The repertoire of destruction caused by superstorm Sandy compounded overnight, as electrical fires and record power outages added to the misery of epic flooding plaguing the Northeast. By early Tuesday morning, at least 6.5 million people shivered in the dark across 13 states and the District of Columbia. And Sandy claimed at least 15 lives across the United States, adding to the 61 people already killed by the storm in the Caribbean. The stench of smoke permeated across flooded streets as fierce winds and and rising waters shorted power lines and sparked fires in places such as Lindenhurst, New York. At least 50 homes burned to the ground in the Breezy Point neighborhood of Queens, fire officials said, though the cause of the blaze was not immediately released. More than 200 firefighters battled the leaping flames. Elsewhere in New York City, emergency backup power failed and 10 feet of water flooded the basement of NYU Langone Medical Center, prompting the evacuation of 260 patients. Nurses manually pumped air to the lungs of those on respirators. Atlantic City in New Jersey became an extension of the Atlantic Ocean. Seaweed and ocean debris swirled in the knee-deep water covering downtown streets. And in Connecticut, the emergency management office sent out an ominous tweet to trapped residents: "If u find urself surrounded by H2O, call 4 help if u can & then get 2 highest level of home. Hang a white sheet out a street side window." Along the East Coast, residents reported images they'd never seen before. "We just looked out the window and there's this river flowing through the middle of Manhattan," said Earl Bateman, a stockbroker who has lived in New York for 30 years. Like many New Jersey residents, Montgomery Dahm stared in awe at the feet of water that deluged Atlantic City. "I've been down here for about 16 years, and it's shocking what I'm looking at now. It's unbelievable," he said. "I mean, there's cars that are just completely underwater in some of the places I would never believe that there would be water."
