PHOTO GALLERY: Hurricane Sandy attacks the East Coast

Sandbags protect an entrance of the New York Stock Exchange. There had been plans to allow electronic trading to go forward on the New York Stock Exchange but with a storm surge expected to cover parts of lower Manhattan in water, officials decided late Sunday that it was too risky to ask any personnel to staff the exchanges.   |  Associated Press/Richard Drew

A Dare County utility worker checks with the Kitty Hawk Fire Department as they patrol flooded streets in Kitty Hawk, N.C.   |  Associated Press/Gerry Broome

A Hoboken University Medical Center patient is transported into an ambulance during a mandatory evacuation of all ground floor units in anticipation of incoming Hurricane Sandy in Hoboken, N.J. Tens of thousands of people were ordered to evacuate coastal areas Sunday as big cities and small towns across the U.S. Northeast braced for the onslaught of a superstorm threatening some 60 million people along the most heavily populated corridor in the nation.   |  Associated Press/Julio Cortez

Waves wash over the sea wall near high tide at Battery Park in New York, as Hurricane Sandy approaches the East Coast.   |  Associated Press/Craig Ruttle

Peter Cusack, center, and Mel Bermudez walk their dogs Teague, left, and Molly along the Brooklyn waterfront beneath the New York skyline as Hurricane Sandy advances on the city. Hurricane Sandy continued on its path Monday, forcing the shutdown of mass transit, schools and financial markets, sending coastal residents fleeing, and threatening a dangerous mix of high winds and soaking rain.   |  Associated Press/Mark Lennihan

Norfolk resident Jack Devnew and his dog check on his boat at a marina near downtown Norfolk, Va., on Monday. Rain and wind from Hurricane Sandy are hitting the area.   |  Steve Helber/The Associated Press