Tropical Storm, Tropical Storm Sandy | featured news

Monster Storm Sandy slammed into the East Coast Monday, killing at least 16 people, hurling a record-breaking 13-foot surge of seawater at New York City and knocking out power to more than 7.5 million across the East Coast.

Hurricane Sandy blew the U.S. presidential race off course on Sunday even before it came ashore, forcing Republican Mitt Romney to shift his campaign inland and fueling fears that the massive storm bearing down on the East Coast could disrupt early voting.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency offers tips on how to prepare for Hurricane Sandy and other tropical storms. Sandy is expected to be especially disastrous when it merges with a winter storm system, bringing powerful winds, rain, snow and storm surge along the Eastern Seaboard.

Tropical Storm Sandy, which formed in the western Caribbean Sea late Monday, is expected to become a hurricane on Wednesday as it approaches Jamaica, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. The storm was centered about 275 miles south-southwest of Kingston, Jamaica, and had top sustained winds of 50 miles per hour, the center said in an afternoon advisory.