(CNN) -- Though no longer a hurricane, "post-tropical" superstorm Sandy packed a hurricane-sized punch as it slammed into the Jersey Shore on Monday, killing at least 11 people from West Virginia to North Carolina and Connecticut.

Sandy whipped torrents of water over the streets of Atlantic City, stretching for blocks inland and ripping up part of the vacation spot's fabled boardwalk. The storm surge set records in Lower Manhattan, where flooded substations caused a widespread power outage. It swamped beachfronts on both sides of Long Island Sound and delivered hurricane-force winds from Virginia to Cape Cod as it came ashore.

Sandy's wrath also prompted the evacuation of about 200 patients at NYU Langone Medical Center.

"We are having intermittent telephone access issues, and for this reason the receiving hospital will notify the families of their arrival," spokeswoman Lisa Greiner said.

In addition, the basement of New York's Bellevue Hospital Center flooded, and the hospital was running off of emergency backup power. Ian Michaels of the Office of Emergency Management said the main priority is to help secure additional power and obtain additional fuel and pumps for the hospital.

The storm hit near Atlantic City about 8 p.m. ET, the National Hurricane Center reported. It packed 80-mph winds at landfall, down from the 90 mph clocked earlier Monday.

雖然Sandy已經從颶風降級成了"後熱帶氣旋"，但在週一侵襲澤西州海岸時，仍是挾帶著颶風級的豐沛雨量，且至少造成了西維吉尼亞州、北卡和康乃狄克州11人死亡。

大西洋城的街道只見滾滾洪流，大水直淹到內陸的房子們、也捲走了部分知名觀光點的浮橋(?)。颶風造成的浪濤立下了下曼哈頓區的新紀錄，被淹沒的變電站也造成了廣大地區停電。長島海峽兩岸的海濱成一片水鄉澤國，靠岸後也持續對維吉尼亞和鱈魚角(?)造成強烈風災影響。

Sandy也造成了紐約大學Langone醫學中心約200名病人做緊急撤離。

"因為我們電話的線路斷斷續續，所以當他們轉移後，會由接手的醫院來告知家屬們"發言人Lisa Greiner說。

除此之外，紐約Bellevue醫院地下室淹水，緊急備用電源也即將用罄。危機處理辦公室的Ian Michael說當務之急就是確保醫院有額外的電力、燃料、以及抽水幫浦。

國家颶風中心報告指出，颶風是在東部時間晚間八點襲擊大西洋城。它從週一稍早的時速90英哩，在登陸後仍維持著80英哩的風速。

Superstorm Sandy's wrath

"I've been down here for about 16 years, and it's shocking what I'm looking at now. It's unbelievable," said Montgomery Dahm, owner of the Tun Tavern in Atlantic City, which stayed open as Sandy neared the Jersey Shore. "I mean, there's cars that are just completely underwater in some of the places I would never believe that there would be water."

Dahm's family cleared out of Atlantic City before the storm hit, but he says he stayed put to serve emergency personnel. At nightfall Monday, he said the water was lapping at the steps of his restaurant, where a generator was keeping the lights on.

The storm had already knocked down power lines and tree limbs while still 50 miles offshore and washed out a section of the boardwalk on the north end of town, Atlantic City Mayor Lorenzo Langford told CNN. He said there were still "too many people" who didn't heed instructions to evacuate, and he urged anyone still in town to "hunker down and try to wait this thing out."

"When Mother Nature sends her wrath your way, we're at her mercy, and so all we can do is stay prayerful and do the best that we can," Langford said.

And in Seaside Heights, about 30 miles north of Atlantic City, Police Chief Thomas Boyd told CNN, "The whole north side of my town is totally under water."

"我在這裡呆了16年，但是現在看著真是恐怖透了!!真是難以置信" 在大西洋城經營小酒館的Montgomery Dahm說，他甚至在Sandy逼近澤西州海岸時仍然開張。"車子整個都浸在水裡了，而且還是在完全想不到會淹水的地方"

Dahm的家人在暴風侵襲前便已經都撤離了大西洋城。他卻留下來為緊急救難人員提供服務。但週一傍晚，大水便淹到了放發電機好提供照明的餐廳樓梯上。

大西洋城市長Lorenzo Langford告訴CNN，在暴風離岸還50哩以上時，就已經對電線杆和樹枝造成了破壞，並沖走了城鎮北端一部分的浮橋。他說還有太多的人並沒有聽從疏散的指示，他呼籲所有還留在城裡頭的人"躲起來等風暴過去"

"當大自然反撲的時候，我們只能盼她垂憐(?)，保持信念、做我們能做的" Langford說。

在大西洋城北方30英哩的Seaside Heights的警長Thomas Boyd告訴CNN說"我的家鄉整個北邊都是泡在水下了"

Mass transit grinds to a halt

In New York, lower Manhattan's Battery Park recorded nearly 14-foot tide, smashing a record set by 1960's Hurricane Donna by more than 3 feet. The city had already halted service on its bus and train lines, closing schools and ordering about 400,000 people out of their homes in low-lying areas of Manhattan and elsewhere.

Flooding forced the closure of all three of the major airports in the area, LaGuardia, John F. Kennedy and Newark Liberty. Water seeped into subway stations in Lower Manhattan and into the tunnel connecting Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn, while high winds damaged a crane perched atop a Midtown skyscraper under construction, forcing authorities to evacuate the surrounding area.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg told reporters there was an "extraordinary" amount of water in Lower Manhattan, as well as downed trees throughout the city and widespread power outages.

"We knew that this was going to be a very dangerous storm, and the storm has met our expectations," he said. "The worst of the weather has come, and city certainly is feeling the impacts."

