The US East Coast braced itself to weather one of the worst storms in decades as Hurricane Sandy churned towards the densely populated areas of New York, Washington and Boston and threatened to dump inches of rain and snow, prompting evacuation of thousands of residents.

President Barack Obama declared a state of emergency for the District of Columbia, Massachusetts and New York and governors of the states in the path of the monster storm ordered mandatory evacuation of low-lying areas.

Over 6000 flights were cancelled across the country's northeast regions and 3,70,000 people were evacuated from New York city. The hurricane was expected to make landfall in the New York/New Jersey area early.

New York ordered shut down of its mass transit system, which caters to millions of passengers daily, beginning last evening, the second time in 14 months that the public transport system was brought to a halt.The New York Stock Exchange was shut as well.