UN to remain closed for third day due to hurricane impact

The United Nations said here Tuesday that the world body's headquarters in New York will remain closed for the third day on Wednesday "due to the impact of Hurricane Sandy." "Due to the impact of Hurricane Sandy, United Nations offices in New York will remain closed on Wednesday, 31 October 2012," said an email message from the Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit of the UN Department of Public Information. "All meetings at headquarters have been canceled." Farhan Haq, the UN associate spokesman who was reached by Xinhua on the phone, also confirmed the UN closure on Wednesday. The UN headquarters in New York was closed on Monday and Tuesday as Hurricane Sandy, a massive storm described by forecasters as one of the largest ever that hit the United States, lashed the East Coast. UN meetings involving Latin American presidents were canceled on Monday. The power was cut off in lower Manhattan, few blocks from the UN headquarters on the east side of the downtown area of New York City, and the city government has suspended bus and subway operations in Manhattan. Superstorm Sandy has killed at least 29 people and knocked millions out of power across the densely populated U.S. east coast, leaving streets flooded, houses burned and a levee collapsed by Tuesday morning. Sandy, which made landfall in New Jersey early Monday evening and combined with winter storms to become a hybrid storm, has impacted 15 states. Sandy so far killed at least 29 people in eight states, according to CNN report, including 15 in New York state and three in New Jersey, two of the hardest-hit area overnight. Other U.S. media outlets put the death toll at 33 to 35. The death toll has risen to 10 and may continue to rise in the largest city of the country, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Tuesday at a press conference.