Hurricane Sandy gains strength, speed on East Coast path

A superstorm threatening 50 million people in the most heavily populated corridor in the nation gained strength Monday, forecasters said. The National Hurricane Center said early Monday that Hurricane Sandy increased its top sustained winds from 75 mph to 85 mph, with higher gusts, and was picking up speed. The Category 1 hurricane is accelerating, moving north-northwest at 20 mph after moving northeast Sunday night. At 8:00 a.m. ET the storm was centered about 310 miles south-southeast of New York City. Hurricane-force winds extend up to 175 miles from the storm’s center, with tropical storm-force winds extended outward up to 485 miles.