Hurricane Sandy was downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone at 7:00 P.M. Eastern last night, but it hit the East Coast with driving rain and hurricane-force winds all over the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast.  Here are Five Things to Know About Superstorm Sandy:

1.  At least 13 people were killed . . . including a woman as far away as Toronto, Canada who was hit by flying debris.  Another 67 people were killed in the Caribbean earlier as the storm moved north, including 51 in Haiti.

2.  The storm made landfall in southern New Jersey around 8:00 P.M. Eastern, with a storm surge strong enough to destroy parts of the boardwalk in Atlantic City, and causing massive flooding in New Jersey and New York.

The flooding was up to five feet . . . even higher in some places . . . flooding coastal homes, covering cars, and submerging downtown intersections of urban areas. 

3.  Because of winds 85-miles-per-hour and higher, downed trees and power lines, and flooding of electricity substations, over five million people were without power in 11 states and Washington D.C., from Virginia up to Maine.

New York and New Jersey took the worst hits in terms of power outages, including about 700,000 New Yorkers alone.  

And that involves fires and downed power lines in flooded areas that authorities and emergency crews couldn’t even get to when the storm was at its most powerful.  About 7,000 National Guard troops were on active duty in seven states

4.  The damage could cost around three billion dollars.  To give you an idea of the damage and the chaos in New York City alone, the city’s 911 system was receiving 10,000 calls every half hour.

There was flooding in subway stations and in one of the tunnels into Manhattan, and some hospitals had to evacuate patients because of power outages.

A lot of people were also talking about a giant crane on top of the tallest residential skyscraper in New York City . . . a building in midtown Manhattan called One57. 

The building is still under construction, and the crane was damaged by wind at about 2:30 P.M. in the afternoon.  So the part of the crane that sticks out into the air was hanging down and swaying dangerously throughout the storm.

5.  The storm also created a blizzard in Virginia and West Virigina, with snow, 55-mile-per-hour winds, and reports of lighting and thunder while it was snowing.