Tuesday, 30 October 2012 19:30

Water rushes into the Carey Tunnel (previously the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel) in New York. Pix: Getty ImagesPRESIDENT Barack Obama has declared a major disaster in New York and Long Island, making federal funding available to residents of the area.

He also has declared emergencies in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, authorising federal relief work to begin well ahead of time.

Meanwhile, at least 13 people have been killed and millions are without power after storm Sandy hit the east coast of the US.

Sandy hit the New Jersey coastline and hurled a record-breaking 4m (13ft) surge of seawater at New York City.

The east coast has been battered with torrential rain, high winds, record flood surges and heavy snow.

Since the storm made landfall in New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Connecticut, 13 people are reported to have died.

Some of the victims were killed by falling trees and at least one death in Canada was blamed on the storm.

The former hurricane weakened to a still-potent post-tropical cyclone by the time it came ashore early this morning.

Subway and car tunnels have been flooded in parts of New York, while thousands of flights have been grounded.

Forecasters say Sandy could linger over as many as 12 states for 24-36 hours.

A levee has broken in northern New Jersey, flooding the towns of Moonachie, Little Ferry and Carlstadt with 1.2 - 1.5m (4 - 5ft) of water in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, officials told Reuters.

"We are in rescue mode," said Jeanne Baratta, chief of the Bergen County Executive.

There were no reports of fatalities as of yet, she said.

Ms Baratta said the three towns had been "devastated" by the flood of water.

The power is out for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers and an estimated 5.2 million people altogether across the east coast.

The full extent of the storm's damage across the region is unclear, and unlikely to be known until daybreak.

In addition, heavy rain and further flooding remain major threats over the next couple of days as the storm makes its way into Pennsylvania and up into New York state.

As the storm closed in, it converged with a cold-weather system that turned it into a superstorm, a monstrous hybrid consisting not only of rain and high winds but snow in West Virginia and other mountainous areas inland.

Sandy made landfall near Atlantic City, which was already mostly under water.