Accuweather: (Frankenstorm) Hurricane Sandy Latest Updates

Hurricane Sandy remains on track to become a historical storm for the mid-Atlantic and southern New England with New Jersey and New York City bracing for very dangerous conditions and catastrophic damage.

The impact from Sandy will reach hundreds of miles from the center of landfall, including areas well inland and well ahead of the storm's landfall Monday night.

An overview of the catastrophic impacts that await the mid-Atlantic and southern New England can be found in this news story, while below are more detailed impact stories for specific cities and communities.

Updates on Sandy:

8:30 p.m. EDT: The fishing pier in Ocean City, Md. has been damaged and may collapse during the next round of high tides Monday.

6:50 p.m. EDT: Sandy is located about 450 miles southeast of Atlantic City, N.J., but impacts from rain, gusty wind, battering surf, beach erosion are already being felt over the mid-Atlantic. Conditions will get much worse through Monday night and will continue to expand inland.

5:00 p.m. EDT: Gusts to 47 mph were occurring at Ocean City, Md. Snow was falling on Sugar Mountain, N.C.

4:00 p.m. EDT: Coastal flooding was occurring in St. Mary's County, Md.

2:00 p.m. EDT: Wind gusts were reaching 52 mph in Norfolk, Va. and 58 mph on the North Carolina Outer Banks.

12:00 noon EDT: New York Governor Cuomo announced that the orderly suspension of all subway, bus and commuter railroad service will begin at 7 p.m. EDT, Sunday.

12:00 noon EDT: New York Mayor Bloomberg announced city schools are closed on Monday and ordered evacuations of some low-lying areas in lower Manhattan, Brooklyn, Staten Island and Queens.

11:00 a.m. EDT: A storm surge of up to 5.5 feet was flooding neighborhoods on North Carolina's Outer Banks. Multiple roads were under water.

10:30 a..m. EDT: Moderate coastal flooding was occurring near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay in the Norfolk, Virginia area. Minor coastal flooding was already occurring along portions of the New Jersey coast at time of high tide.

9:30 a.m. EDT: Seas of 30 feet continue off the coast of the Carolinas. Seas were between 10 and 15 feet off the coast of New Jersey and Long Island and building.

9:24 a.m. EDT: Winds were gusting to 48 mph in Virginia Beach, Va., to 40 mph in Ocean City, Md., and to 36 mph in Atlantic City, N.J. with Sandy still hundreds of miles away.

9:00 a.m. EDT: Sandy is racking up rainfall. So far, Hatteras, N.C. has received 5.19 inches with 1.76 inches in Newport News, Va. A zone of heavy rain was developing farther north from the Maryland eastern shore to eastern Pennsylvania.

6:00 a.m. EDT: Sandy is a truly massive storm on satellite. One of, if not the largest tropical cyclone to ever develop in the Atlantic basin.

5:00 a.m. EDT: Sandy holds serve. Still a hurricane. Headed on a crash course with New Jersey.

4:00 a.m. EDT: Rainfall from Sandy reaches Philadelphia.

2:00 a.m. EDT: Sandy still a hurricane with winds at 75 mph. Pressure hovering around 960mb.

11:00 p.m. EDT: repeated 54 mph gusts at the alligator river bridge in far eastern NC.

8:29 p.m. EDT: Ferry service to Oracoke, North Carolina was suspended and people are reported stranded.

7:52 p.m. EDT: Rodanthe, N.C. on Hatteras Island already experiencing ocean overwash.

7:29 p.m. EDT: Delaware declared a state of emergency and has begun limited mandatory evacuations in preparation for Sandy's approach.

6:58 p.m. EDT: Amtrak is canceling some service for Sunday. Routes in Va., D.C., and N.Y. are affected, according to the Amtrak Facebook

6:16 p.m. EDT: Ferry service for Cherry Point, N.C. has been suspended, according to a spotter.

6:00 p.m. EDT: New York Mayor Bloomberg spoke during a press conference at 6 p.m. EDT Saturday. He said, "We will make an announcement tomorrow in the middle of the day on whether or not to close mass transit." Bloomberg also said that people needing public transportation should travel to their destinations by 7 p.m. EDT Sunday.

5:36 p.m. EDT: A local emergency manager in North Carolina reported a tree down and blocking one lane of a road near Bolivia.

5:00 p.m. EDT: The center of Hurricane Sandy with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph was located about 335 miles east-southeast of Charleston, S.C.

4:00 p.m. EDT: Winds over 40 mph are hitting the North Carolina coast along with heavy rains. Radar shows high winds spreading across the North Carolina coast.

3:00 p.m. EDT: Computer model that was showing a farther south track into the Delmarva is now bringing Sandy into central New Jersey, lining up with the AccuWeather.com Hurricane Center's track.

2:03 p.m. EDT: Hurricane Sandy recently produced a wind gust of 76 mph (Category 1 hurricane force) about 140 miles east of Cape Canaveral, Fla.

1:46 p.m. EDT: AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist Brett Anderson stated, "Strongest winds headed to the corridor from Baltimore to Philadelphia to New York City will be coming in from the north-northwest to east direction; keep that in mind when parking your car near large trees."

12:40 p.m. EDT: Tropical storm-force wind gusts reach the North Carolina coast. Highest wind gust reported so far today was 40 mph at Cherry Point, N.C.

12:35 p.m. EDT: AccuWeather.com's Mark Mancuso gives his expert analysis on Hurricane Sandy in this expert video.

12:25 p.m. EDT: AccuWeather.com meteorologists just held a discussion on Hurricane Sandy and have pinned down its landfall site to central or southern New Jersey Monday evening. However, it should be stressed that the worst of the storm will occur ahead of its center.

11:20 a.m. EDT: The wind field of Hurricane Sandy is extremely large with tropical storm-force winds extending 450 miles away from its center.

11:00 a.m. EDT: Sandy has changed little in strength in the past three hours with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph. The center of Sandy is located about 355 miles southeast of Charleston, S.C.

10:33 a.m. EDT: Winds gusted to 38 mph, just shy of minimal tropical storm strength, at Cherry Point, N.C.

9:57 a.m. EDT: Evidence that Hurricane Sandy is a large storm: Charleston, S.C., and Bermuda are seeing from from Sandy despite being separated by 900 miles.

9:30 a.m. EDT AccuWeather.com meteorologists are now concerned that all of Delaware, southern New Jersey and southeastern Pennsylvania--including Philadelphia--will be inundated with more than 8 inches of rain from Sandy.

8:00 a.m. EDT: Sandy regains hurricane strength after weakening briefly to a tropical storm.