Good evening. As we come on the air, millions of American Families are trying to recover from a devastating blow, superstorm sandy. At this hour rescues are under way, families being plucked from waterlogged homes as the images of sandys fury pour in, and just watch this tree. There it is. Upended from the earth by the soaking rains of this storm. Cars in Lower Manhattan tossed like flotation devices. And as sandy marches west, its whipping up monster waves even on Lake Michigan. So here is the big picture at this moment, 14 states with cities and towns underwater, and in places the water is 8 feet deep. And another night of darkness for millions of people, the new york city skyline in shadow. Nearly half the island has no power at all. 8 Million People in 18 states in the cold and dark tonight. And our extreme weather team is fanned out across the storm zone. Abcs alex perez starts us out in little ferry, new jersey, still underwater, rescue is under way right now. Alex. Reporter well, diane, weve learned president obama will be in new jersey surveying the damage tomorrow, but i want you to take a look around me here. This is what many blocks across little ferry, new jersey, look like tonight, completely submerged. If you look down some streets, youll see cars that tried to get out but just could not. In this neighborhood alone, more than 400 stranded people were rescued today. Rescuers made their way through flooded streets today picking up stranded families. Want to come out . Reporter and the boats bringing people to where they could be trucked to safety. Whole families huddled together in the backs of trucks. The entire first floor gone. Able to go on the second floor. Power is down. Water is almost gone. We have a baby and elderly person. Baby, baby here. Reporter the frantic rescue operation began around midnight last night after sandys storm surge swamped new jersey. Happened so fast, within 15 minutes we had 10 feet of water. Reporter stunned residents like vincent grabbed whatever they could as the waters rose. Heartbreak. All your life, and then this, you look and theres nothing. You cant salvage anything. Reporter new jersey took the brunt of sandys wrath. The coast especially hit hard. These images from the town of seaside heights. Neighborhoods consumed by sand and water. Down the shore, look at this. The community of sea bright before sandy. And sea bright today, just buried. And Atlantic City seen from above today, the iconic boardwalk now in ruins. The recovery in the garden state just beginning but today saving lives was the top priority. She cant walk. But shes in good spirits. Shes not injured and were just waiting to reunite her with her daughter and get her to an evacuation center. Reporter First Responders also racing to save lives in new york. Boats navigating the swamped streets of Staten Island across the harbor from manhattan. Terrified 3yearold haley rombey lifted into the arms of safety. The rescues continue. Sandy may have taken away these peoples homes, but she couldnt take away what they cherish the most. As we speak, rescue crews are still working to get people to safety and theyre expected to continue working through the night. Now, we spoke to one family and they told me like many other people here that they thought they were prepared for this storm. That family told me they actually took all of their valuables, all of their belongings moved them about four feet off the ground in their home, but the problem is, they got five feet of water inside their house. The cleanup still continuing and the rescues still continuing here in new jersey. Diane . Alex, we will be back with you and those rescuers later in this onehour broadcast and we have another note about right now. We want you to look at this. Sandy is still on the move, heading into the center of the country and this is the big picture. As it continues to pummel americans as far west as chicago, high winds, lake shore flooding, evacuations are under way along Lake Michigan and wisconsin and waves as high as 22 feet are expected on the lake tomorrow and thats the highest ever recorded there. In northeast ohio, half a foot of rain, winds in cleveland up to 68 miles per hour. And last night, we told you about snow in west virginia, well, tonight, there is snow in columbus. 