Hurricane Sandy moves up US Atlantic coast

Hurricane Sandy, a late-season Atlantic cyclone that threatens to be one of the worst storms to hit the US Northeast in decades, moved slowly northward after killing at least 41 people in the Caribbean.

Sandy has weakened to a category one hurricane, but is still packing maximum sustained winds of 120km/h.

Forecasters said wind damage, widespread and extended power outages and coastal and inland flooding were anticipated across a broad swath of the densely populated East Coast when Sandy comes ashore early next week.

"We're expecting a large, large storm. The circulation of this storm as it approaches the coast could cover about the eastern third of the United States," said Louis Uccellini, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Centers for Environmental Prediction.

He stopped short of calling Sandy possibly the worst storm to hit that part of the country in 100 years, as some weather watchers were doing, but said Sandy was shaping up to go down as a storm of "historic" proportions.

The late-season hybrid storm has been dubbed "Frankenstorm" by some weather watchers because it will combine elements of a tropical cyclone and a winter storm. Forecast models show it will have all of the ingredients to morph into a massive and potentially catastrophic "super storm".

On its current projected track, government forecasters said, Sandy could make landfall on Monday night or Tuesday in Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York or southern New England.

In New York City, the global financial hub, officials were considering closing down mass transit before the storm hits.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney cancelled an event scheduled for Sunday in Virginia, a key election state, because of the weather, said an aide.

Earlier on Friday, the White House declined to speculate on whether Sandy would affect President Barack Obama's campaign plans, saying the storm's path was still uncertain.

Forecasters say Sandy is similar to another late October storm - when several weather systems, including a hurricane, combined along the US Atlantic coast in 1991, leading to what was dubbed "the Perfect Storm".

Jeff Masters, meteorology director at Weather Underground, estimated there could be more than $1bn in damages from Hurricane Sandy.

On Thursday, Sandy caused a storm surge leading to severe flooding along Cuba's south-eastern coastline.

Civil emergency authorities said 11 people had died as the storm lashed the island - nine of those in Santiago province and two in Guantanamo province, despite Cuba's well-rehearsed hurricane preparations. Most victims were killed by falling trees or collapsing buildings.

Elsewhere, 20 deaths were reported in Haiti - where much of the infrastructure remains in a poor condition following a massive earthquake in 2010.

More than 1,000 people sought refuge in shelters there, as Sandy caused widespread power outages, flooded streets and damaged buildings.

Four fatalities were reported across the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and the Bahamas.