Tuesday, october 30th, 2012, this is the daily rundown, im chuck todd. Lets get right to what we know this hour. At least 18 people have been killed, early estimates, but the damage from sandy at somewhere between 10 billion and 20 billion, but that figure could rise as people assess in the daylight. Nearly 8 Million People waking up without power this morning. Sandy made landfall as whats being called a post Tropical Cyclone on the Southern Coast of new jersey not too far from Atlantic City at about 8 00 p. M. , sustained winds of 80 miles per hour, thats hurricane force, folks. And hurricaneforce winds extended up to 175 miles from the center of the storm. Tropical force storm winds spread out 485 miles from the center, a 13foot storm surge flooded Battery Park City in Lower Manhattan and that broke a record that had been set in 1821. Records were shattered in sandy hook, new jersey, where tide levels also topped 13 feet. The metropolitan Transportation Authority is calling this the worst disaster in the 108year history of the new york subway system, and the flooding isnt over. Hundreds of people are being evacuated this morning after a tidal gate broke in northern new jersey flooding three towns there. The National Weather service says the Potomac River is likely to experience its worst floods in 16 years beginning tonight. The flooding is expected between hancock, maryland, and washington, d. C. Flood waters along the new york city coastline made it difficult for First Responders to reach a massive sixalarm fire which began overnight in queens. In new york alone, nearly 2 Million People are without power. Con edison intentionally, actually, had to cut power to tens of thousands of folks in order to try to protect equipment from rising water. Then there was an explosion at a substation in manhattan, that caused that was caused by flooding, flying debris knocked out power to another 250,000 people. Also last night, a backup power system failed at nyu Medical Center and that forced the evacuation of all 215 patients to nearby hospitals. Thats everything we think we know right now. Now, coastal flooding, destructive winds, heavy rain actually will continue as sandy heads inland. Lets get the very latest on the storms path. We go to the man, to the iron man for us lately, nbc news meteorologist bill karins. Where does sandy stand now . Whats going to be affected . And where is it heading . Sandy is going to be more than anything else a nuisance today. People wanting to get out of their houses, people who want to start this cleanup, getting power back on, they want to see the crews rolling into their towns. The storm is just still too big, and it still hasnt moved all that much. It moved inland about 12 hours ago, its still in pennsylvania, its not one of those storms in and out in a hurry. Its going to linger all day today, we cant get the helicopters up to see how bad the damage is in some areas, its still too windy. Look at the size of this storm. It is cloudy all the way to the hudson bay, down to north georgia, the clouds have pushed down through south carolina. And now we have rain all the way from maine in this green rain and band goes all the way back to the portions of the ohio valley into kentucky. Now, heres the cruel part. Theres a lot of cold air rotating around what once was a hurricane. Someone told me they said to me on twitter, eight hours after the storm made landfall, we had snow in eight different states. You never hear that sentence before. Its ridiculous, the worst of it by far west virginia, mountainous areas of kentucky and also virginia, thats a way of blizzard warnings telling people not to travel. There are Power Outages because of downed trees and also snowing pretty good now in areas of ohio. Youre getting more than you thought and its windy too. Heres the points to watch this morning. High tide occurring as i speak right now along long island, battery city, downtown portions of Lower Manhattan. A the little high tide up in connecticut. Its not going to be as bad as last nikknight. And the cold air, look at the windchill in washington, d. C. , its 34, and you have hundreds of thousands of people without power down there. They really cant stay in their houses with temperatures like this, not going to see much sun today, and just a general idea, i showed the new york city extended forecast, this is pretty much for the entire region. The Power Outages and the workers will really get to work on thursday. Even on wednesday, halloween, were still going to have breezy conditions with on and off showers, and then looks like, chuck, the upcoming weekend will be just fine for the power restoration. What a storm. This will probably be the storm of our lifetime, you know, that we go through in this region of the country. Hyperbole aside, i heard al roker call it the storm of the century, it may end up that way. Theres a lot more of this century to go. But let me ask you this, the issue of the rising water, the sort of delayed impact of this storm when flooding could take place two, three, four days after it, where are the greatest fears . I know we have fear down here because of the potomac. Yeah, the Potomac River was all along. The storm really followed the book in the forecast. The best chance for the rainfall flooding was going to be the maryland, delaware, greater baltimore, washington, d. C. Area, you picked up about 6 inches of rain on average. And thats all collecting in the small streams and creeks and heading to the big rivers. The potomac, we expect to have moderate flooding, slight possibility gets to the major category, not going to be a widespread, everyones going to have to evacuate type flooding situation. The river flooding is not really going to be the legacy of this. Once we can get past the wind today and the last high tide cycle, we can start to think