NEW YORK (AP) -- Millions of people from Maine to the Carolinas awoke Tuesday without electricity, and an eerily quiet New York City was all but closed off by car, train and air as superstorm Sandy steamed inland, still delivering punishing wind and rain. The U.S. death toll climbed to 38, many of the victims killed by falling trees.
The full extent of the damage in New Jersey, where the storm roared ashore Monday night with hurricane-force winds of 80 mph, was unclear. Police and fire officials, some with their own departments flooded, fanned out to rescue hundreds.
"We are in the midst of urban search and rescue. Our teams are moving as fast as they can," Gov. Chris Christie said. "The devastation on the Jersey Shore is some of the worst we've ever seen. The cost of the storm is incalculable at this point."
More than 8.2 million people across the East were without power. Airlines canceled more than 15,000 flights around the world, and it could be days before the mess is untangled and passengers can get where they're going.
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Damage caused by a fire at Breezy Point is shown Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012, in the aftermath of superstorm Sandy, in the New York City borough of Queens. The fire destroyed between 80 and 100 houses Monday night in the flooded neighborhood. AP / Frank Franklin II
The lights on the Brooklyn Bridge stand in contrast to the lower Manhattan skyline which has lost its electrical supply, Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012, after megastorm Sandy swept through New York. AP / Mark Lennihan
Kim Johnson looks over the destruction near her seaside apartment in Atlantic City, N.J., Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012. Sandy, the storm that made landfall Monday, caused multiple fatalities, halted mass transit and cut power to more than 6 million homes and businesses. AP / Seth Wenig
A parking lot full of yellow cabs is flooded as a result of superstorm Sandy on Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012 in Hoboken, NJ. AP / Charles Sykes
A man uses his mobile phone to photograph a closed and flooded subway station in lower Manhattan, in New York, Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012. Due to superstorm Sandy, New York City awakened Tuesday to a flooded subway system, shuttered financial markets and hundreds of thousands of people without power a day after a wall of seawater and high winds slammed into the city, destroying buildings and flooding tunnels. AP / Richard Drew
Keith Klein, right, and Eileen Blair assess the damage caused by a fire in the New York City borough of Queens, Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012. The fire destroyed between 80 and 100 houses Monday night in the flooded neighborhood. More than 190 firefighters have contained the six-alarm blaze fire, but they are still putting out some pockets of fire. AP / Frank Franklin II
A huge tree split apart and fell over the front yard and fence of a home on Carpenter Avenue in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy on Tuesday, Oct., 30, 2012, in Sea Cliff, N.Y. AP / Kathy Kmonicek
The Kunta Kinte-Alex Haley Memorial sits in flood waters in downtown Annapolis, Md., Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012, after the superstorm and the remnants of Hurricane Sandy passed through Annapolis. AP / Susan Walsh
A log rests on a vehicle damaged by superstorm Sandy at Breezy Point in the New York City borough of Queens, Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012, in New York. The fire destroyed between 80 and 100 houses Monday night in the flooded neighborhood. AP / Frank Franklin II
A family look at a tree that came to rest their car after being toppled by 'Superstorm Sandy' on Kildare Road in Garden City, New York on Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012. The President has declared a 'major disaster' in New York state after 'super-storm' Sandy triggered devastating floods and cuts power to millions on the US East Coast. ZUMA24.com / Karen Stabile
With the aid of New Jersey State police, a man walks with his dog to a National Guard vehicle after leaving his flooded home at the Metropolitan Trailer Park in Moonachie, N.J., Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012, in the wake of superstorm Sandy. AP / Craig Ruttle
People are rescued from floodwaters on a large truck in Little Ferry, N.J., Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012, in the wake of superstorm Sandy. AP / Craig Ruttle
Sand and debris covers the streets near the water in Atlantic City, N.J., Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012. AP / Seth Wenig
Sand and debris cover a part of town near the ocean in Atlantic City, N.J., Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012. AP / Seth Wenig
Glenn Heartley works on his car in a creek in Chincoteague, Va., Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012. Heartley and his wife were swept off the road into a shallow creek when superstorm Sandy struck the area Monday. AP / Steve Helber
Waves pound a lighthouse on the shores of Lake Erie Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012, near Cleveland. AP / Tony Dejak
A low-lying section of Interstate 90 east of downtown Cleveland is shut down because of waves from Lake Erie washing over it, Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012. High winds spinning off the edge of superstorm Sandy took a vicious swipe at northeast Ohio early Tuesday, uprooting trees, cutting power to hundreds of thousands, closing schools and flooding parts of major commuter arteries that run along Lake Erie. AP / Tony Dejak
