Hurricane Sandy Evacuations: Hundreds Of Thousands Told To Leave Their Homes

Hurricane Sandy is about to smash into New York and surrounding areas and in anticipation of the giant storm officials have asked hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate their homes.

So far 375,000 New Yorkers have been asked to leave their places of residence. Among those asked to leave are 45,000 residents in New York’s public housing sectors. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has warned that elevator services, hot water and heat will be shut off in governmental housing.

To make up for the lack of public housing New York officials have opened 65 shelters inside public schools. More shelters may be opened as needed.

It wasn’t just New Yorkers asked to leave their homes, in several Delaware coastal communities upwards of 50,000 people were asked to evacuate. Residents in those homes were told to visit Delaware Online to find shelter and to determine if their area was being evacuated.

Across the river from New York residents in New Jersey were also told to flee. To help secure the safety of 66,000 residents Atlantic City has opened five shelters across five municipalities. Pitching in on the New Jersey side is the Star-Ledger which lists shelter locations and evacuation plans.

Residents in Connecticut are also being evacuated.

In some affected areas mandatory evacuations have been declared, while other areas are under voluntary evacuation orders.

As is often the case with many large scale storms some residents have decided to play out the weather regardless of possible consequences. Some residents have chosen to ignore suggested and mandatory evacuation orders as Hurricane Sandy begins to make its land-based approach.