Hurricane can’t stop the party at US gambling city

US: Hurricane Sandy plowed into Atlantic City, knocking down trees and smashing windows, but the superstorm failed to crash the party at the seaside casino town's only open bar.

Forecasters predicted for days that the gambling resort on the New Jersey shore would be Sandy's doormat, and the state's governor, Chris Christie, said anyone disobeying his mandatory evacuation order was “stupid.” Nearly all the seaside resort's 40,000 residents heeded his call, evacuating before the hurricane made landfall and swelled into a megastorm, bringing devastation to New York City and much of the eastern seaboard.

By Monday the setting for the hit gangster TV series “Boardwalk Empire” was a ghost town.

Traffic lights changed at crossroads devoid of cars and shallow rivers of floodwater poured down ever growing numbers of deserted streets. Visibility was reduced to about one block.

Downed branches and bits of garbage -- even an office chair and two mattresses -- piled up. As the winds howled, the debris grew more varied: glass from a blown-out window, a toppled fence, dozens of trees, shop awnings.

But those who refused to go made sure not to let the horizontal rain and pounding waves brought by Sandy dampen their spirits. At Ducktown Tavern and Liquors, the only bar open in town, about 30 people, many of them police officers, camped out around two long bars with beers and large plates of chicken wings, hamburgers and other comfort food.

In a city built for partying and hedonism, where a wall of multi-storey casinos lines the beach and a multi-million dollar advertising campaign urges you to “Do AC,” this modest bar was the last place you could get a drink.

AFP