Hurricane Sandy May Become Biggest Storm in a Century

(Newsroom America) -- Hurricane Sandy, set to glide past the East Coast and strike the U.S. Northeast next week could combine with a second storm front coming out of the Midwest and become the worst front in 100 years, forecasters said Thursday.

The "Frankenstorm," as it is being called, could be worse than the New England hurricane of 1938 in intensity, Paul Kocin, a National Weather Service meteorologist in College Park, Md., told Bloomberg News.

Sandy, which is currently blowing through the Caribbean, has killed 21 people thus far, reports have said.

"What we’re seeing in some of our models is a storm at an intensity that we have not seen in this part of the country in the past century," Kocin said. "We’re not trying to hype it, this is what we’re seeing in some of our models. It may come in weaker."

Forecasters say the storm could hit landfall anywhere along the East Coast from Delaware- Maryland-Virginia peninsula to southern New England.

Current National Hurricane Center forecasts call for Sandy to strike New Jersey on Oct. 30, though landfall predictions could eventually change as the storm gets closer to shore.

Some analysts say if the storm reaches its full potential it will leave behind billions in damage.

"If the storm follows the current hurricane center forecast, we are looking at over $5 billion in damage," Chuck Watson, director of research and development at Kinetic Analysis Corp. in Silver Spring, Md., told Bloomberg News.

"We can say even now our worst fears may be realized," Kocin added. "If we were seeing what we’re seeing today one day out, we would really be shouting the alarms."

According to AccuWeather.com, damaging winds, power outages, flooding rainfall, battering surf and storm surge will hit several areas.

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