Frankenstorm, Superstorm Sandy | featured news

The eastern portion of the nation turned to emergency rescue, recovery and resupply Tuesday even as meteorologists warned that the danger from super storm Sandy will continue as the massive system works its way through the country.

Last year, during one of the GOP presidential debates, Romney seemed to indicate that he wanted to cut or even privatize the Federal Emergency Management Agency. At the time, his comments barely made a ripple. Now, with FEMA leading the rescue efforts after Hurricane Sandy, the question of what Romney would do with the agency if he were to become president suddenly seems a lot more salient. And suddenly Romney doesn’t want to talk about it, presumably because the prospect of gutting the budget for first responders or pushing them into the private sector wouldn’t be very popular when they are breaking their backs to help people after the hurricane.

A day after it launched a punishing strike on the East Coast of the United States, Superstorm Sandy remained a threat Tuesday. The storm made landfall along the coast of southern New Jersey on Monday night, but its mammoth size affected a much wider area -- and continued to do so as it shuffled northward toward Canada, leaving at least 30 U.S. deaths in its wake.

Superstorm Sandy will end up causing about $20 billion in property damages and $10 billion to $30 billion more in lost business, according to IHS Global Insight, a forecasting firm....