about cleaning up. All right. Bill karins in new york for us. Bill, thanks very much. Well, the storm came ashore in Atlantic City cutting it off from the mainland. Chris christie has told people there to stay where they are until rescue crews can come reach them. On morning joe, he said his top priority is ensuring theres no more loss of life. We have three urban search and rescue teams with over 50 men and women who are in Atlantic City right now rescuing people. We have urban search and rescue teams, as well. So far the loss of life has been minimal, thank god, but we have lost three folks, two in my hometown, actually, two parents who a tree hit their pickup truck. Hit their pickup truck, they had their 11yearold and 14yearold children in the car, they survived, but both parents were killed. In addition to Atlantic City, several other shore communities also took direct hits from the storm. Look at this video, Point Pleasant beach at the height of the storm. Ron allen is in Point Pleasant beach. All right, ron. I saw you on nightly news last night. Obviously a much different situation this morning. You were there and you watched the storm come in, what do you see this morning . Well, you see utter devastation, chuck. That sand dune we were standing on last night is completely obliterated. It was about 12 feet tall, it was about 30 yards wide and it is gone. And the result is that all the sand here is from the ocean and from the beach. Its about 100 yards in that direction before you get to the ocean. But last night it came rushing up here and completely wiped out these shore fronts, ocean front buildings that are here. This is the hotel we were using as a base yesterday. Its completely gone. Here in the foreground, you can see, this looks like a window frame that was blown out of a building. Theres all kinds of boards. Theres plants, fences, this neighborhood is completely devastating. There are power lines hanging down. We have no power. Phone communications are very difficult, as well. And, again, last night when those dunes breached the ocean just came rushing up these streets that run perpendicular to the ocean. We were staying in the hotel where the camera man is now. And the water was at times up to at least waist deep and we were concerned it was going to completely encircle the building we were in. For a while, we werent sure if we could get out or not. Going in that direction, theres a lot of inland flooding, as well, police have the area blocked off so people cant come in this direction. But if i walk over here and the camera man pans, you can see down here where the ocean is. Its a good 75 to 100 yards from where we started there. And more devastation. Again, right about there at the tip of this tree at the end of this street is about where that dune was and where we were standing last night. And as you can see, its completely blown out. And all the stand is about i guess its about and it goes that way for about 50 yards or so and then theres just water, flooding water as far as the eye can see. How many people are there . How many people heeded the warnings to just get off the coast . Reporter some people here stayed the night and theyre okay. Its unclear whether they can leave or not. They dont have power, they have supplies, and these are hearty souls who hunkered down, wanted to be here for whatever reason, for the excitement of it all, the thrill of it all. That wasnt advised, but they stayed anyway. In Atlantic City, its a much more dire situation where you have people in a much larger urban area that is completely cut off. They closed the main roads last night hoping people wouldnt get in there. I think thats a much more dire situation. The governor indicated there are a number of search and rescue operations going on. If youre in this circumstance, its a difficult place to be. Ron allen in Point Pleasant, new jersey, thanks very much. Well, president obama declared a major disaster in new york and long island opening up federal funds, fema resources to the state. The storm killed at least 18 people, two of whom from long island. Peter king who represents parts of long island. Also chairman of the Homeland Security committee. Congressman king, i want to start with what you can tell me about the damage on long island. Actually, this is by far the worst storm weve had at least since 1938. Its just in my district alone, long beach is basically entirely cut off, they have no sewage, they have no power, they have no water. Theres going to be a Mass Evacuation of long beach. And there were are number of fires, seven fires im aware where the houses burned to the ground, Fire Department couldnt get to them. A mans house blew up last night. Thank god his neighbor next door, the entire house blew up. The waters been contaminated in places. Freeport, theres probably 90 of the people without power in the on long island. So this is, again, by far the worst. We have entire streets under water, 5, 6 feet of water. Its 5 feet of water everywhere. I can go community by community, what it turned out to be is that the worstcase scenario in each instance seemed to come true. Let me ask you this, relief efforts right now. Can it even begin . I assume youve done your best to tour the area. Can it begin yet . Or are we going to be delayed another 24 hours . And have you started to let folks know there could be delays in the cleanup . Theyre trying to get the crews out in the streets. Getting trees off the roads, Power Company is going to try to get started with restoring the power. But, again, coast guard helicopters going up, i think within the next hour or so to get a full extent of the damage. But the Power Company really up until now hasnt been able to do anything because of the winds. Were talking about days, weeks before we see power restored. And so far, everything working the way