Streets are flooded under the Manhattan Bridge in the Dumbo section of Brooklyn, N.Y., Monday, Oct. 29, 2012. Sandy continued on its path Monday, as the storm forced the shutdown of mass transit, schools and financial markets, sending coastal residents fleeing, and threatening a dangerous mix of high winds and soaking rain. AP / Bebeto Matthews
Lower Manhattan goes dark during hurricane Sandy, on Monday, Oct. 29, 2012, as seen from Brooklyn, N.Y. AP / Bebeto Matthews
Sea water floods the Ground Zero construction site, Monday, Oct. 29, 2012, in New York. AP / John Minchillo
Medical workers assist a patient into an ambulance during an evacuation of New York University's Tisch Hospital, Monday, Oct. 29, 2012, in New York. The New York City hospital was moving out more than 200 patients after its backup generator failed when the power was knocked out by a superstorm. AP / John Minchillo
Firefighters look up at the facade of a four-story building on 14th Street and 8th Avenue that collapsed onto the sidewalk Monday, Oct. 29, 2012, in New York. AP / John Minchillo
Peter Cusack, center, and Mel Bermudez walk their dogs Teague, left, and Molly along the Brooklyn waterfront beneath the New York skyline as Hurricane Sandy advances on the city, Monday, Oct. 29, 2012. AP / Mark Lennihan
A construction crane atop a luxury high-rise dangles precariously over the streets after collapsing in high winds from Hurricane Sandy, Monday, Oct. 29, 2012, in New York. AP / John Minchillo
Sailboats rock in choppy water at a dock along the Hudson River Greenway during a storm, Monday, Oct. 29, 2012, in New York. AP / Jeffrey Furticella
Flooding and high winds arrive along North Michigan Avenue in Atlantic City, N.J., Monday Oct. 29, 2012. AP / Michael Ein
Michael Wirtz, of Wilmington, Del., braves flood waters and high winds that arrive with Hurricane Sandy along North Michigan Avenue in Atlantic City, N.J., Monday Oct. 29, 2012. AP / Michael Ein
People wade and paddle down a flooded street as Hurricane Sandy approaches, Monday, Oct. 29, 2012, in Lindenhurst, N.Y. AP / Jason DeCrow
Caleb Lavoie, 17, of Dayton, Maine, front, and Curtis Huard, 16, of Arundel, Maine, leap out of the way as a large wave crashes over a seawall on the Atlantic Ocean during the early stages of Hurricane Sandy, Monday, Oct. 29, 2012, in Kennebunk, Maine. AP / Robert F. Bukaty
Lisa Famularo braces for impact as a large wave crashes over a seawall while she photographed heavy surf in the Atlantic Ocean during the early stages of Hurricane Sandy, Monday, Oct. 29, 2012, in Kennebunk, Maine. AP / Robert F. Bukaty
A couple posing for a picture get hit by a wave in Hampton, N.H., from the effects of Hurricane Sandy Monday, Oct. 29, 2012. AP / Jim Cole
Storm surge hits a small tree as winds from Hurricane Sandy reach Seaside Park in Bridgeport, Conn., Monday, Oct. 29, 2012. AP / Jessica Hill
A person tries to cross the street in stiff wind as Sandy approaches the Eastern Seaboard on Monday, Oct. 29, 2012 in Atlantic City, NJ. ZUMA24.com / Zhang Jun
John Constantine makes his way out of his house after winds from Hurricane Sandy toppled a tree fell onto it in Andover, Mass. Monday, Oct. 29, 2012. AP / Winslow Townson
This photo provided by 6abc Action News shows the Inlet section of Atlantic City, N.J., as Hurricane Sandy makes it approach, Monday Oct. 29, 2012. AP / Dann Cuellar
People brave high winds and blowing sand as they watch the rising surf at Coney Island Beach in the Brooklyn borough of New York as Hurricane Sandy arrives, Monday, Oct. 29, 2012. AP / Mark Lennihan
Kurt Rist, of Southampton, takes advantage of the waves for surfing as hurricane Sandy approaches Long Beach on Long Island's South Shore despite a couple of surfers having to be rescued, Monday, October 29, 2012. Newsday / Alejandra Villa
Rough surf of the Atlantic Ocean breaks over the beach and across Beach Ave., Monday morning, Oct. 29, 2012, in Cape May, N.J., as high tide and Hurricane Sandy begin to arrive. AP / Mel Evans
Vehicles are submerged on 14th Street near the Consolidated Edison power plant, Monday, Oct. 29, 2012, in New York. AP / John Minchillo
A traveler on Delta Airlines waits for her flight Monday, Oct. 29, 2012, in Detroit. Dozens of departing flights have been canceled at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport as a looming superstorm locks down flights to the East Coast. AP / Charlie Riedel
High winds blow sea foam into the air as a person walks across Jeanette's Pier in Nags Head, N.C., Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012, as wind and rain from Hurricane Sandy move into the area. AP / Gerry Broome
Tom Morehead, a driver with Ocean City, Md., public transportation, assists Evelyn Krainatc to a convention center on her way to a shelter, as Hurricane Sandy bears down on the East Coast, Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012, in Ocean City, Md. AP / Alex Brandon
Gozde Guldosuren stocks up on bread at a Manhattan grocery store, Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012, in New York. AP / Louis Lanzano
Mark Silverman, left, and his son Alexander, 4, push a baby carrier loaded with sandbags handed out for free by District of Columbia Department of Public Works workers, Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012. AP / Manuel Balce Ceneta
Matt Francis, of Virginia Beach, Va., holds on to his hat, as the wind-driven sand and rain from Hurricane Sandy blows across the beaches of Sandbridge in Virginia Beach, Va., Sunday Oct. 28, 2012. AP / L. Todd Spencer
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