Photo taken on Oct. 30, 2012 shows the post-Hurricane Sandy mess in Atlantic City, New Jersey.  [Xinhua]

Superstorm Sandy has claimed more than 40 lives by Tuesday in the United States, including 18 in New York City, after carving a trail of destruction from the Caribbean through the densely populated U.S. east coast to Canada.

The hurricane left cities in Chaos, streets flooded, homes damaged,millions of households without power. According to IHS Global Insight, a forecasting firm, the superstorm will end up causing about 20 billion U.S. dollars in property damages and 10 billion to 30 billion dollars more in business losses.

Local media reports show that the storm has caused power outages affecting some 7 million homes, shut down 70 percent of East Coast oil refineries and inflicted worse-than-expected damage in the New York metro area, which produces about 10 percent of U.S. economic output.

More than 18,000 flight cancellations have been reported across the United States in the aftermath of the hurricane. Hundreds of thousands of travelers have been stranded across the country and around the world as airports from Washington to Boston are still closed.

In New York City, the superstorm overflowed the waterfront, flooded the financial district and subway tunnels and inflicted a power blackout in a large area, including Broadway, Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, which remained dark till Tuesday night.