Almost Election Day. Hurricane Sandy cut in and cut off millions from modern communication and power, sunk tall ship HMS Bounty

A fire destroyed around 50 homes in a flooded neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. The Breezy Point district was left a smoldering tangle of wood and metal after the blaze. Firefighters said it was a miracle that only two minor injuries were reported.

Hurricane Sandy, stirring up waves as large as 32 feet high, sinks Tall Ship, HMS Bounty story behind "The HMS Bounty, a 180-foot sailboat, is submerged (photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Tim Kuklewski, US Coast Guard, Oct. 29, 2012) in the Atlantic Ocean during Hurricane Sandy approximately 90 miles southeast of Hatteras, North Carolina. Of the 16-person crew, the Coast Guard rescued 14, recovered a woman who was later pronounced dead and are searching for the captain. The HMS Bounty was built for the 1962 film Mutiny On The Bounty and was also used in Pirates Of The Caribbean."

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Hurricane Sandy has shut down production on at least half a dozen New York television shows and feature films, but none more ironically than Russell Crowe's “Noah” Writer-director Darren Aronofsky’s film about the biblical flood and ark postponed shooting Monday, but the more pressing question is what will happen to the movie’s colossal boat. Aronofsky’s production team built two massive ships—one inside a Brooklyn sound stage, the other in the water at Oyster Bay, N.Y. And Oyster Bay, a small inlet on the Long Island Sound, is very much in the path of Hurricane Sandy, with local flooding and wind gusts of up to 63 mph reported in the area. The outdoor ark, which measures 450 feet long and is 75 feet tall and 45 feet wide, was not intended to be seaworthy. With production on the film wrapping up soon, the ark was scheduled to be used only sparingly in the weeks ahead and was partially dismantled over the last several days. But if the storm damages the Oyster Bay boat materially, “Noah” may need to organize some flood repairs.

Oct. 29, 012 - In the New York City area, more than 17,000 Long Island Power Authority customers were in the dark at midday Monday. The utility expects that some customers could be without power for seven to 10 days.

Heaven and Earth may be aligning to creat an immensely powerful "Frankenstorm" whose effects could be magnified by the full moon When the moon waxes to its full phase Monday afternoon, high tides along the Eastern Seaboard will rise about 20% higher than normal, even without the help of Sandy's storm surge...

Richard Thomas walks through the flood waters in front of his home after assisting neighbors as Hurricane Sandy bears down on the East Coast, Oct. 29, 2012, in Fenwick Island, Del.
Oct. 29, 2012 - Hurricane Sandy Shakes Up Presidential Election

*Update Oct. 30, 2012*
October 30, 2012 - 48 dead, 8.2 million households without power in 17 states, as Sandy inches on - The most devastating storm in decades to hit the country's most densely populated region upended man and nature as it rolled back the clock on 21st-century lives, cutting off modern communication and leaving millions without power Tuesday as thousands who fled their water-menaced homes wondered when — if — life would return to normal.

Hurricane Sandy Evacuees In Flooded New Jersey Towns Describe Fast-Rising Water - The first signs of trouble were the car alarms: Dozens of them, all going off at once, just after midnight at Hurricane Sandy's peak.

Then it was the smell of gasoline. Jeanette Capers peered out her window to see floodwaters engulfing cars parked on the streets, causing oil and gas to seep out. Neighbors were screaming, some trying frantically to move cars to higher ground in advance of the cascade of fast-rising water. Derek Ciaschi ran shirtless into the waters and successfully moved his vehicle up the hill. But by that time, the water was chest-high, and the current was too strong for him to return home.

"Sandy leaves 33 dead in US, up to 8.1 million without power"

"New York City was perfectly positioned to absorb the worst of Hurricane Sandy's storm surge - a record 13 feet. Lower Manhattan received the brunt of the flooding."

Streets are flooded under the Manhattan Bridge in the Dumbo section of Brooklyn, N.Y., Monday, Oct. 29, 2012. Sandy continued on its path Monday, as the storm forced the shutdown of mass transit, schools and financial markets, sending coastal residents fleeing, and threatening a dangerous mix of high winds and soaking rain.

