Men dig trenches for water being pumped out of flooded basements, caused by Hurricane Sandy on October 31, 2012 in Long Beach, New York.The storm has claimed many lives in the United States and has caused massive flooding across much of the Atlantic seaboard. U.S. President Barack Obama has declared the situation a 'major disaster' for large areas of the U.S. east coast, including New York City, with widespread power outages and significant flooding in parts of the city.