Sandy hasn't made landfall in the U.S. but the monster storm is already making its presence known --- pounding the boardwalk in Ocean City Maryland and blowing through this dock hundreds of miles north in Massachusetts.

SOUNDBITE: Joe Theobald, Director of Emergency Services for Ocean City Maryland saying:

"You run from the water and you hide from the wind. We are in response mode. We will go into recovery mode if necessary."

The category 1 storm is barreling toward the East Coast and is expected to bring a life threatening storm surge.

Hundreds of thousands of people have already been evacuated to higher ground and the subway systems in Washington D.C. and New York are closed ahead of Sandy's expected arrival late on Monday. The few who did venture out said they were doing so out of necessity.

SOUNDBITE:Georgetown University student Monica McNutt saying:

"I'm definitely taking this pretty serious. As soon as we get what we need, I'm definitely going to get back in my basement."

Nine U.S. states have declared states of emergency, and with the U.S. election eight days away President Barack Obama canceled a campaign event in Florida on Monday in order to return to Washington and monitor the U.S. government's response to the storm.