Tuesday, 30 October 2012 - The fury of "Frankenstorm" plunged New York into darkness, desperation and panic Superstorm Sandy left the the Wall Street financial district and the rest of lower Manhattan without power and no firm idea when the lights will be turned on again. The streets, many waist deep in floodwater, were eerily quiet after the storm, with the only sound coming from distant sirens and the only light cast by candles in apartment windows and the blue and red flashes of police cars. "It's kind of scary. There is no light in the street, no people in the street," said Ilona, a 22-year-old student from Russia, as she looked out over the murky water. Even the traffic lights were out. Special generator trucks were ordered in, and authorities reopened the George Washington bridge so some could be driven in from neighbouring New Jersey. "We have been sent to provide power for buildings and answer the 911 emergency calls," the driver of one generator truck said. There was devastation, as floodwater poured into the city from the East River, inundating road tunnels and subway stations and threatening several days of transport chaos.

At Least 80 Flooded Houses Destroyed by NYC Fire - more than 190 firefighters fought to contain the six-alarm blaze

The Inlet section of Atlantic City, N.J., as Hurricane Sandy makes it approach, Monday Oct. 29, 2012. Sandy made landfall at 8 p.m. near Atlantic City, which was already mostly under water and saw a piece of its world-famous Boardwalk washed away earlier in the day.

Google Map – Hurricane Sandy

Three factors make Sandy Hurricane 'superstorm'- its size, direction of travel, and remarkably bad timing Sandy is only a “Category 1” storm, meaning it is nowhere near as powerful as its cousin Katrina which devastated New Orleans in 2005, but its hurricane-strength 90mph (144km/h) winds stretch an astonishing 175 miles (289km) from its centre. A rare combination of weather fronts has seen the hurricane merge with cold air from the north, turning it into a “superstorm” with a total diameter of almost 2,000 miles (3,200km), the largest in Atlantic storm history, experts said. What makes Sandy almost uniquely dangerous, however, is its projected path which leads from the Atlantic directly into a head-on collision with the coast of New Jersey. Most tropical storms off the eastern seaboard run directly up the coast but cold air from the north and from the jet stream to the west are forcing Sandy towards the shore. Professor Mark Saunders, of the Department of Space and Climate Physics at University College London, said: “There is no precedent in hurricane records extending back to 1851 of a storm at this latitude taking this path.”

*Update Nov. 2, 2012*
States hit hard by Sandy vow to be ready on Election Day, even if voters aren't - “This is unprecedented, we won’t really know what will happen until that day,” New Jersey-based GOP pollster Adam Geller said to FoxNews.com. “My guess would be that turnout will be low especially in areas affected by the storm. There will probably be a lot more provisional ballots.

Come hell or high water - which superstorm Sandy brought - elections will go on as scheduled in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, officials vowed. While elections officials can't do much about the effect Sandy's aftermath will have on turnout, they said those who want to vote will get the chance on Tuesday, even if it's by filling out a paper ballot or making their choice in a makeshift booth aboard an Army truck... (photo: street flooding, men walking in very high water)

A rollercoaster is battered by waves near a storm-destroyed pier off the New Jersey coast.

A road leading into Mirlo Beach in Rodanthe, North Carolina, is buckled from pounding surf whipped up by Sandy.

Sea water floods the Ground Zero construction site in New York.

A boat resting on the tracks at Metro-North's Ossining Station.

High sand levels cover benches on the beach in West Haven, Connecticut after Sandy hit the area.

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Images courtesy NOAA / NASA / GOES / Reuters, NASA / Getty Images, Dan Wagner / New York Magazine, Mark Duncan / AP / File, Frank Franklin II / AP, EPA / Master Sgt. Mark Olsen / Us Air Force, The Virginian-Pilot, Steve Earley / AP, AP Photo / John Minchillo, Metropolitan Transportation Authority of the State of New York / AP, Reuters / Michelle McLoughlin, FoxNews, Lottovolante pl@net, AP Photo / Alex Brandon, AP Photo / Bebeto Matthews, AP Photo / Frank Franklin II, Google, and AP Photo / 6abc Action News, Dann Cuellar