Thousands of flights have been canceled in the Northeast U.S., bringing a delay for at least two days for both domestic and international flights.
American Airlines, JetBlue and Delta are preparing to cancel all incoming and departing flights in three major area airports in New York. According to the flight-tracking service FlightAware, nearly 7,000 or more flights have been canceled for Monday and Sunday. Other international airports like Philadelphia International Airport and Newark International Airport each has canceled more than 1,200 for two days.
The cancellations and delays have upset many passengers and businessmen. Alan Shrem, businessman and resident of Boca Raton, Florida who had come to attend trade fairs in Hong Kong and China's Guangzhou is facing long waits. His flight for Monday morning to return to Florida was canceled leaving the businessman stuck in Hong Kong for nearly a week as next booking was available for 4 Nov.
"I don't know what number I am, I could be 300," he said. "They don't even tell you. They just say: Yeah, it's a pretty big waiting list,"
The wait is costing Shrem $400 a night to continue staying at a nearby hotel.
"It's insane. It's crazy. It's going to wind up costing me thousands and thousands of dollars by being stranded here because of the weather," he said.
Hurricane Sandy extends nearly 175 miles and lesser tropical storm-force winds span 1,040 miles in diameter which was not expected to go strong and broad. As wintry storm from the west and Arctic blast from the north is likely to join Sandy and "supercharge" it.
This is massive.
"The size of this alone, affecting a heavily-populated area, is going to be history-making," said a hurricane specialist with Weather Underground.
Other weather experts also define this as a massive storm which is very dangerous and will mark history. Marshall Moss, an AccuWeather forecaster, said: "This is really going to be a huge storm and something unprecedented in meteorological terms. This storm will affect millions and cost billions."
Peter Sacca an employee in Brown's Hardware in New York discussed people's fright and preparations.
"The customers are getting crazy. They're yelling at each other when people grab the last flashlight," he said. "They're coming for flashlights, sandbags, tape, kerosene," he said.
Authorities have warned people not to take this storm as a false alarm.
"It's really frightening. But you know how many times they tell you, 'This is it, it's really coming and it's really the big one' and then it turns out not to be?" Alice Stockton-Rossi, a resident in Atlantic City told The Telegraph."I'm afraid people will tune it out because of all the false alarms before, and the one time you need to take it seriously, you won't."
It was also noted on Facebook, people commenting about the storm.
"It's better to be safe than sorry. If taking precautions saves lives, that's a plus," Elaine Knight commented on Facebook.
"This is a tragic time, and I hope the casualties and injuries are minimal. My brother lives in New Jersey. I hope he is not affected too much by this," Tom Branner wrote.
"The mother of all storms. Sandy. Good luck to everyone who lives on the East Coast"-Rae Broccolo.
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