New York bore the brunt of one of the worst storms in its history as Hurricane Sandy tore through the East Coast last night. This morning, officials are assessing the damage, which has left millions without power.
On the travel front, the new is still harsh: according to the flight-tracking service FlightAware, more than 13,500 flights had been canceled for Monday and Tuesday, almost all related to the storm. As of this morning, more than 500 flights scheduled for Wednesday also were canceled, according to FoxNews.com.
The storm on Tuesday left New York City area hotels hunkering down with most guests unable to leave. Some hotels were impacted early on on Tuesday before Sandy’s wrath even began; The Ritz-Carlton, Battery Park and the Conrad New York, located all the way downtown in “Zone 1,” closed as a preemptive measure on Tuesday morning since that area was predicted to receive flooding regardless of the impact of the storm. Both hotels reported on their Facebook pages that they would reopen on October 31.
In the midst of storm reports yesterday, news came in that a crane over a construction site on West 57th St. had collapsed from the winds; that crane is located at One 57, a luxury condo that will be the tallest residential building in Manhattan when it’s done. That high rise is also the home of a new Park Hyatt hotel. The hotel, according to Luxist, will be designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Christian de Portzamparc with interiors designed by the design firm Yabu Pushelberg.
The dangling crane created a grave danger to those living and working in the 57th Street area, forcing an evacuation during an already stressful time. Impacted was Le Parker Meridien, which was forced to move guests to other hotels, according to Hotel Chatter, which also reports that The Standard East Village lost glass from one of its balconies yesterday as well.
USA Today reported on Tuesday that one hotel that would be in fine shape in terms of maintaining power regardless of Sandy’s impact, was the New York Palace in midtown at Madison Avenue and 50th Street. It has a generator located on the roof that is the size of a truck, which former owner, the Sultan of Brunei, installed after the 2003 blackout in the city.