2 1 2 feet and counting. And so many of the deaths and injuries have been caused by falling trees. Crashing onto roads and into houses, and Abcs David Kerley brings us the story across the path of the storm. Reporter you are about to see a triple teardown of trees. Oh, my god. Oh, my god. 16yearold john taping it from his window in rockland, new york. First a neighbors tree. Oh, my god. Reporter then a tree snaps in their front yard. Oh. Oh. A car oh, my god. Reporter if that wasnt enough, one more. Oh. I got that on film. Reporter maybe there is no clearer example than this, how softened soil cannot hold these big trees. Watch the earth start to heave. Matthew in huntington, new york, knew there was nothing he could do but watch and tape that big tree going down. Dramatic, but these trees have also proven deadly. This is north salem, new york, where two boys were playing and watching tv in the family room when this 100foot oak slammed into the home. A scene repeated too many times across the country. These are some of our viewers pictures, trees falling on houses, trees across roads and pulling down plenty of power lines. In delaware today we watched doug hudson and his crew working to get the power back on. Trees and wires dont go together. For the most part absolutely correct. They dont go together at all. Reporter falling trees really one of the biggest killers in storms and could be the biggest killer in sandy. Take a look at this. These are the roots of a tree here. We are now in alexandria, virginia. The problem is all the rain and all the wind. If you get several inches of rain, it softens the soil and then the wind just pushes these trees down. Look how bill this root ball was and how deep it was but it couldnt hold it. Theyre still concerned. Central park was closed down. The mayor didnt want anybody in there in case trees fell there, as well. That is a big tree. Thank you, david kerley and a couple of other pictures from the treacherous scrapbook sandy left behind, take a look. This is a street in long beach island, new jersey, before and then after sandy and here a watery grave for what is a symbol of new york city, the taxicab. And 20 20 anchor chris cuomo has been tracking the storm. He has been out all night in the city of 8 Million People. Subways now paralyzed. Tunnels and roads under water and he shows what it is like to live in new york in the wake of this fierce storm. Chris. Reporter diane, last night new york city was down but today proof it is not out. Sandy broke a lot of storm records, to be sure weve never seen wind and water punish this place this way. But the men and women who live and work here are now out to set their own record, quickest comeback. Sandys tidal surge, the scourge of downtown manhattan, a record 14foot plume pulverized seawalls, made tunnels and construction sites into lagoons. Near hurricaneforce winds turbocharged the effect, making streets nearly impassable plunging 700,000 in darkness but today new yorkers are trying to make light of living in the dark. Even up high. John and his roomies showed us their 12story trek home. Reporter this is 12, right . 12, here we go. Reporter much greater challenges lay below ground in the subways. Manhattan is like a beating heart. The subways, the blood vessels that keep it going and connected to the rest of the sprawling metropolis. Every day they move 5. 3 Million People on 660 miles of track. They connect to four other commuter rails bringing another 1 million suburbanites into new york. Sunday this underground world ground to a halt and so did life in this city. Within about a twohour period we started to see the surges coming over. Reporter holy cow. We went into the labyrinth of debris, water and damage that are the citys subways with mta official joe leader. What percentage of the railways that we need are underwater . We have 46 miles of track currently underwater right now. Reporter the biggest problem lies beyond the turnstiles. This is the real deal. These are the stairs going down into the subway. We are actually about two levels up right now. Reporter what are we talking about, 50, 60 feet . Yes. Reporter they have to pump out the water and repair signals on 60 miles of track just to start, and yet, in joes eyes not concern, confidence. How many men . Close to 1,500 people have been working. Reporter like a small army. Yes, well just roll with it. We have to do it. Its part of our job. Reporter diane, joe says two days. Two days until workers are back at least part of the subway. Here we are in the middle of the financial district, the bull just a stones throw away. Bowling green usually has a flood of financiers and workers that drive our economy now clearly closed but also right now men are down there in the dark on their way to fixing the subway and this city, diane. And they show up and say well just roll with it, as you showed us, chris. Thank you so much. And one more way in which the superstorm turned the city into a danger zone. That crane, you remember it, knocked over by wind but still attached to a skyscraper and dangling 1,000 feet above the street. 