Photo by Brian Allen

>> The immediate D.C. area was spared the full brunt of Hurricane Sandy’s force when the massive storm churned across the East Coast yesterday, but many people will still encounter its effects this morning. Schools are closed, federal and D.C. government employees are staying home, Amtrak and the airports are shut down until further notice, and Metro will remain shut down until its crew members inspect its transit network for damage sustained during the hurricane.

>> Hurricane Sandy, which is now a post-tropical storm centered over central Pennsylvania, is being blamed for up to 16 deaths across the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, including two in Maryland. The Associated Press reports that Mai Ai Lam-Phan, a 66-year-old resident of Clarksburg, Md., was killed when another vehicle struck her car on a water-logged road in Germantown. A Pasadena man died after a tree fell on to his house, the Post reports.

>> New Jersey and New York City felt the worst of Hurricane Sandy, with some communities like Atlantic City experiencing floods of as much as six feet. The situation in New York was not unlike a bad disaster movie, with flooding across much of Lower Manhattan and throughout the city’s Subway. Gothamist has much more on the worst effects of the hurricane.

Briefly Noted: Pier destroyed in Ocean City, Md. .. Days after his colleagues did so, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell finally requests federal disaster aid … Hurricane Sandy makes potential home-buyers nervous … Man offers oral sex in exchange for hurricane supplies … Media not unaffected by Sandy: Gawker is down, Huffington Post operating on limited power.

This Day in DCist: In 2010, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert held their “Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear.” There were lots of tweets.