast-strengthening Hurricane Sandy churned north Monday, raking ghost-town cities along the Northeast corridor with rain and wind gusts. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Storm surf kicked up by the high winds from Hurricane Sandy break onto homes in Southampton, New York October 29, 2012. Hurricane Sandy, the monster storm bearing down on the East Coast, strengthened on Monday after hundreds of thousands moved to higher ground, public transport shut down and the stock market suffered its first weather-related closure in 27 years. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

Swans swim in a yard that has been flooded by storm surf kicked up by the high winds from Hurricane Sandy in Southampton, New York October 29, 2012. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

Waves crash over Eric Mongirdas as the storm surge caused by Hurricane Sandy pummels the coastline in Milford, Connecticut October 29, 2012. , The monster storm bearing down on the U.S. east coast, strengthened on Monday after hundreds of thousands moved to higher ground. REUTERS/Michelle McLoughlin

A woman reacts to waves crashing over a seawall in Narragansett, R.I., Monday, Oct. 29, 2012. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

A car is submerged in the Dumbo section of the Brooklyn borough of New York, as the East River overflows during Hurricane Sandy on Oct. 29, 2012. (Bebeto Matthews/AP Photo)

The Hudson River swells and rises over the banks of the Hoboken, N.J., waterfront as Hurricane Sandy approaches on Monday, Oct. 29, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Sykes)

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A news crew wades through sea foam blown onto Jeanette’s Pier in Nags Head, N.C., Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012 as wind and rain from Hurricane Sandy move into the area. Governors from North Carolina, where steady rains were whipped by gusting winds Saturday night, to Connecticut declared states of emergency. Delaware ordered mandatory evacuations for coastal communities by 8 p.m. Sunday. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

According to the  National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Sandy could be the largest storm to hit the United States.

Tens of millions of East Coast residents are preparing themselves for the monster storm. 

New York and other big cities closed their transit systems and schools and ordered residents of low-lying areas to evacuate.

The New York Stock Exchange will close its trading floor on Monday for the first time since Hurricane Gloria in 1985.

High winds blow sea foam into the air as a person walks across Jeanette’s Pier in Nags Head, N.C., Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012, as wind and rain from Hurricane Sandy move into the area. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

Storm waves from Hurricane Sandy in Ocean City, New Jersey, October 28, 2012. The popular boardwalk in this resort town has dozens of businesses facing the ocean and is expected to get the full brunt of the storm when it hits land sometime Monday. Hurricane Sandy could be the biggest storm to hit the United States mainland when it comes ashore on Monday night, bringing strong winds and dangerous flooding to the East Coast from the mid-Atlantic states to New England, forecasters said on Sunday. REUTERS/Tom Mihalek

Ocean water rolls over state highway NC 12 in Buxton, N.C., on Hatteras Island at dawn on Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012, as Hurricane Sandy works its way north, battering the U.S. East Coast. (AP Photo/The Virginian-Pilot, Steve Earley)

New York Stock Exchange workers place sand bags in front of doors and over electrical vaults at the exchange in New York October 28, 2012. The New York Stock Exchange placed sand bags around the perimeter of the building and announced they will close on Monday in preparation for the arrival of Hurricane Sandy. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

Utilities and state road workers monitor the situation on Virginia Dare Trail as rain and wind from Hurricane Sandy engulf the beachfront road in Kill Devil Hills, N.C., Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012. Tens of thousands of people were ordered to evacuate coastal areas Sunday as big cities and small towns across the U.S. Northeast braced for the onslaught of a superstorm threatening some 60 million people along the most heavily populated corridor in the nation. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

Police make a final sweep of the subway at Times Square in New York October 28, 2012. Hurricane Sandy, which could become the largest storm ever to hit the U.S., is set to bring much of the East Coast, including New York and Washington, to a virtual standstill in the next few days with battering winds, flooding and the risk of widespread power outages. New York and other cities and towns closed their transit systems and schools and ordered residents of low-lying areas to evacuate before a storm surge that could reach as high as 11 feet (3.4 meters). REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

A Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) employee tapes off the turnstiles to bar access to the subway in New York October 28, 2012. Hurricane Sandy, which could become the largest storm ever to hit the U.S., is set to bring much of the East Coast, including New York and Washington, to a virtual standstill in the next few days with battering winds, flooding and the risk of widespread power outages. New York and other cities and towns closed their transit systems and schools and ordered residents of low-lying areas to evacuate before a storm surge that could reach as high as 11 feet (3.4 meters). REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

Related post:

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1. In Photos: Mass Transit Damaged By Superstorm Sandy

2. Photos: Superstorm Sandy Aftermath

3. Photos: Sandy Causes Blizzards In Appalachia

4. Photos: Fire And Water Destroyed Homes In NYC’s Queens Breezy Point And Belle Harbor

5. At Least 50 Houses Flooded By Sandy Destroyed By NYC Fire

6. In Picture: Superstorm Sandy Slams New Jersey Coast, Sends 13 Feet Surge In NYC

7. Photos: Eastern US Braces For Superstorm Sandy

8. Sandy: The Largest Storm To Hit The US?

9. Photos: Hurricane Sandy Left Bahamas, 43 Killed In Caribbean

10. Hurricane Sandy Pounds Jamaica