- Officials blame at least 13 U.S. deaths on Sandy
- At least 6.5 million people are without power from Virginia to Maine
- The New York subway system "has never faced a disaster as devastating"
- The storm is expected to dump 2-3 feet of snow in West Virginia
Have you been affected by Hurricane Sandy? If so, share your images and footage with CNN iReport, but please stay safe.
(CNN) -- The repertoire of destruction caused by superstorm Sandy compounded overnight, as electrical fires and record power outages added to the misery of epic flooding plaguing the Northeast.
By early Tuesday morning, at least 6.5 million people shivered in the dark across 13 states and the District of Columbia. And Sandy claimed at least 13 lives across the United States.
In New York City, emergency backup power failed and 10 feet of water flooded the basement of NYU Langone Medical Center, prompting the evacuation of 260 patients. Nurses manually pumped air to the lungs of those on respirators.
Downtown Atlantic City in New Jersey became an extension of the Atlantic Ocean, with waves carrying seaweed and ocean debris over the streets.
Superstorm Sandy's wrath
And in Connecticut, the emergency management office sent out an ominous tweet to trapped residents: "If u find urself surrounded by H2O, call 4 help if u can & then get 2 highest level of home. Hang a white sheet out a street side window."
Hardik Rajput of Nassau County, New York, couldn't believe the sight of waves crashing over the height of cars.
"To be honest, I was just stunned," he said. "I've never seen that. Just to see it on the street level was astounding."
Sandy lashes states with snow It's not over yet
But the weather nightmare still isn't over yet.
Forecasters says the entire northeast corridor of the United States will bear the brunt of Sandy.
Residents trapped in their homes
Fierce winds will blow from northern Georgia into Canada and as far west as Lake Michigan. Heavy rains will soak New England and parts of the Midwest.
And a blizzard spawned by Sandy will bring 2 to 3 feet of snow to the mountains of West Virginia by Wednesday morning.
NYU hospital evacuates patients
"It's three feet of heavy snow. It's like concrete," said meteorologist Reed Timmer, who is riding out the storm in Elkins, West Virginia.
Thousands of flights will remain grounded Tuesday. Federal government offices will stay closed. And it will take will take between 14 hours and four days to get out the water out of the subway tunnels in New York City.
"The New York City subway system is 108 years old, but it has never faced a disaster as devastating as what we experienced last night," said Joseph Lhota, chairman of New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). "Hurricane Sandy wreaked havoc on our entire transportation system, in every borough and county of the region."
A true picture of Sandy's wrath won't be apparent until daylight. But according to a government model, Sandy's wind damage alone may have caused more than $7 billion in economic loss.
Live radar of Sandy
Power outages spanned from Virginia to Maine.
"This will be the largest storm related outage in our history," said Vice President John Miksad of power company Con Edison.
Roaring in
After killing 61 people in the Caribbean, Sandy made landfall Monday night in southern New Jersey, sending waves of water into major cities along the East Coast.
The iconic Manhattan skyline turned eerily dark as howling winds and rising waters from Sandy shorted power lines.
At least two dozen homes were burning in a six-alarm fire in the Breezy Point neighborhood of Queens.
Officials blame Sandy for at least 13 deaths in the United States. Several, including an 8-year-old boy in Pennsylvania, died after they were struck by a tree or tree limb. Another death was reported in Canada, where a woman was struck by flying debris -- bringing the overall total to 81.
Track the storm
"I've been down here for about 16 years, and it's shocking what I'm looking at now. It's unbelievable," said Montgomery Dahm, owner of the Tun Tavern in Atlantic City. "I mean, there's cars that are just completely underwater in some of the places I would never believe that there would be water."
In New York, Manhattan's Battery Park recorded nearly 14-foot tide, smashing a record set by 1960's Hurricane Donna by several feet.
Five hours after making landfall, Sandy still packed hurricane-force winds as it swirled about 10 miles southwest of Philadelphia.
As residents in New York and New Jersey surveyed the flooding left by Sandy, many discovered their high-rise apartment buildings are now islands.
"I am looking outside of my 6th floor apartment, and I see that a new lake has formed in the parking lot adjacent my building," New York resident William Yaeck said. "I would be concerned, but now my building has a view of the river."
CNN's Elizabeth Cohen, Ed Payne, Chandler Friedman, Amanda Watts, Eden Pontz, Ali Velshi and Henry Hanks contributed to this report.
