US President Barack Obama has declared a major disaster in New York and Long Island as 'superstorm' Sandy left 17 people dead cross the east coast of the US.
Federal funding will now be made available to New York residents and Mr Obama also declared emergencies in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Millions of Americans awoke this morning without power as the storm cut electricity over a wide area from North Carolina to Ohio.
The storm made landfall in New Jersey yesterday evening with sustained winds of 130km/h and put the US Presidential campaign on hold one week before election day.
New York was among the hardest hit, with its financial centre closed for a second day and seawater flowing into the construction pit at the World Trade Center.
The storm caused the worst damage in the 108-year history of New York's extensive subway system, according to Joseph Lhota, the chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
An unprecedented 3.9m surge of seawater flowed into lower Manhattan, inundating tunnels, subway stations and the electrical system.
An explosion at a Con Edison power substation knocked out power to about 310,000 customers in Manhattan.
New York City's three major airports remain closed and more than 13,500 flights were cancelled for yesterday and today.
Forecasters say Sandy could linger over as many as 12 states for 24-36 hours.
A huge fire destroyed at least 50 homes in a flooded neighbourhood of Queens.
Firefighters told WABC-TV that they had to use a boat to make rescues. Two people suffered minor injuries, a fire department spokesman said.
As Sandy closed in on the northeast, it converged with a cold-weather system that turned it into a hybrid of rain and high winds, even bringing snow in West Virginia and other mountainous areas inland.
Remnants of the now-former Category 1 hurricane are forecast to head across Pennsylvania before taking another sharp turn into western New York state by tomorrow morning.
Officials blamed at least 17 deaths in the US on the converging storms - in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Maryland, North Carolina and West Virginia.
Three of the victims were children. At least one death was blamed on the storm in Canada.
Sandy killed 69 people in the Caribbean before making its way up the Atlantic Coast.
Three towns in New Jersey were inundated this morning with up to 1.5m of water after a levee on the nearby Hackensack River was breached.
Rescuers used boats to aid the marooned residents of Moonachie, Little Ferry and Carlstadt.
Off North Carolina, a replica of the 18th-century sailing ship HMS Bounty that was built for the 1962 movie "Mutiny on the Bounty" sank when its diesel engine and bilge pumps failed.
The coast guard rescued 14 crew members from rubber lifeboats, but one crewman was found dead several hours later. The Bounty's captain is still missing.
Aer Lingus said two thirds of its flights to the US will operate as normal today, but it has cancelled flights between Dublin and New York.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Declan Kearney, communications manager with the airline, said JFK Airport is not expected to re-open until 11am tomorrow Irish time.
He said if it reopens on schedule, then Aer Lingus expects to operate a full schedule tomorrow as its flights arrive in New York after that time.
He advised customers to check the Aer Lingus website on an ongoing basis for updates.
Storm damage was projected at $10bn (€7.7bn) to $20bn (€15.5bn), meaning it could prove to be one of the costliest natural disasters in US history.
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