100 homes destroyed by fire in NY in wake of cyclone

People come out to see the heavy surf that was caused by Sandy today in Cape May, New Jersey. Photograph: Mark Wilson/Getty Images

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Up to 100 homes have been destroyed by a huge fire in a the flooded New York area of Queens. Huge swathes of New York were deserted and dark as America’s largest city reeled under the full force of Superstorm Sandy.
More than 190 firefighters have contained the fire in the Breezy Point section, but they were struggling with some pockets of fire.

A fire department spokesman said one firefighter suffered a minor injury and was taken to a hospital. Two civilians suffered minor injuries and were treated at the scene.

Officials said the fire began in an area flooded by Sandy after it began sweeping through the city.

The neighbourhood sits on the Rockaway peninsula jutting into the Atlantic Ocean.

As the storm moved slowly inland, millions along the US East Coast awoke without power or transport.
New York’s financial heart in Lower Manhattan remained closed for a second day and seawater cascaded into the still-gaping construction pit at the World Trade Centre.
The storm killed at least 16 people in seven states, cut power to more than six million homes and businesses from the Carolinas to Ohio, caused scares at two nuclear power plants, and put the presidential campaign on hold a week before election day.
The massive storm reached well into the Midwest: Chicago officials warned residents to stay away from the Lake Michigan shore as the city prepared for winds of up to 60 mph and waves exceeding 24 feet well into tomorrow.
An unprecedented 13-foot urge of seawater - 3 feet above the previous record - gushed into lower Manhattan, inundating tunnels, subway stations and the electrical system that powers Wall Street, and sent hospital patients and tourists rushing for safety.
Skyscrapers swayed and creaked in winds that partially toppled a crane 74 stories up.
President Barack Obama declared a major disaster in New York and Long Island, making federal funding available to residents of the area.
Remnants of the former Category 1 hurricane were forecast to head across Pennsylvania before taking another sharp turn into western New York state.
Although weakening, the massive storm - which caused wind warnings from Florida to Canada - will continue to bring heavy rain and local flooding.
As Hurricane Sandy closed in on the Northeast, it converged with a cold-weather system that turned it into a monstrous hybrid of rain and high wind - and even snow in West Virginia and other mountainous areas inland.
Just before it made landfall at 8pm local time near Atlantic City, New Jersey, forecasters stripped Sandy of hurricane status - but the distinction was purely technical, based on its shape and internal temperature. It still packed hurricane-force wind, and forecasters were careful to say it was still dangerous to the tens of millions in its path.
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