Hurricane Sandy, which could become

Hurricane Sandy, which could become the largest storm ever to hit the United States, is set to bring much of the East Coast, including New York and Washington, to a virtual standstill in the next few days with battering winds, flooding and the risk of widespread power outages. New York declared a state of emergency Sunday and the NYC transit system was shut down in as New Yorkers braced for the sprawling hurricane. About 50 million people are in the path of the massive storm, which has already killed 66 people in the Caribbean and is expected to hit the U.S. Eastern Seaboard on Tuesday morning. Meanwhile, Canadian Hurricane Centre said Sunday that in addition to rain and high winds, Sandy could also bring snow to parts of Ontario. Spokesman Bob Robichaud said southern and eastern Ontario and western Quebec could see between 50 and 100 millimetres of rain late Monday and early Tuesday. “Snow is another thing we’re going to have to consider with this thing, just because it’s drawing in some cold air from the north,” said Robichaud from Halifax during a media teleconference on Sunday. While the storm does not pack the punch of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans in 2005, forecasters said it could be the largest in size when it strikes land. At the moment, Sandy’s winds stretched some 830 km and churned up 3.6-metre seas spanning more than 1,600 km, meteorologists said. New York and other cities and towns closed their transit systems and schools and ordered residents of low-lying areas to evacuate before a storm surge that could reach as high as 11 feet.