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Hurricane Sandy, the monster storm bearing down on the US East Coast, strengthened on Monday after hundreds of thousands moved to higher ground and public transport shut down.

About 50 million people from the Mid-Atlantic to Canada were in the path of the nearly 1,600-km-wide storm, which forecasters said could be the largest to hit the mainland in US history. It was expected to topple trees, damage buildings, cause power outages and trigger heavy flooding.

The US National Hurricane Center said on Monday the Category 1 storm had strengthened as it turned toward the coast and was moving at 24 km/h. It was expected to bring a "life-threatening storm surge", coastal hurricane winds and heavy snow in the Appalachian Mountains, the NHC said.

Nine US states have declared states of emergency, and President Barack Obama has warned the nation to brace itself.

"This is a serious and big storm," Obama said after a briefing at the federal government's storm response center in Washington. "We don't yet know where it's going to hit, where we're going to see the biggest impacts."

Sandy killed 66 people in the Caribbean before pounding US coastal areas with rain and triggering snow falls at higher elevations.

Forecasting services indicated early on Monday the storm would strike the New Jersey shore near Atlantic City on Monday night. While Sandy does not yet pack the punch of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans in 2005, it could become more potent as it approaches the US coast.

Winds increased to a maximum 140 km/h, the NHC said in its 5 am report, up from 120 km/h three hours earlier. It said tropical Storm force winds reached as far as 780 km from the center.

Meanwhile, Republican nominee Mitt Romney canceled rallies in storm-threatened Virginia, one of the most crucial swing states, and went instead to inland Ohio, the Midwestern epicenter of the unpredictable final week battle for the White House.

The Republican linked up with his running mate Paul Ryan, who offered prayers to Americans cowering on the East coast in the path of the storm.

"Let's not forget those fellow Americans of ours," Ryan said.

The storm, expected to make landfall in the early hours of Tuesday, was the latest manifestation of the "October Surprise" - the fabled late-campaign news event with the potential to sway the outcome of a US election.

Its immediate political impact was unpredictable.

Questions:

1. What category has the storm been labeled as?

2. How many US states have declared states of emergency?

3. For which state did Romney cancel his rallies?

Answers:

1. Category 1.

2. Nine.

3. Virginia.

（中国日报网英语点津 Helen 编辑）

About the broadcaster:

Emily Cheng is an editor at China Daily. She was born in Sydney, Australia and graduated from the University of Sydney with a degree in Media, English Literature and Politics. She has worked in the media industry since starting university and this is the third time she has settled abroad - she interned with a magazine in Hong Kong 2007 and studied at the University of Leeds in 2009.