International News

No Pinoy casualties from superstorm Sandy

The Philippine Embassy in Washington D.C. and the Consulate General in New York have yet to receive reports of possible Filipino casualties following the onslaught of superstorm Sandy in the east coast.

Ambassador Jose Cuisia said Sandy has claimed 10 lives, cut power and forced many to flee their homes.

There are more than 460,000 Filipinos in 13 states across the eastern seaboard that bore the brunt of Sandy.

Cuisia said a team is on 24-hour-standby at the embassy to respond to any request for assistance from Filipinos affected by the typhoon; monitor the progress of the storm; and receive updates from the Filipino Community.

Reports from the Filipino community indicate that a number of Filipinos in New Jersey and New York fled their homes due to floodwaters that the superstorm spawned shortly before it made landfall near Cape May in the southern coast of New Jersey.

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Inquirer Headline

‘Sandy’ batters East Coast

Flooded Ground Zero, New York

As Superstorm “Sandy” churned slowly inland, millions along the US East Coast awoke Tuesday without power or mass transit, and huge swaths of New York City were eerily quiet. At least 23 people were killed in seven states.

The storm that made landfall in New Jersey on Monday evening with hurricane force cut power to at least 7.4 million across the East and put the presidential campaign on hold just one week before Election Day.

New York was among the hardest hit, with its financial heart closed for a second day and seawater cascading into the still-gaping construction pit at the World Trade Center. The storm caused the worst damage in the 108-year history of New York’s subway system, and there was no indication of when the largest US transit system would be rolling again.

But the full extent of the damage in New Jersey was being revealed as morning arrived. Emergency crews fanned out to rescue hundreds.

A hoarse-voiced New Jersey Governor Chris Christie gave bleak news at a morning news conference: Seaside rail lines washed away. No safe place on the state’s barrier islands for him to land. Parts of the coast still under water.

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