A news editor at a regional daily who was caught up in Superstorm Sandy while on a family holiday in New York has described how the city was “brought to its knees”.

Lisa Roland, of the Manchester Evening News, found herself literally in the eye of the storm as the city was hit by Sandy on Monday night, causing flooding in large parts of the subway system and cutting power to millions.

In an article for the MEN, she described how major winds hit the city, causing scaffolding to fly off the building next to the Manhatten hotel where she was staying on her holiday.

Lisa also revealed that she does not yet know if she will be able to get back to the UK tomorrow, as the storm has caused major disruption to flights.

She wrote: “As we stood outside our hotel in midtown Manhattan to brave the winds, the excitement turned to fear when the scaffolding on the building next door suddenly started to fly off, crashing against the walls.

“Firefighters arrived within minutes with one screaming at us rubber-neckers: ‘Go back inside unless you want to die’. We went back inside.

“Just down the road a crane 70 storeys up at the top of an apartment block had snapped, dangling precariously as it was battered by the winds.

“Further down the street the entire frontage of a building had apparently ripped off. The police turned up at our hotel, closed off the front door and told us we were not allowed out. In the lobby an anxious member of staff urged guests to return to their rooms in case of a power cut. She gave everyone a glo stick each!”

After the storm had passed on Monday night, Lisa wrote that her hotel had remained with power and the streets were deserted apart from emergency vehicles.

She added: “No idea if we will get home as planned on Thursday. Right now it is just a matter of stepping outside and seeing the devastation Sandy has left in her wake.

“It is unbelievable to think a city like New York could be brought to its knees overnight by nature.”

Meanwhile, a former journalist at Carlisle’s News and Star, Mark Hughes, was also in the city when the storm struck and had a lucky escape after his taxi was hit by a tree.

Mark, who is now working as the Daily Telegraph’s New York correspondent, said a tree uprooted and hit the taxi he was travelling in, describing the moment as “terrifying”, although he and the driver were not injured.

Mark told his former paper: “The Subway shut at 7pm on Sunday so it’s been difficult to get around. There are very few people at work.

“I bought some supplies on Sunday night – water, chocolate, cereal – basically stuff that won’t go off if the power goes down. The supermarket I went to was really busy, loads of people getting prepared. Not sure if you’d call it panic buying or just people being sensible.

“I’m working through the storm but most people will see it out in typical fashion – sitting at home, maybe even working from home if they can, and waiting for the worst of it to pass.”

US President Barack Obama has declared a major disaster in New York state in the wake of the storm, which has seen a hospital being evacuated and 50 homes destroyed by fire, while at least 40 people are reported dead across several US states.