100,000 flee as cyclone trashes India

Trees were uprooted by 45-mile-per-hour winds while heavy rain was expected to flood large areas of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh states, according to the country's meteorological office.

Fishermen were warned to stay on land until at least Friday as the choppy waters forced an oil tanker to run aground near Tamil Nadu capital Chennai.

Coastguards were evacuating those on board but had not accounted for all 37 crew members after one lifeboat reportedly capsized.

Nilam had already wreaked havoc in neighbouring Sri Lanka, where authorities reported two deaths.

The Disaster Management Centre said 4,627 people had been displaced by the floods and around 1,000 homes had been damaged.

And in the US, safety fears were raised after it emerged that four nuclear reactors were forced to shut down because of Hurricane Sandy.

After an earthquake and tsunami caused a meltdown at Japan's Fukushima plant, nuclear power stations' defences against natural disasters have been thrust into the spotlight.

But lobby group Nuclear Energy Institute president Marvin Fertel insisted that there had been no safety threat as a result of the extreme weather.

As the winds appeared to die down more than 6.5 million homes across the US east coast remained without electricity today.

Officials said the death toll had risen to 59.

That's on top of the 71 killed when the storm hit the Caribbean last week.

In Haiti, where 54 people were killed and 21 remain unaccounted for, campaigners warned that the severe flooding has caused widespread food damage.

Hope for Haiti said that the livelihoods of millions will be affected in the largely agricultural economy and warned that poor infrastructure could lead to widespread disease in the battered nation.

And in Cuba, where 11 people were killed and 200,000 homes damaged by the storm, authorities announced the new dates for elections postponed because of Sandy.

Balloting will take place on Sunday, except in the areas most severely hit by the destructive winds.