Water pours over cars in Manhattan as superstorm Sandy flooded large parts of the island on Monday, October 29. 2012. The storm surge from Sandy set records in lower Manhattan, where flooded substations caused a widespread power outage. View photos of New York bracing for impact. 
Taxis drive down a New York street where the power was out late Monday, October 29. 
Rising water rushes into an underground parking garage in New York's financial district on Monday. 
A firefighter speaks to a colleague while surveying damage caused by Sandy on Monday in New York. 
Flooded cars line the streets of New York's financial district Monday night. 
A truck drives by a flooded gas station in the Gowanus section of Brooklyn on Monday. 
A flooded street is seen at nightfall during the storm on Monday in Atlantic City, New Jersey. 
Firefighters evaluate an apartment building in New York that had the front wall collapse during the storm on Monday. 
Much of FDR Drive in New York was flooded by Sandy. 
Heavy rains fall in Manhattan on Monday. 
People walk through water on the beach near high tide Monday as Sandy approaches Atlantic City. 
Two men run down Foster Avenue while dodging high winds and waves from the storm on Monday in Marshfield, Massachusetts. 
An emergency vehicle plows through floodwaters on Monday in Dewey Beach, Delaware. 
A person tries to cross the street during the storm on Monday in Atlantic City. 
A traffic sign warns motorists west of Philadelphia on Monday. 
A wall of water makes its way to shore as residents brave the storm Monday in Ocean City, Maryland. 
A downed tree and fallen power lines lie over homes Monday on Harvard Street in Garden City, New York. 
Two people shoot video along Brooklyn Heights' Promenade on Monday as Sandy approaches landfall. 
Work crews push sand from a roadway in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, due to storm surge related to flooding on Monday. 
Two women battle wind and rain with umbrellas in hand in Philadelphia on Monday. 
Kira Brizill leads family members as high tide and winds flood the street on Monday in Freeport, New York. 
John Edgecombe II, who is homeless, takes refuge from the rain and wind at a bus stop in Ward Circle in Washington on Monday. 
Superstorm Sandy dumped a lot of rain, flooding a part of Greenpoint, Brooklyn 
A Pennsylvania Department of Transportation truck slowly drives on the Pennsylvania Turnpike as Sandy approaches Bensalem, Pennsylvania, on Monday. 
Buses at Frankford terminal in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, sit idle after Mayor Michael Nutter ordered that all city offices be closed Monday and Tuesday due to potential damage from Sandy. 
A woman walks down the promenade along the East River in New York City on Monday. 
Jillian Webb, left, and Arianna Corso are pelted by wind and sand on Lighthouse Beach in Chatham, Massachusetts, on Monday. 
Waves slam into the sea wall in Scituate, Massachusetts, on Monday. 
Chris Losordo carries his father, Vin, across a flooded road in Falmouth, Massachusetts, on Monday. 
A repair truck drives down a flooded street in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, on Monday. 
Superstorm Sandy dumped a lot of rain on West Side Highway in Manhattan, NY. 
Floodwaters cover the streets of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, on Monday. 
Multiple waves hit the Cooper's Beach in Southampton, N.Y. 
Waves crash against a previously damaged pier in Atlantic City, New Jersey, as Hurricane Sandy approaches landfall on Monday. 
High winds broke part of a crane boom on this building under construction in Manhattan, causing several nearby buildings to be evacuated. 
An emergency vehicle drives down Cape May, New Jersey's flooded Ocean Avenue on Monday. 
A young boy runs along Rockaway Beach in the Queens, New York, on Monday. 
A woman examines her storm-damaged porch as heavy rain continues to pour in Winthrop, Massachusetts, on Monday. 
A lone figure makes his way down Seventh Street in Lindenhurst, New York, on Monday. 
People brave high winds and waves in Winthrop, Massachusetts, as Hurricane Sandy moves up the coast on Monday. 
A tree felled by the storm blocks Kramer Drive in Lindenhurst, New York, on Monday. 
Waves crash over a street in Winthrop, Massachusetts, as Hurricane Sandy comes up the coast on Monday. 
A police vehicle drives through a flooded area in New York on Monday. 
The New York skyline is seen from the bank of the East River on Monday. 
People walk on the boardwalk in Ocean City, Maryland, on Monday. 
A man stands on the beach as heavy waves pound the shoreline Monday in Cape May, New Jersey. 
The dome of the U.S. Capitol building is seen through a window as heavy rain hits Washington on Monday. 
A member of the press takes a photo of a flooded street on Monday in Atlantic City, New Jersey. 
