NEW YORK (EJP) ---The feasibility of next week’s US Presidential elections was in doubt Tuesday, after President Barack Obama declared state of emergency across nine federal states, including New York, as Hurricane Sandy advanced across America’s East Coast.

According to a statement from the White House, the move which also extends to Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, is designed to “coordinate all disaster relief efforts which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population...and to protect property and public health and safety”, as the natural disaster which has produced sustained winds of 80 mph (130 kph) and claimed the lives of at least 16 people in seven states and cut off power supplies to more than 6 million homes and business across the US East Coast.

The declaration, which also makes federal aid available to local authorities to respond appropriately to the emergency conditions, also places Obama’s attempts to secure a second term in office at the November 6 polls in doubt, as the federal government in Washington was closed Monday, along with the US stock markets, the first such instance since the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001. 

Both Obama and his Republican opponent Mitt Romney cancelled planned events as part of their pre-election campaign trail, as the electorate went into curfew with fears that this latest disaster could come to emulate another Hurricane Katrina which wreaked havoc in New Orleans in 2005.

It was also revealed that three of the reported fatalities were children, including one aged just eight years-old. Hurricane Sandy previously claimed 69 lives in the Caribbean before making its way to the New Jersey coast Monday.

According to the meteorology director of private weather forecasting service Weather Underground, Jeff Masters, the extreme conditions represent “the highest storm surges ever recorded”.

Obama has received regular briefings on the updated status of the hurricane since it reached US shores and admitted Sunday that as “this hasn’t hit landfall yet,  we don't yet know where it's going to hit, where we're going to see the biggest impacts.  And that's exactly why it's so important for us to respond big and respond fast as local information starts coming in.”

The president further issued a public appeal Monday telling Americans “please listen to what your state and local officials are saying”.

“When they tell you to evacuate, you need to evacuate. Do not delay. Don’t pause; don’t question the instructions that are being given, because this is a serious storm and it could potentially have fatal consequence if people haven’t acted quickly,” he cautioned.