A PENZANCE film maker has described huge trees being uprooted, shards of glass flying past his window and the fronts of buildings collapsing as the hurricane rages through his home town of New York.
Joshua James Richards moved to the American city three years ago to study a Masters at New York University Film School and was also in the city for Hurricane Irene.
Yesterday, he told The Cornishman it was "basically a wee bit gusty" but overnight, he said he may have spoken too soon and 'Super Storm' Sandy had picked up, causing destruction across the city.
He said: "She's really rearing her ugly face, it's getting pretty intense. Downtown Manhattan is pretty badly flooded.
"The parks have been completely ravaged. Huge trees have been uprooted, lying in the road, the front of bodegas and delis swept away. Friends of mine have had their windows blown in, and broken shards of metal are flying past our windows.
"The front of a building right by my school in the city has completely collapsed. Some friends of mine in have been evacuated in new jersey and queens."
New York subways and schools were shut down in the run-up to the hurricane, which was thought to be the biggest ever to have hit the east coast of the United States.
Sandy has swept into the eastern US coast with hurricane-force winds, bringing severe flooding, cutting power and claiming 13 lives.
The storm caused a record surge of seawater in New York City, flooding subway and road tunnels and plunging much of Lower Manhattan into darkness.
An estimated 50 million people could be affected, with up to one million ordered to evacuate homes.
Joshua said he had received a text from New York University asking residents not to use elevators and not to evacuate. An electrical shutdown had also affected his halls of residence.