A man takes a picture of the storm with his phone from the boardwalk in Ocean City, Maryland, on Monday. 
A man stands on the sidewalk Monday as a vehicle drives up a flooded street in Atlantic City. 
The Hudson River comes over the sea wall along the West Side Promenade in the Battery Park area in New York on Monday. 
The owner of the Wilton House locks up his bar on Monday in Hoboken, New Jersey, as Hurricane Sandy approaches the area. 
Two people stand near the edge of the boardwalk on Monday in Ocean City, Maryland. 
People fight against the wind along Brighton Beach in New York on Monday. 
A jogger runs along the East River in New York on Monday as a police car secures the area. 
A man watches as the tidal surge pounds a pier in Ocean City, Maryland, on Monday. 
A street on the shoreline of Milford, Connecticut, floods at high tide as Hurricane Sandy approaches on Monday. 
A sailboat smashes on the rocks after breaking free from its mooring on City Island, New York, on Monday. 
A lone tourist stands in Times Square early Monday as New Yorkers brace against Hurricane Sandy. 
A satellite image taken at 12:25 p.m. ET Monday shows Sandy moving over the Northeast. 
A restaurant on the boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey, is boarded up in preparation for the bad weather on Monday. 
A man walks down a flooded street in Atlantic City on Monday before the hurricane makes landfall. 
Tourists wear plastic ponchos in Times Square on Monday. 
Air Force One arrives at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. President Barack Obama canceled his appearance at a campaign rally in Orlando, Florida, and returned to Washington to monitor the response to Hurricane Sandy. 
A road leading to casinos in Atlantic City is empty before the hurricane makes landfall on Monday. 
Obama steps off Air Force One on Monday after arriving at Andrews Air Force Base. 
A truck moves north on South Long Beach Avenue as rising water and wind ahead of Hurricane Sandy flood the area on Monday in Freeport, New York. The storm, which threatens 50 million people in the eastern third of the United States, is expected to bring days of rain, high wind and, in places, heavy snow. 
An overhead sign on the Southern Parkway alerts motorists to road closings in Wantagh, New York, on Monday. 
A truck fights its way through water on a road in Southampton, New York, on Monday. 
Andy Becica watches the heavy surf from Hurricane Sandy wash in Monday at Cape May, New Jersey. The full force of Hurricane Sandy is expected to hit the New Jersey coastline later Monday. 
Water forced ashore ahead of the hurricane starts to flood Beach Avenue in Cape May on Monday morning. 
A tattered piece of a billboard blows in the wind Monday in Atlantic City, New Jersey. 
Water floods a street in Atlantic City. 
An ambulance maneuvers through water on Rockaway Beach Boulevard in Queens as the weather sours Monday in New York City. 
People pose for pictures on the Brooklyn Bridge on Monday. 
A wave crashes over the bow of a tugboat in New York Harbor on Monday. 
Cape May Lighthouse shines over the heavy surf. 
Dark clouds cover the skyline of Manhattan early Monday. 
A satellite image shows Hurricane Sandy at 8:25 a.m. ET Monday. Forecasters warned that Sandy was likely to collide with a cold front and spawn a "superstorm" that could generate flash floods, snowstorms and massive power outages. 
People stand on the beach watching the heavy surf caused by the approaching hurricane on Sunday in Cape May. 
Sean Doyle of Levittown and Andrew Hodgson of Hicksville pull their boat from Long Island Sound on Sunday at 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 by Hurricane Sandy's winds as her friend Kim Vo watches on Sunday in Cape May. 
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 Sunday to try to prevent the New York subway system from flooding by Hurricane Sandy. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced a 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. 
A man surfs at Rockaway Beach in Queens as Hurricane Sandy approaches Sunday. 
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 as Marie Jadick speaks on the telephone getting an updated weather report in preparation for Hurricane Sandy. 
Houses are flooded in the neighborhood of La Javilla in Santo Domingo, the capital of Dominican Republic, on Friday. 
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 under water. 
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 rain in Santo Domingo 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 in Cape May, New Jersey. 
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 rain caused by Hurricane Sandy in Kingston, Jamaica, on Wednesday, October 24. 
Students walk in floodwater from Hurricane Sandy's rain in Santo Domingo 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 on Wednesday. 
Citizens of Bayamo talk on the sidewalk on Wednesday. 
People in Bayamo 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 on Wednesday. 
Houses sit along the Hope River in Kingston on Wednesday. 
A satellite view shows Hurricane Sandy's position on Wednesday. 
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