The New York Stock Exchange will be closed today and potentially tomorrow as Hurricane Sandy threatens to unleash unprecedented havoc on the US east coast.
We generally think of hurricane season as affecting Florida and the Caribbean in August and September. It’s not something readily associated with New York City in October.
This is, in fact, the first time since Hurricane Gloria in September 1985 that the stock market has closed for a full day because of the weather.
The Caribbean has already been hit hard by Hurricane Sandy, of course, but it’s unusual for a storm to be so potentially devastating when it moves north.
A Category 1 hurricane, Sandy threatens up to 50 million people on the east coast, and forecasters say it could wreak havoc over 800 miles (1,300km) from the Atlantic coast to the Great Lakes, with winds up to 85mph (140kph).
It is expected to make its way inland tonight, hitting Atlantic City in New Jersey before crossing through Pennsylvania. A state of emergency has already been declared in nine states - including New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts.
Authorities are warning New York could get hit with an 11ft (3.3-metre) wall of water that could swamp parts of lower Manhattan, flood subway tunnels and cripple the network of electrical and communications lines that are vital to the nation's financial centre.
New York City's transit system was shut down at 7pm last night.
