Sandy, the superstorm, has gained traction Monday, packing winds of 90 mph just hours before it is expected to make landfall, forecasters said.
The superstorm has put 50 million people in the most densely populated corridor in the nation under threat.
The National Hurricane Center said Monday morning that the Category 1 hurricane is moving north-northwest at 18 mph, and will soon turn northwestward. At 11:00 a.m. ET the storm was centered about 260 miles south-southeast of New York City. Hurricane-force winds extend up to 175 miles from the storm's center, with tropical storm-force winds extended outward up to 485 miles.
Maximum sustained winds of 90 mph, with gusts of up to 115 mph, were measured.
Gale force winds were reported over coastal North Carolina, southeastern Virginia, the Delmarva Peninsula and coastal New Jersey.
Hours before the storm made landfall, high winds had already knocked out power to more than 67,000 customers in several states Monday morning.
Sandy is expected to hook inland Monday, colliding with a wintry storm moving in from the west and cold air streaming down from the Arctic. Forecasters say the storm's center will make landfall along or just south of the Southern New Jersey coast Monday evening.
Sandy is likely going to strengthen even more as it approaches the East Coast, CBS News reported, with hurricane-force winds reaching land by Monday afternoon. Flooding will be a huge threat, with many areas potentially seeing rainfall amounts between 5 and 8 inches over a 48-hour period.
The full moon will make storm surges worse, as high tides along the Eastern Seaboard will rise about 20 percent higher than normal. CBS News Correspondent Chip Reid reports from Ocean City, Md., that sea levels could rise 8 feet above normal - enough to flood much of the city.
