‘It's really a complete ghost town now,' said Stephen Weisbrot, from a powerless 10th-floor apartment in lower Manhattan. Mayor Bloomberg said the area without power in Manhattan is roughly south of 34th Street.
Water lapped over the seawall in Battery Park City, flooding rail yards, subway tracks, tunnels and roads. Rescue workers floated bright orange rafts down flooded downtown streets, while police officers rolled slowly down the street with loudspeakers telling people to go home.
‘Now it's really turning into something,' said Brian Damianakes, taking shelter in an ATM vestibule and watching a rubbish bin blow down the street in Battery Park before the storm surge.
Mayor Bloomberg said last night that the surge was expected to recede by midnight, after exceeding an original expectation of 11ft.