Natural Disaster | featured news

With only sporadic access to text messaging and the Web, many in Hurricane Sandy's no-power zone quickly cobbled together systems for passing along information and arranging when and where to meet.

Former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour on Sunday argued Superstorm Sandy not only wreaked havoc on the Northeast this week, but blunted Mitt Romney's campaign as well. "The hurricane is what broke Romney's momentum.

A mother learns that her newborn is part of a hospital evacuation. Facebook posts from a member of the HMS Bounty turn ominous. A man worries about the wind and rain, but another force of nature hits home.

The superstorm that hit the Jersey shore did more than upend a geographic area; it left people wondering about the future of a place that's become part of pop culture. Bruce Springsteen wrote about it. Nucky Thompson built his "Boardwalk Empire" on it. And Snooki and The Situation got drunk and famous on it.

A metro Atlanta brewery has switched from churning out beer to water to help victims of superstorm Sandy. Anheuser-Busch plans on shipping 1 million cans of drinking water to New York and New Jersey from its Cartersville brewery.

Kim Bondy was in New Orleans seven years ago when Hurricane Katrina devastated the city, and scores of patients died in flooded hospitals cut off from power. She never thought that she might face that danger herself.

New Jersey began rationing gasoline on Saturday, while New York had to back off its promise of free gasoline, courtesy of the Department of Defense, and told the public to stay away until first responders could fuel up.

The massive storm that started out as Hurricane Sandy slammed into the East Coast and morphed into a huge and problematic system, killing at least 94 people in the United States. Power outages now stand at more than 3.6 million homes and businesses, down from a peak of 8.5 million. Here's a snapshot of what is happening, state by state....

Following Hurricane Katrina seven years ago, FEMA became a national punching bag, ridiculed for its slow and cumbersome response to the disaster along the Gulf Coast. In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy this week, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and its administrator W. Craig Fugate are garnering more positive reviews from public officials in northeastern states hit by the superstorm, as well as from disaster-management experts.

With the traffic nightmare causing frustration for Tri-State area drivers Thursday morning, the lines at the gas pump aren’t making the commute any easier. Filling up the tank has been a nightmare for area drivers since the storm hit. Overnight and into Thursday morning, drivers looking for fuel were met with incredibly long lines at the gas pump.