The storm was blamed for more than 2.8 million outages across the Northeast. About 350,000 of them were in the New York city area, where utility provider Con Edison reported it had also cut power to customers in parts of Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan to protect underground equipment as the storm waters rose.

But as water crept into its substations, Con Ed said it had lost service to about 250,000 customers in Manhattan -- including most of the island south of 39th Street.

大眾運輸大停擺

紐約下曼哈頓區的Battery公園紀錄下了將近14尺高的浪潮，比1960年Donna颶風的紀錄還足足高了三尺！城市裡不論是公車或是鐵路都已經暫停，學校停課，近40萬住在地勢較低的人們也被遷往其他地方。

大水同樣讓此區三大主要機場關閉停飛。水流進了下曼哈頓的地鐵站以及聯絡下曼哈頓和布魯克林區的隧道中，強風吹壞了位在Midtown一幢興建中摩天大樓的起重機，逼的當局只能疏散附近的民眾。

紐約市長Michael Bloomberg告訴記者，下曼哈頓區現在充滿了太多的水、倒掉的樹、還有太多停電的地方了。

"我們早知道這會是個極度危險的暴風，它也還真達到我們預期的危險程度了"他說"我們的城市正在承受這惡劣氣候帶來的衝擊"

整個東北部至少有280萬起停電要歸咎於暴風，其中35萬起是在紐約市中心。電力設備供應公司Con Edison為了保住地下的設備，他們只得切斷部分布魯克林區和下曼哈頓的供電。

但當水湧進他們的變電所時，曼哈頓區仍是有25萬的客戶失去供電--包括島南邊39街的大部份(?)。

Five things to know about Sandy

At least five people had been killed in storm-related incidents in New York state, including three killed by trees falling on homes in Queens and in the town of New Salem, near Albany, city and state officials said. Falling trees were also blamed for three deaths reported in New Jersey and one in Connecticut, authorities there told CNN.

In West Virginia, a woman was killed in a car accident after the storm dumped 5 inches of snow on the town of Davis, said Amy Shuler Goodwin, a spokeswoman for Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin's office.

And before hitting land, it overwhelmed the sailing ship HMS Bounty, a replica of the historic British vessel, off North Carolina. Fourteen of the ship's crew of 16 were rescued, but the body of one deckhand was found Monday evening and the ship's captain was still missing Monday night, the Coast Guard said.

Sandy had already claimed at least 67 lives in the Caribbean, including 51 in Haiti.

Sandy's storm surges were boosted by a full moon, which already brings the highest tides of the month. And forecasters said the storm was likely to collide with a cold front and spawn a superstorm that could generate flash floods and snowstorms.

"It could be bad," said U.S. Coast Guard Rear Adm. Steven Rattior, "or it could be devastation."

Mass transit shut down across the densely populated Northeast, landmarks stood empty and schools and government offices were closed. The National Grid, which provides power to millions of customers, said 60 million people could be affected before it's over.

On Fire Island, off Long Island, the water rose above promenades and docks on Monday afternoon, homeowner Karen Boss said. Boss stayed on the island with her husband despite a mandatory evacuation order. She said they own several properties and a business there and had weathered previous storms.

"I'm concerned that it might come into the first floor," she said. "If that's the case, I'll just move into another house that's higher up."

Based on pressure readings, it's likely to be the strongest storm to make landfall north of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, CNN senior meteorologist Dave Hennen said. The benchmark storm, the 1938 "Long Island Express" Hurricane, contained a low pressure reading of 946 millibars; Sandy had a minimum pressure of 943 millibars. Generally speaking, the lower the pressure, the stronger the storm.

In Sea Bright, New Jersey, Yvette Cafaro scrawled a plea on the plywood that covered her burger restaurant: "Be kind to us Sandy." The seaside area largely dodged last year's Hurricane Irene, but Cafaro was not optimistic that Sea Bright would be spared Sandy.

Keep a hurricane preparation checklist

"Everything that we've been watching on the news looks like this one will really get us," she said. "We're definitely worried about it."

Its arrival, eight days before the U.S. presidential election, forced President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, to alter or cancel several campaign stops. Obama flew back to Washington from Florida, telling reporters at the White House that assets were in place for an effective response to the storm.

"The most important message I have for the public right now is please listen to what your state and local officials are saying," Obama said. "When they tell you to evacuate, you need to evacuate."

And in Ohio, Romney asked supporters to drop off items and cash at his "victory centers" to be donated to victims of the storm.

"There are families in harm's way that will be hurt -- either in their possessions or perhaps in something more severe," Romney said.

Tips from Katrina survivors

By Monday afternoon, 23 states were under a warning or advisory for wind related to Sandy. Thousands of flights had been canceled, and hundreds of roads and highways were expected to flood. And according to a government model, Sandy's wind damage alone could cause more than $7 billion in economic loss.

Sandy was expected to weaken once it moves inland, but the center was expected to move slowly northward, meaning gusty winds and heavy rain would continue through Wednesday.

On the western side of the storm, the mountains of West Virginia expected up to 3 feet of snow and the mountains of southwestern Virginia to the Kentucky state line could see up to 2 feet. Twelve to 18 inches of snow were expected in the mountains near the North Carolina-Tennessee border.

"This is not a typical storm," said Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett. "Essentially, this is a hurricane wrapped in a 'nor'easter.'"

Sandy grounds thousands of flights worldwide

CNN's Elizabeth Cohen, Dana Ford, Tom Watkins, Josh Levs, Chelsea J. Carter, Greg Botelho, Jason Kessler, Sarah Dillingham, Sean Morris, Ashley Corum, Eden Pontz and George Howell contributed to this report.