‘Hurricane Sandy’ postpones early voting in U.S.

NINE days to the presidential election in the United States (U.S.), Hurricane Sandy  forced the cancellation of early voting in the state of Maryland yesterday.

Also, President Barack Obama was forced to cancel a rally in Orlando. He returned to the White House in Washington D.C. to oversee the activities by the federal and state governments to reduce the fury of the hurricane, now dubbed ‘a superstorm with destructive force’.

According to meteorologists, Hurricane Sandy will be the most damaging to hit the U.S. in 75 years.

The hurricane, likely to cause flash flooding, widespread power outages, road, water and air transport closure, will cause more than $100 million damage to the U.S. economy and affect 60 million people along the densely-populated region from the Mid-Atlantic to New England Coasts.

Yesterday, about 6,900 airline flights into airports in Maryland, Virginia and Washington D.C. from other parts of the country were cancelled. Money was refunded to passengers.

Aside the announcement by the New York Stock Exchange of the cancellation of floor trading yesterday, the more than 8.5 million subway passengers in New York were told to brace up for cancellation and total shut down of the rail system, should flooding from the storm overflow the Manhattan Walls.

Election officials, due to early warning signs, announced the cancellation of early voting and promised that voting time will be extended till Friday, this week.

Electronic messages were sent to voters and announcements made on state radio and television stations.

Messages of “Stay indoors, stay off the road” were also broadcast intermittently on various channels.

Residents of Ocean City were evacuated on Sunday and yesterday. Their counterparts in Baltimore got a dose of the fury of the imminent flood yesterday as they were forced to stay indoors. Traffic was light. Experts believe that the collision of a cool, low-pressure system from the MidWest and a warm, high pressure front moving up the Coast, will create  unusually favourable conditions for an unprecendented devastating Hurricane Sandy.

Aside the postponement of yesterday’s re-opening of the Statute of Liberty  which cost the U.S. Government $30 million, schools, courts, markets and major roads were shut down.

As early as 6am, headmasters and principals sent e-mails to parents not to send their children to school.

Some of the schools include Frederick County School, Gerstell  Academy, Glenelg County School, Goddard School, Howard County School, Dorchester County School, Monarch Montessori School, Montessori School of Westminster, Montrose Christian School, Morning Star Community Day Care Centre, Mount Zion Baptist Christian School, Garrison College School, Seventh Day Adventist School, New Mark of Excellence School, Oak Grove Classical Christian School, Hayford County School, Little Flower School, Little Sheep School, Gilman School, God’s Little Angels Academy, Goucher College, Harford Community College, Hood College, Indian  Creek College and Maryland Centre for Arts and Technology.

Some of the affected universities are John Hopkins University,  University of Maryland, George Washington University, American University, Gallaudet University, Morgan State University, Catholic University,  University of Washington, Georgetown University and Medical Centre.

Also closed were courts such as Cecil County District Court, Harford County Circuit Court, Frederick County Court and others.

Non emergency workers were granted administration leave and the Baltimore County immediately established seven shelter centres for evacuated residents, namely War Memorial Building, Baltimore Junior Academy, West Cold Spring Lane, Oliver Community Centre, Edmundson High School, Patterson Park High School and Forest Park High School.

In a special broadcast, close to 4,000 direct and indirect employees of the Baltimore Gas and Electric Company were mobilized to prepare for an extensive system damage and widespread outages in Central Maryland.

The Maryland Zoo, Lexington and Baltimore Public Markets and most  shopping malls were closed.

A popular fast-food company, Meals on Wheel, had to apologise to thousands of its clients for its inability to supply them food.

The Shipping Channel  was closed by the National Guard and ships diverted to other states’ ports.

Operations of  Metro Rail, MARC, Amtrak Shuttle Service, Megabus, Montgomery County Ride,  Greyhound Service and VRE Train were cancelled.

Because Washington D.C. is on a higher ground, it is believed that Hurricane Sandy will not affect it but trees and some tall structures may be affected. 

Many people were seen yesterday putting sandbags in front of their houses to prevent the imminent flood from entering.