Hurricane Sandy is roaring toward the Northeast, expected to make landfall early Tuesday near the southern New Jersey coast, prompting officials to order a mass transit shutdown and widespread mandatory evacuation orders ahead of punishing winds, days of rain and the promise of possibly historic flooding.
Mayor Bloomberg said Sunday he was closing city schools on Monday and mandating evacuations for the city's most vulnerable zone, which includes Battery Park City, Coney Island, Manhattan Beach, Far Rockaway and Midland Beach and South Beach in Staten Island. Hundreds of thousands of people live in the zone.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo said subways, buses and commuter rails would begin shutting down at 7 p.m. Sunday, and that bridges and tunnels would be closed on a "case by case basis."
"Don't take this lightly," Cuomo said.