80 tons of steel held by braces until they can dismantle it and get it down, it is still there. And still ahead right here on world news, newborn babies evacuated from a hospital as the storm rages overhead. New pictures from inside the stairwell. Patients whisked to safety and our david muir is there. People really love snapshot from progressive, but dont just listen to me. Listen to these happy progressive customers. I plugged in snapshot, and 30 days later, i was saving big on car insurance. With snapshot, i knew what i could save before i switched to progressive. The better i drive, the more i save. I wish our company had something this cool. Youre not filming this, are you . Aw camera shy. Snapshot from progressive. Testdrive snapshot before you switch. Visit progressive. Com today. Is the same frequent heartburn treatment as prilosec otc. Now with a fancy coating that gives you a burst of wildberry flavor. Now why make a flavored heartburn pill . Because this is america. And we dont just make things you want, we make things you didnt even know you wanted. Like a spoon fork. Spray cheese. And jeans made out of sweatpants. So grab yourself some new prilosec otc wildberry. [ male announcer ] one pill each morning. 24 hours. Zero heartburn. Satisfaction guaranteed or your money back. To bring you a lowpriced Medicare Prescription Drug plan. With a low National Plan premium. And copays as low as one dollar. Saving on your medicare prescriptions is easy. So youre free to focus on the things that really matter. Call humana at 18008084003. Or go to walmart. Com for details. Call humana at 18008084003. Living with moderate to semeans living with pain. Is it could also mean living with joint damage. Help relieve the pain and stop the damage with humira, adalimumab. For many adults with moderate to severe ra, humira is clinically proven to help relieve pain and stop joint damage. So you can treat more than just the pain. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal events, such as infections, lymphoma, or other types of cancer, have happened. Blood, liver and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening Heart Failure have occurred. Before starting humira, your doctor should test you for tb. Ask your doctor if you live in or have been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. Tell your doctor if you have had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections or have symptoms such as fever, fatigue, cough, or sores. You should not start humira if you have any kind of infection. Ask your rheumatologist about humira, to help relieve pain and stop further joint damage before they stop you. As the power snapped out in new york city last night, a dramatic rescue took place at a hospital. The backup generators there also failed. Tiny babies rushed out. Oxygen pumped by hand. And our david muir was there overnight into the Early Morning hours. David . Reporter were still here tonight, diane. Nyu Medical Center is the hospital in question. I wanted to show you behind me if you look up you can see its still pitch black after those generators failed less than 24 hours ago. It was at that moment the respirators went down, and elevators. As you mentioned, when it came to the newborns, they pumped the air in themselves, to keep those babies alive. When we arrived all you could see was the outline of the hospital against the darkened sky. A lone flashlight up in one of the hospital rooms there as doctors and nurses rushed from patient to patient. Out front ambulances and images from my iphone as we approached the hospital. 1 of nearly 300 patients one by one brought out and taken by safety. From the sky the ambulances lined up around the block from all over the city and were learning more tonight about the moments the lights went out, the moment critical machines, the respirators stopped. This young doctor right there. Making sure the patient was on ventilators. Reporter the babies. The babies, yes. Reporter their first concern, babies in intensive care, 20 of them. This nurse, clutching a newborn, holding the plastic bag and doing the work of the respirator herself. All the nurses were doing whats called bagging the air, squeezing bags of air into those tinily lungs, cradling the babies and carrying them nine floors down. Another baby rushed out dwarfed by the size of the gurney. Once outside the bag replaced with oxygen brought in by the paramedic. An entire team surrounding one baby and a hospital source telling me thats what they did the moment was cut off dividing up into teams surrounding one patient at a time carefully bringing them down a darkened stairwell carrying them on plastic sleds rushed in by the paramedics. Flashlights, all they had to see their way. There were a bunch of people that would go with each patient, carry them down the stairs physically. Reporter they were pulled out on that sled, sliding on the hospital floor. One by one we watched, still working until the sun came out. At 10 00 a. M. In the morning you can see still see a line of ambulances all the way up the street. This operation has been going on for 12 hours now. You can see them lining up at the front entrance of the hospital here as they carefully bring the patients down. And late today, 15 hours after those evacuations began, they were done and the president and