Five of the 16 people confirmed dead across the US and Canada killed by Storm Sandy lost their lives in New York. Streets in the city filled with water, worrying some that the closed subway system would be deluged. At least seven stations have been covered in water. US President Barack Obama has declared a major disaster in New York and Long Island. A surge of nearly four metres in the sea coupled with high tides from a full moon caused record levels of water in Manhattan, southern Brooklyn and southern Queens. Utility workers trapped by rising water inside a power station in lower Manhattan had to be rescued with inflatable boats. Flooding even caused high alert at a New Jersey nuclear power plant.