- NEW: Sandy's potential price tag for wind damage alone is $3 billion, FEMA says
- Sandy is predicted to collide with a cold front to create a "superstorm," forecaster say
- The monster storm will likely spawn flooding, snowstorms and massive power outages
- About 50 million people are expected to feel effect of Hurricane Sandy
Have you been affected by Hurricane Sandy? If so, share your images and footage with CNN iReport, but please stay safe.
(CNN) -- The scenes are straight out of a disaster blockbuster: A killer storm takes aim at one of the most populated regions of the country.
Hundreds of thousands are forced from their homes. New York City is brought to a standstill. The nation's capital is emptied of government workers. And thousands of National Guard troops are called up.
Such was the story playing out early Monday from North Carolina to Maine as Hurricane Sandy took aim at the Mid-Atlantic coastline, where forecasters said it was likely to collide with a cold front and spawn a "superstorm" that could generate flash floods, snowstorms and massive power outages.
"It could be bad," said U.S. Coast Guard Rear Adm. Steven Rattior, "or it could be devastation."
A state-by-state breakdown of hurricane preparation efforts, impacts
Sandy has already proven her deadly wrath, claiming at least 67 lives, 51 in Haiti alone, as it smashed through the Caribbean last week.
For days, government and emergency management officials have been pleading with residents to be prepared, take precautions and heed warnings.
"The last time we saw anything like this was never," Connecticut Gov. Dannell Malloy said Sunday. "I don't know how to say it any clear than that is the largest threat to human life our state has experienced in anyone's lifetime."
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie put it even more bluntly: "Don't be stupid. Get out!"
Taking the turn
Some 50 million people from Virginia to Massachusetts are expected to feel the effect of Sandy, whose hurricane-force winds span roughly 175 miles out from either side of the eye of the storm.
Early Monday morning, Sandy started to make its turn toward the United States, putting it on course for landfall late Monday or early Tuesday along the famed Jersey Shore, according to the National Hurricane Center.
At 2 a.m., Sandy, a Category 1 hurricane, was 425 miles south-southeast of New York City and moving at about 14 mph, the center said.
But even with the storm hundreds of miles offshore, officials were warning of Sandy's life-threatening storm surge flooding portions of the Mid-Atlantic, including low-lying areas of New York and New Jersey.
Michelle Franchaise of Ocean Gate was among the tens of thousands in New Jersey ordered to leave their coastal communities on Sunday.
She was one of 181 people hunkering down at an emergency shelter in Toms River, New Jersey, to ride out the storm. There, she selected one of the 250 green cots that lined the floor.
Keep a hurricane preparation checklist
People, pets evacuate ahead of hurricane "I'm very concerned when I see the map, and I see how big it is," she said.
"I think I'm in good hands here. I think I'm safe."
At least 60 people at the Toms River shelter brought their pets.
"The cops came around and were like 'If you don't leave, you're going to be arrested,'" one woman said while cradling one of four kittens she brought with her.
"I couldn't leave without them."
Bracing for the worst
By early Monday in New York City, the city that never sleeps bedded down after shuttering its bus and train lines, closing schools and ordering some 400,000 people out of their homes in low-lying Manhattan and elsewhere.
The process of halting subway service in New York began Sunday night. Other mass transit systems are doing the same by suspending their services Monday, including Washington's Metro service and Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority trains and buses in and around Philadelphia.
In Sea Bright, New Jersey, across the bay from Brooklyn, Yvette Cafaro scrawled a plea on the plywood that covered up her burger restaurant: "Be kind to us Sandy."
The seaside area largely dodged last year's Hurricane Irene, and Cafaro is hoping for, but not expecting, any more reprieves.
'Superstorm' Sandy unpredictable "Everything that we've been watching on the news looks like this one will really get us," she said. "We're definitely worried about it ... Hopefully, she'll spare us."
After filling his trunk with sandbags Sunday in Cranston, Rhode Island, resident Steve Pacheco said he has done what he can by clearing Halloween decorations and other items from his yard. Still, for all his preparation, he admits Sandy makes him nervous.
"I don't want to go through this again," Pacheco told CNN affiliate WPRI.
The price tag for potential wind damage alone is estimated between $2.5 billion and $3 billion, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The estimate doesn't take into account potential flooding and other damage, though the federal government preemptively declared states of emergency in a number of locales to help states cope with Sandy and the aftermath.
Classes, trading and campaigning canceled
Officials have canceled classes Monday for more than 2 million public school students in districts such as New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Baltimore, while numerous universities as well as federal government offices in Washington and government offices in states like New Jersey were preemptively closed.
Sandy has even managed to put the presidential election on the back burner, turning campaign plans upside down.
The U.S. stock exchanges will be closed Monday and possibly Tuesday, announcements that followed soon after New York declared a state of emergency on Sunday.
The last time the NYSE shuttered for a weather event? Hurricane Gloria in 1985, and a snowstorm in 1969 that brought the exchange to a halt.
'Superstorm' meets barnstorm as weather, politics collide
Politicos from both sides say it is still too early to tell what effect the storm will have on the presidential race, though the access to voting centers will be a concern if the storm persists until Election Day.
"I don't think anybody really knows," top Obama adviser David Axelrod said on CNN's "State of the Union."
"Obviously, we want unfettered access to the polls because we believe that the more people come out, the better we're going to do, and so to the extent that it makes it harder, you know, that's a source of concern. But I don't know how all the politics will sort out."
Virginia's Republican governor said Sunday his state would take measures to ensure residents are able to vote, despite potential obstacles brought on by the storm.