he had learned of those heroic nurses and the newborns. During the darkness i saw whats brightest in america. Nurses at nyu hospital caring and carrying fragile newborns to safety. Reporter we know that more than half dozen area hospitals took all of the patients from this one hospital alone, diane, and one more extraordinary note tonight, we learned that at least four of the women who left this hospital were in labor and at last check two of them have given birth, remarkable at this hour it appears that everyone taken from this hospital, diane, is okay tonight. That is really extraordinary. Thank you, david muir. And coming up here, the superstorm deals a fiery blow to the hometown of some of americas best firefighters. Our team from abc news is right there in the blaze next. And when the sun rose this [ male announcer ] alkaseltzer plus presents the cold truth. I have a cold, and i took nyquil, but im still stubbed up. [ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil doesnt unstuff your nose. What . [ male announcer ] it doesnt have a decongestant. No way. [ male announcer ] sorry. Alkaseltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms plus has a fastacting decongestant to relieve your stuffy nose. Thanks. [ male announcer ] youre welcome. Thats the cold truth [ male announcer ] alkaseltzer plus. Oh what a relief it is [ male announcer ] try new alkaseltzer plus severe allergy to treat allergy symptoms plus sinus congestion and pain. [ male announcer ] try new alkaseltzer plus severe allergy why theyre always there to talk. I love you, james. Dont you love me . Im a robot. I know. I know youre a robot but theres more in you than just circuits and wires uhhh. cries a machine cant give you what a person can. Thats why ally has knowledgeable people there for you, night and day. Ally bank. Your money needs an ally. Perfect golden color. Rich in fiber. My dad taught me, and i taught my son out there. Morning, pa. Wait. Whos driving the. . 99 bushels of wheat on the farm, 99 bushels of wheat [ male announcer ] yep, theres 8 layers of whole grain fiber in those miniwheats® biscuits. To help keep you full. 45 bushels of wheat. All morning long. Theres a big breakfast. [ mini ] yee haw . In those fun little biscuits. And it feels like your lifeate revolves around your symptoms, ask your gastroenterologist about humira adalimumab. Humira has been proven to work for adults who have tried other medications but still experience the symptoms of moderate to severe crohns disease. In clinical studies, the majority of patients on humira saw significant symptom relief, and many achieved remission. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal events, such as infections, lymphoma, or other types of cancer, have happened. Blood, liver and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening Heart Failure have occurred. Before starting humira, your doctor should test you for tb. Ask your doctor if you live in or have been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. Tell your doctor if you have had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have symptoms such as fever, fatigue, cough, or sores. You should not start humira if you have any kind of infection. Get headed in a new direction. With humira, remission is possible. And when the sun rose this morning one community in new york was changed forever. Dozens of houses were destroyed, not by flood, not by wind but by a huge fire that had raged for 12 hours in a place called breezy point. And it is home to a lot of new york city firefighters who lived through and fought on 9 11. Abcs Elizabeth Vargas is in queens with that story. Reporter this is what six blocks of the Oceanfront Community of breezy point looked like today, a moonscape of blackened wreckage. The remains of more than 100 homes burned to the ground. Absolutely nothing has been saved from what must have been an inferno. Might lost his entire home. The only thing i could identify except for the tile and the bathroom tile, thats about it. Reporter nobody knows how the fire started but once it did, it became an inferno fed by hurricaneforce winds. Firefighters were blocked by hurricanefueled floods. We couldnt get any apparatus down the flood so we had a boat with us and saddled up, got in the boat, went down there. Reporter we were there just last night as sandy was bearing down on this neighborhood. Many here like mary were determined to stay behind and check in on her neighbors. Let me take a chance. We left for irene and we felt we didnt really have to go. So thats why we stayed. A flashlight. I dont have one. Reporter but nightfall brought regret. The power is out. The water outside rising. It is 6 55 and the power just went out. So were officially screwed. Reporter 20 20 producers are here with mary when they spot flames down the block lighting up the flooded streets. They flee to a rooftop they hope will be safe. Theres