U.S. coast braces for 'superstorm' Sandy

U.S. coast braces for 'superstorm' Sandy The East Coast ramped up emergency preparations on Saturday for Hurricane Sandy, a monstrous and deadly storm that forecasters said could severely impact cities and towns with heavy flooding and fierce winds.

Sandy moved slowly off the coast of South Carolina as a Category 1 hurricane, having left at least 45 dead in its wake in the Caribbean and Central America.

The storm tracked northeasterly in the Atlantic, but was expected to boomerang toward the shore with its enormous breadth and begin to seriously impact heavily populated areas as early as Sunday. Rainfall totals in some areas could reach historic proportions.

The target area was hard to predict. Some landfall computer models showed the storm striking somewhere between the border of North Carolina and Virginia north to Connecticut. That area includes some of the most densely populated areas of the country.

Residents along the 700-mile stretch sandbagged low-lying areas, secured and fortified homes and buildings, and packed stores to stock up on bottled water, food, and batteries in anticipation of widespread power outages.

Presidential campaigns adjusted their schedules to account for Sandy's potential impact. At least one state that could be hit hard, Virginia, is a hotly contested battleground in the November 6 election.