Travel nightmares
Then there are the travel nightmares that the storm has already, and will continue to, cause with thousands of flights called off, Amtrak train runs scuttled and hundreds of roads and highways expected to flood.
"This is not a typical storm. It could very well be historic in nature and in scope and in magnitude because of the widespread anticipated power outages, flooding and potential major wind damage," Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett said, speaking of his state but just as well about many others in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast.
"Essentially, this is a hurricane wrapped in a nor'easter."
Hurricane safety: When the lights go out
Janie Lambert of Hughesville, Maryland, stopped for a look Sunday at the beach at the Pax River Naval Station along Massachusetts' Chesapeake Bay.
The typically calm surf violently churning, pushed by winds so powerful that it nearly knocked her off her feet when she got out of her car to videotape it.
"We made it safely home," she said. "But I know this is only the beginning of several scary days ahead."
CNN's Greg Botelho, Michael Holmes, Jareen Iman, Alison Kosik, Sarah Dillingham, Brandon Miller, George Howell, Athena Jones, Shawn Nottingham, Alden Mahler Levine and Devon Sayers contributed to this report.
People stand on the beach watching the heavy surf caused by the approaching Hurricane Sandy, on Sunday, October 28, in Cape May, New Jersey. Hurricane Sandy is expected to hit the New Jersey coastline sometime on Monday, bringing heavy winds and floodwaters. 
Sean Doyle of Levittown and Andrew Hodgson of Hicksville pull their boat from the Long Island Sound on Sunday in Oyster Bay, New York. 
With Hurricane Sandy approaching, the Long Island Railroad announced the suspension of service at 7 p.m. Sunday in Hicksville, New York. 
Lisa Cellucci holds her umbrella as it is blown backward from Hurricane Sandy's winds as her friend Kim Vo watches on Sunday in Cape May, New Jersey. 
People look at the surf as high winds and heavy rain from Hurricane Sandy arrive in Virginia Beach, Virginia, on Sunday. 
A construction worker covers air vents to try to prevent the New York subway system from flooding as Hurricane Sandy approaches on Sunday. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced there will be an orderly shutdown and suspension of all subway, bus and commuter rail service in response to the storm. 
Residents of Long Beach, New York, fill sandbags on Sunday in preparation for the storm. 
A satellite image from 10:10 a.m. ET on Sunday shows Hurricane Sandy in the Atlantic Ocean grazing the East Coast. The storm is expected to cause massive flooding and widespread power outages when it hits the East Coast late Sunday and into the week. 
A man surfs at Rockaway Beach in Queens, New York, as Hurricane Sandy approaches on Sunday. Sandy is heading up the East Coast and is forecast to make a possible first landfall near the Delaware coast. 
Scott Davenport brings plywood to cover the windows at the Trump Plaza casino on the boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on Sunday. 
Bob Kaege takes a measurement while boarding up a shop in Cold Spring, New Jersey, on Saturday, October 27, as Marie Jadick speaks on the telephone getting an updated weather report in preparation for Hurricane Sandy. 
Houses are flooded out in the neighborhood of La Javilla in Santo Domingo, the capital of Dominican Republic, on Friday, October 26. 
Residents watch firefighters battle a blaze in Kingston, Jamaica, on Friday. The fire, which destroyed the home, was started by a faulty generator that was triggered when Sandy caused a blackout, firefighters said. 
A motorcyclist rides through a flooded street Friday in Petit-Goâve, Haiti, where three overflowing rivers put homes and farms underwater. 
Corey Hutterli works on securing his sailboat as the outer bands of Hurricane Sandy are felt in Miami Beach, Florida, on Thursday, October 25. 
A woman stands at the entrance of her house surrounded by flood water after heavy rains in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, on Thursday. 
People walk on a flooded street after Hurricane Sandy hit Port Au Prince, Haiti, on Thursday. 
Burt Myrich boards up a home in preparation for Hurricane Sandy on Saturday, October 27, in Cape May, New Jersey. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has ordered mandatory evacuations of the barrier islands by 4 p.m. Sunday, including the Atlantic City casinos, as Hurricane Sandy threatens the East Coast. 
A woman peers out the door of her house Thursday after it was damaged by Hurricane Sandy in Bayamo, Cuba. 
A man clears debris from his house on Thursday. It was demolished by Hurricane Sandy in Santiago de Cuba. 
Residents in Bayamo, Cuba, try to fix a house damaged by hurricane Sandy on Thursday. 
A U.N. peacekeeper on Thursday stands at the edge of a bridge that was washed away by heavy rains from Hurricane Sandy in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. 
A house ruined by heavy flooding from Hurricane Sandy sits abandoned in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Thursday. 
Men deal with downed tree branches after heavy rains caused by Hurricane Sandy in Kingston, Jamaica, on Wednesday, October 24. 
Students walk in floodwater from Hurricane Sandy's rain in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, on Wednesday. 
Citizens of Bayamo, Cuba, buy food on Wednesday, as they prepare for the arrival of Hurricane Sandy. 
Waves hit the coast in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, on Wednesday. 
Citizens of Bayamo, Cuba, talk on the sidewalk on Wednesday. 
People in Bayamo, Cuba, hold umbrellas as they purchase food Wednesday before the arrival of the hurricane. 
Jamaicans shelter themselves from the rain of approaching Hurricane Sandy as they walk along the Hope River on Wednesday. 
The Hope River begins to swell with rain from approaching Hurricane Sandy in Kingston, Jamaica, on Wednesday. 
Houses sit along the Hope River in Kingston, Jamaica, on Wednesday. 
A satellite view shows Hurricane Sandy's position on Wednesday. 
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