its supposed to as far as relief efforts or the coordination between federal, state, and local . It really is. Right now as im talking to you, all of the local and state officials are here at fema right here in the room. So, no, theres perfect coordination at federal, state, and local level. In fact, if theres any good thing to come out of this emergency and information is abo absolutely superb. Well, we caught about 75 of what you just said there. I know getting out by phone is very difficult. Im going to let you go, congressman, i know you have a lot of work to do. Thank you for joining us. Thank you. Were going to have more, of course, on the Recovery Efforts from sandy all throughout the hour and after the break. And if its safe for you to do so, please feel free to share some photos that youve taken of sandy. Tweet us using the hash tag msnbc tip, we might use them on air or online. [ man ] ring ring. Progresso this reduced sodium soup says it may help lower cholesterol, how does it work . You just have to eat it as part of your heart healthy diet. Step 1. Eat the soup. All those veggies and beans, thats what may help lower your cholesterol and well thats easy [ male announcer ] progresso. You gotta taste this soup. To volunteer to help those in need. When a twinge of back pain surprises him. Morning starts in high spirits, but theres a growing pain in his lower back. As lines grow longer, his pain continues to linger. But after a long day of helping others, he gets some helpful advice. Just two aleve have the strength to keep back pain away all day. Today, jason chose aleve. Just two pills for all day pain relief. Try aleve d for strong, all day long sinus and headache relief. We wanted to spend a couple of days in washington and come back to rochester. But we have been told the weather and we are stuck here. That woman is one of thousands of people who will be stuck today in new york. It could be days before the citys Transportation System is up and running. The brooklyn battery tunnel was flooded from end to end just hours after it was closed. This picture shows water pouring into the entrance of that tunnel. Water into at least seven tunnels under the east river. Called the most devastating disaster in the history of that subway system. This photo is from hoboken, new jersey, and it shows water pouring into a path train. All service is suspended until it does a full damage assessment. The storm is also affecting air travel, laguardia, jfk, Newark Airport all closed indefinitely. More than 15,000 Flights Canceled so far. Phil lebeau joins me with the latest on the transportation situation. Youre at atlanta airport. The Busiest Airport usually in the country. Whats the status today with flights . What are airlines telling passengers . Reporter theyre hoping to begin some flights on a very limited basis later tonight, chuck. I look up at the board, eight flights to newark, and theyre canceled today and thats the delta flight. Let me give you a rundown in terms of whats going on with the airports in the area. Essentially, theyre doing damage assessments this morning. By the way, the Philadelphia Airport is up and operational this morning, although to what degree were finding out. Expect some limited scheduling to begin later tonight or tomorrow. There is some flights going into d. C. And boston, damage there has been minimal. Full service is at least a day away when youre talking about the new york area airports. As you mentioned at the top, more than 15,000 flights have been canceled because of sandy. That number, by the way, is expected to increase. Airlines have been parking planes at airports around the world. And that might start to change either later tonight or tomorrow morning with regard to those international flights. The airlines, by the way, at delta, theyve been dealing with 75,000 people, chuck, that they have to rebook. Those rebookings are going to extend at least through the weekend. And this heading says it all. The new york city subway system is 108 years old, but it has never faced a disaster as devastating as what we experienced last night. Hurricane sandy wreaked havoc on our entire Transportation System. And the reason that quotes important, chuck, that the the key to reopening the airports. You cant reopen the airports unless you can get the people who whork there, people with the tsa, flight controllers, if they cant get to work, you cant reopen the airport. What can you tell me about amtrak . Same thing, although on a more limited basis, its the sections of amtrak, the track is in pretty good shape. Other sections, theyll be checking for damage. Once they have made that full assessment and they know they can make the runs all the way through, then youre going to see the schedule start to come back up. Again, its on a waitandsee basis at this point. And daylight only now. Were getting all of these assessments. I guess this will have more definitive news in the afternoon. Phil lebeau monitoring the situation for us at the airport. Breaking news now, the new jersey Turnpike AuthorityJust Announced it has reopened the entire length now of the garden state parkway to traffic in both directions. And by the way, in case youre wondering, tolls will resume at 2 00 p. M. So its free right now. Rescue and cleanup operations will be a will still be tricky today with rain and wind, snow still hitting parts of the eastern united states, fema administrator craig fugate had this to say moments ago on the today show about recovery operations. Because its still raining and now with this blizzard in west virginia, our concern is primarily life safety and then well get to the critical infrastructure. Weve got hospitals, Nursing Homes impacted, Power Outages. The list of things is enormous. First thing is, keep people alive, keep people safe, rescue those in danger. Well, in just