water everywhere, and embers flying. Its like the apocalypse. I mean theres like that fire. Weve evacuated. This is real. Reporter this is a community that has been hit hard before losing 32 people on 9 11. Today, residents stoically faced their newest disaster, vowing they will come back again. Elizabeth vargas, abc news, breezy point, queens. Thank you so much, elizabeth, and elizabeth will have more tonight on our special edition of 20 20 the perfect storm at 10 00 p. M. Eastern tonight. Coming up right here our sam champion here, what he saw in this storm he says he has never seen before. Including a 700ton tanker no match for the superstorm. Its a new day. If youre a man with low testosterone, you should know that axiron is here. The only underarm treatment for low t. Thats right, the one you apply to the underarm. Axiron is not for use in women or anyone younger than 18. Axiron can transfer to others through direct contact. Women, especially those who are or who may become pregnant, and children should avoid contact where axiron is applied as unexpected signs of puberty in children or changes in body hair or increased acne in women may occur. Report these signs and symptoms to your doctor if they occur. Tell your doctor about all medical conditions and medications. Do not use if you have prostate or breast cancer. Serious side effects could include increased risk of prostate cancer; worsening prostate symptoms; decreased sperm count; ankle, feet, or body swelling; enlarged or painful breasts; problems breathing while sleeping; and blood clots in the legs. Common side effects include skin redness or irritation where applied, increased red blood cell count, headache, diarrhea, vomiting, and increase in psa. See your doctor, and for a 30day free trial, go to axiron. Com. With thermacare heatwraps. Thermacare works differently. Its the only wrap with patented heat cells that penetrate deep to relax, soothe, and unlock tight muscles. For up to 16 hours of relief, try thermacare. [ male announcer ] its time for medicare open enrollment. Are you ready . Time to compare plans and see whats new. You dont have to make changes, but its good to look. Maybe you can find better coverage, save money, or both. And check out the preventive benefits you get after the health care law. Medicare open enrollment. Nows the time. Visit medicare. Gov or call 1800medicare. Visit medicare. Gov or call 1800medicare. Why let constipation stry miralax. . Mirlax works differently than other laxatives. It draws water into your colon to unblock your system naturally. Dont wait to feel great. Miralax. And now i want to bring in abcs senior weather editor sam champion who has been covering this superstorm from the beginning. Hes covered hurricanes and storms for decades and you kept saying to us all last night, youve never seen anything like this before. Never seen anything. The size of this storm, the fact that it was a giant noreaster more than a thousand miles long with a hurricane embedded in it, and that low, low, low pressure, lower than ever recorded in the atlantic meant there was enough power in that storm to throw energy somewhere, diane. That was real troubling. And we saw all sorts of things happening onshore. We couldnt believe the winds of this storm had lifted. Oh, the picture that you guys showed was the one that drove me to the tv set. It was that 168foot tanker by the way on Staten Island. 712 tons, local reporter wabc reporter Michelle Charles brought us that picture moored a mile away. The 14foot lift on that water took that thing and put it on a road in Staten Island, onshore on top of a city street. Moored a mile away and sam champion is here with us. As you know, hell be with us throughout this evening, as always, thank you and for some of you watching we say good night. For others, stay with us for more of our onehour broadcast, the latest on the perfect storm, more dramatic stories and videos coming up. Stories aon. Videos coming up. See you soon. I warning tonight for world series revelers dont let things get out of hand tomorrow. The rules for the big event. Super storm sandy tonight were live with dozens of workers packing up and preparing to leave to turn lights on back east. A high security laboratory. The toughest crimes are solved. Our vic lee gets a look inside. And luke sky walker meets buzz lightyear. A blockbuster movie deal involving one of the bay areas best known film makers. A Million People jammed into San Francisco the last time giants won the world series. A million more expected tomorrow. Theyll have to be on their best behavior. Looks like crews will be working throughout night to get ready fr the huge celebrations. The parade scheduled to begin at 11 00 a. M. At the foot of Market Street and will head straight up market. That is where abc 7 news is with the preparations for us. Youre right. There is a lot of work yet to be done. You can see the