Early voting kicked off Monday in Washington and is scheduled to start Saturday in Maryland. Similarly, Vice President Joe Biden canceled his visit to Virginia Beach on Saturday, “out of an abundance of caution to ensure that all local law enforcement and emergency management resources can stay focused on ensuring the safety of people who might be impacted by the storm,” according to the campaign of President Barack Obama.īad weather in Maryland or Washington, D.C., could make it harder for people to get out and cast their ballots. “We’re keeping an eye on it,” said a senior campaign adviser. There was no word yet on the status of other events scheduled later in the week. In Virginia Beach, a campaign rally scheduled for Sunday for GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney was canceled because of Sandy. With a national election already under way in many early-voting states, Sandy’s wrath could have a ripple effect on politics. The National Hurricane Center reported tropical storm watches and warnings were in effect, covering parts of the Florida and Carolina coasts. The District of Columbia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and New York have declared states of emergency, while Maine’s governor signed a limited emergency declaration. Some landfall computer models show the storm striking somewhere between the border separating North Carolina and Virginia north to Connecticut, some of the most densely populated areas of the country. target area is hard to predict at this point. Sandy’s death toll in Haiti, Jamaica and Cuba this week was 21 people. “When you have trees with leaves on them still, this kind of wind and rain on top of that, you’re talking about trees that are going to come down, power lines are going to be out and the coastal flooding situation is going to be huge.” “Forget about the category with this,” said CNN meteorologist Rob Marciano. Nonetheless, experts said, it’s not to be taken lightly. It’s possible, the hurricane center says, that Sandy may weaken to a tropical storm. It was a Category 1 hurricane with winds of 75 mph. ET Friday, forecasters said Sandy was about 400 miles south-southeast of Charleston, South Carolina, heading north at 7 mph. “The large size of the system and its slow motion will mean a long-lasting event with two to three days of impacts.”Īt 8 p.m. “Expect it to move very slowly,” said James Franklin of the National Hurricane Center. Weather experts said it’s a recipe not unlike 1991’s “Perfect Storm.” The double threat could morph into a “superstorm” that could sit over New England for days, making untold trouble for millions of residents. Worst case, Sandy could merge with a strong cold front from the west. Northeast as soon as Monday with powerful winds and pelting rain. The storm that has already claimed nearly two dozen lives in the Caribbean churned Friday near the northern Bahamas, and meteorologists warn that it packs the potential to slam the U.S. No one hopes Hurricane Sandy lives up to its potential.
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