大象传媒

News from home and abroad with Rhod Sharp.

24 hours on from the biggest storm to hit the eastern United States, Up All Night returns to examine the devastation left in Sandy's wake. The mayor of Ocean City in New Jersey - the worst hit area - tells us how scary it was to watch a 4 foot storm surge keep rising and flooding the streets. Chris Olert from the Manhatten energy supplier ConEd assures us they're working round the clock to get the city back online, and in the run up to Christmas, New York 'will be ready for the world'. A tale of two cities is reporter Alex Collins' take on what's happened in the city that never sleeps. He's been on his bike cycling between Central and Lower Manhatten. While Hells Kitchen seemed to be functioning as normal, he tells Rhod it's a different and disorientating scene south in what he calls the 'dark zone' where there is no power, no phone reception, boarded up buildings and only the glare from headlights to see by.

Sandy didn't just cause chaos in the wealthy USA - before turning north, it caused a trail of death and destruction across the Caribbean, killing more than 60 people. Kathy Barratt tells us how many are still cut off in Jamaica and replying on airlifted supplies, while the island's banana and coffee crops have been all but destroyed. Enrique Guevara from the Red Cross describes the desperate need for help in Haiti and Cuba, where hundreds of thousands remain homeless.

And Disney could soon be sprinkling its own special magic on the Star Wars franchise, following news it's buying Lucasfilm, the company which made the cult classic. Disney says it will make a seventh film in the series - George Dickey from Variety magazine tells Rhod he believes the deal places the Lucas brand in a safe pair of hands.