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The northern East Coast is preparing for what many are calling the “Frankenstorm,” as violent rain and winds are set to hit major cities in the next 72 hours.

Hurricane Sandy, as it’s known, has already claimed the lives of 22 people in Caribbean, as it raged through the Bahamas early Friday. 

As reported by the Associated Press:

Meteorologists expect a natural horror show of high wind, heavy rain, extreme tides and maybe snow to the west beginning early Sunday, peaking with the arrival of Hurricane Sandy on Tuesday and lingering past Halloween on Wednesday.

The stage is set as Hurricane Sandy, having blown through Haiti and Cuba, continues to barrel north. A wintry storm is chugging across the country from the west. And frigid air is streaming south from Canada.

And if they meet Tuesday morning around New York or New Jersey, as forecasters predict, they could create a big, wet mess that settles over the nation’s most heavily populated corridor and reaches as far west as Ohio.

Meteorologist are saying that it’s going to be a very serious storm which may ruin the Halloween for many Trick or Treaters.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecaster Jim Cisco, who coined the nickname Frankenstorm, said: “We don’t have many modern precedents for what the models are suggesting.”

Government forecasters said there is a 90 percent chance – up from 60 percent two days earlier – that the East will get pounded.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the City was striking a tone of calm preparedness:

“What we are doing is we are taking the kind of precautions you should expect us to do, and I don’t think anyone should panic.” 

As for the Caribbean, Sandy has done its damage.

Sandy, which weakened to a category 1 hurricane Thursday night, caused havoc in Cuba Thursday, killing 11 people in eastern Santiago and Guantanamo provinces as its howling winds and rain toppled houses and ripped off roofs. Authorities said it was Cuba’s deadliest storm since July 2005, when category 5 Hurricane Dennis killed 16 people and caused $2.4 billion in damage.

Sandy also killed one person while battering Jamaica on Wednesday and nine in Haiti, where heavy rains from the storm’s outer bands caused flooding in the impoverished and deforested country. Police in the Bahamas said a 66-year-old man died after falling from his roof in upscale Lyford Cay late Thursday while trying to repair a window shutter.

New York City has opened an emergency situation room and activated its coastal storm plan. Hopefully everyone out there stays safe as the storm approaches. We are praying for those who lost their lives as a result of Sandy.

SOURCE: AP, NBC