Transit systems in New York and Washington are shut down, airlines are grounded and many workers have been told to stay home ahead of hurricane Sandy's arrival tonight or early tomorrow.

Sandy is expected to merge with two other systems creating a superstorm and the potential for havoc from the U-S East Coast to the Great Lakes.

New York City is expected to bear the brunt of it.

Meanwhile, the U-S Coast Guard is monitoring a tall ship that's in distress off North Carolina's Outer Banks as hurricane
Sandy swirls toward the East Coast.

The Coast Guard says in a news release this morning that it responded to the HMS Bounty about 145 kilometres southeast of
Hatteras, N.C., after getting a call from the ship's owner saying she'd lost contact with the crew Sunday night.

Built in Nova Scotia for the 1962 movie ``Mutiny on the Bounty'' the 180-foot, three-masted ship the ship has 17 people aboard.

Coast Petty Officer 3rd Class David Weydert says a Coast Guard plane has since made contact with the ship which is taking on water
and is without propulsion.

Weydert says that because of the weather, the Coast Guard is just monitoring the situation right now.

Meantime, more than 100 firefighters and police officers were called to Midtown Manhattan Monday afternoon after a construction crane atop a building collapsed, leaving its boom dangling off the roof.

The building is under construction and is slated to open next year as the city's tallest luxury apartment building.

No injuries have been reported.