Monday Afternoon – 5 pm Report

HURRICANE SANDY HAS INCREASED BOTH SUSTAINED wind speeds and movement.  The eye is approaching Cape May at the southern end of the state with sustained winds now up to 90 mph.  The travel speed has been increasing as well, now moving at 28 mph as it approaches the coast, expected to make landfall sometime between 5 pm and 6 pm around 8 pm.

As the storm approaches Atlantic City, flooding has already taken over much of the coastal towns in New Jersey.  The Associated Press tells us:

Rising waters put most of Atlantic City under water Monday as the approach of Hurricane Sandy flooded towns up and down the New Jersey shore, knocked out power to thousands and left some people stranded in water-surrounded homes, forcing rescues. Emergency officials said they expected conditions to get much worse at evening high tide.

"The city’s basically flooded," said Willie Glass, the city’s public safety director. "Most of the city is under water."

Atlantic City and its casinos were ordered evacuated on Sunday. The city's historic boardwalk remained intact despite the rising floodwaters, though an old section at the north end broke up and washed away.

The Garden State Parkway was closed in both directions south of the Atlantic City Expressway because of flooding.

Downtown Atlantic City  (Christimallia photo)

This NASA satellite image taken at 5:07 pm shows that landfall indeed took place at Cape May already (Whoops!  That isn't the storm center – just a concentrated combination of two systems):

The impact of the storm is reaching far beyond the coastal states and affecting even Chicago.  The Chicago Tribune is reporting:

Despite a four-state buffer between Chicago and the Atlantic Ocean, Sandy will affect weather patterns in Chicago. The National Weather Service issued a lakeshore flood warning for Lake Michigan that will be in effect from 1 a.m. Tuesday until 4 p.m. Wednesday. Waves fueled by Sandy’s winds could increase in size quickly by Monday night, National Weather Service meteorologist Richard Castro warned.

The Cook County coastline will likely see waves of 16 to 22 feet. A typical windy day in Chicago might bring waves of 4 to 6 feet, Castro said.

Waterfront high-rise residents should secure items on their balconies, Castro advised, and exercisers should avoid the lake shore. With gusts of 60 mph possible, Castro said some wind damage could occur.

"The fact we’re seeing impact in the wind out here in the Midwest — the magnitude of this storm is really rare," Castro said.

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Monday Morning Update – 9 am.

If you are wondering why this storm is going to be so much more devastating than usual, we posted the explanation in Sunday morning's Update #4 HERE.

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THE WINDS HAVE INCREASED SOMEWHAT since last night and are now reported at 85 mph.  The predicted path for the next two days hasn't changed noticably, but the 3 to 5-day projection has shifted eastward noticeably as you can see in the 8am Track prediction from the National Weather Service below:

The weather service has issued a coastal flood warning in effect now until 3 pm Tuesday with major to record tidal flooding Monday night.  There is an expected surge of 6 to 11 feet in the New Jersey/New York City area.

Hurricane force wind warnings are in effect for the coastal areas now through Tuesday morning.

The astronomical tides will be increasing with each high tide through Tuesday with major to severe flooding.

Below is the hurricane center's satellite radar taken at 9:13 am:

This report will be updated during the morning hours before the next report if anything remarkable occurs.

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