(picture courtesy of Flickr)

The story of "Frankenstorm" continues to hit us with horrific pictures and sad stories of loss from the east coast area affected by it. Some of the highlights from Hurricane Sandy as of right now are:

-both New York and New Jersey have been declared disaster areas

-N.J. governor Chris Christie has stated that all railways have been damaged, 2.4 million people are without power across the state and twice as many homes have been affected as were with Hurricane Irene

-thousands are without power in the MD and WV areas, which are now being hit with heavy snow

-80% of Atlantic City was under water Monday

-damage has an early estimate of between 25 and 45 billion dollars

-current death toll is at least 40

Here is a news video of some of the coverage as the storm was rolling up the coast... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeutC1WN6dc

These are all early estimates as parts of the east coast are digging out from the damage. At this time  American Red Cross Disaster Relief needs our help to help our friends and families on the east coast. Please log on http://www.redcross.org/ and help out with whatever you can. It will be weeks, and in many cases, months before some areas will be cleaned up. This is another chance for us to shine and come together to help our neighbors. 

-Shelly Knight