DUCK, N.C. ? A year after being walloped by Hurricane Irene, residents rushed to put away boats, harvest crops and sandbag boardwalks Friday as the Eastern Seaboard braced for a rare megastorm that experts said would cause much greater havoc.
Hurricane Sandy, moving north from the Caribbean, was expected to make landfall Monday night on the Delaware coast, then hit two winter weather systems as it moved inland, creating a hybrid monster storm that could bring nearly a foot of rain, high winds and up to 2 feet of snow.
Experts said the storm would be wider and stronger than last year's Irene, which caused more than $15 billion in damage, and could rival the worst East Coast storm on record.
Officials did not mince words, telling people to be prepared for several days without electricity. Jersey Shore beach towns began issuing voluntary evacuation orders and protecting boardwalks. Atlantic Beach casinos made contingency plans to close, and officials advised residents of flood-prone areas to stay elsewhere or be ready to leave. Airlines said to expect cancellations and waived change fees for passengers who wanted to reschedule.
"Be forewarned," said Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. "Assume that you will be in the midst of flooding conditions, the likes of which you may not have seen at any of the major storms that have occurred over the last 30 years."
Many storm-seasoned residents had not begun to panic. Along North Carolina's fragile Outer Banks, no evacuations had been ordered and ferry service hadn't yet been halted. Plenty of stores remained open and houses still featured Halloween decorations outside, as rain started to roll in.
"I'll never evacuate again," said Lori Hilby, manager of a natural foods market in Duck, N.C., who left her home before Hurricane Irene struck last August. "Whenever I evacuate, I always end up somewhere and they lose power and my house is fine. So I'm always wishing I was home."
After Irene left millions without power, utilities were taking no chances and were lining up extra crews and tree trimmers. Wind threatens to topple power lines, and trees that still have leaves could be weighed down by snow and fall over if the weight becomes too much.
In upstate New York, Richard Ball was plucking carrots, potatoes, beets and other crops from the ground as quickly as possible. He was still reeling from Irene, which scoured away soil, ruined crops and killed livestock last year.
Farmers were moving tractors and other equipment to high ground, and some families pondered moving furniture to upper stories of their homes.
"The fear we have a similar recipe to Irene has really intensified anxieties in town," Ball said Friday.
Sandy, which just left the Bahamas, killed at least 40 people in the Caribbean. Residents from Florida to North Carolina will experience peripheral impacts of the hurricane through the weekend.
As it turns back to the north and northwest and merges with colder air from winter weather systems, the storm is expected to bring snow to West Virginia and farther west into eastern Ohio and southern Pennsylvania. Forecasters were looking at the Delaware shore as the spot the storm would turn inland, bringing 10 inches of rain and extreme storm surges, said Louis Uccellini, environmental prediction director for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
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