Sandy blamed for at least 113 US deaths

2012-11-05 14:01

The Inlet section of Atlantic City, New Jersey, as Hurricane Sandy makes it approach. (File/ AP)

New York - Deaths in the United States and Canada blamed on Sandy, the ferocious storm that tore across the US East Coast last week, were at least 113 on Sunday.

In New York City, police said the storm took 40 lives, a reduction of one from previous reports because of what the police department called the reclassification of some deaths that occurred during and after the storm.

About half the victims were on Staten Island, the borough that lies across New York Harbour from lower Manhattan.

Twenty-four deaths were reported by authorities this morning in hard-hit New Jersey, where a 71-year-old male died from hypothermia and a 55-year-old male from smoke inhalation during a house fire. Pennsylvania reported 13 dead.

The storm killed at least 69 people in the Caribbean, including at least 54 in Haiti and 11 in Cuba, before hitting the US coast on Monday, authorities said.

The following are reported and confirmed North American deaths related to the storm. State authorities have said the numbers are subject to change. A decrease may occur if the cause of death is later deemed not to be a direct result of the storm.

* New York state: 48 (40 in New York City and eight elsewhere in the state)

* New Jersey: 24

* Pennsylvania: 13

* Maryland: 11

* West Virginia: 6

* Connecticut: 5

* Virginia: 2

* North Carolina: 3*

* Toronto, Canada: 1 * Includes the missing captain of HMS Bounty, a tall ship that sank 201km off the southeast coast of Hatteras, North Carolina. The US Coast Guard has ended its search for him. (Massachusetts state police said a traffic accident that killed one man during the time of the storm was not related to the storm or weather.)

- Reuters