Hurricane Sandy

As the power flickered off in millions of homes around New York and New Jersey, many people were forced to give up on television and radio and rely exclusively on social media.

CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News and ABC World News will expand to an hour again tonight as Superstorm Sandy moves north, and the devastation in its wake is measured.

Up and down the East Coast, TV crews are running nonstop to cover the massive hurricane. Wall-to-wall coverage is the order of the day with stations putting particular emphasis on feeding websites, social media and mobile apps — among the most likely sources of information accessible when the power goes out.

Yesterday, only Telepictures’ Anderson Live, CBS Television Distribution’s Inside Edition and Disney-ABC’s Live with Kelly and Michael were in production as planned. And things are even slimmer today.

As Hurricane Sandy raged through one of the country’s most densely populated regions, it created a surge in online traffic Monday as people sought weather-related news and various forms of online entertainment.

ABC World News and CBS Evening News will expand to one hour tonight covering, for the most part, Hurricane Sandy. But it’s likely the broadcasts won’t be seen in some of the nation’s largest TV markets which are in Hurricane Sandy’s cross-hairs.

The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times both announced via Twitter that they would be lowering their paywalls during Hurricane Sandy. The Times confirmed the move Sunday afternoon to Poynter’s Julie Moos.

With Hurricane Sandy muscling its way up the East Coast and preparing to turn inland, the FCC has started its anticipatory disaster response. A public notice released late Friday, alerts the public to an “advisory tip sheet” on communicating during emergency conditions.

It’s a sweeps month bonanza for Boston TV stations — the mammoth hurricane rocketing toward the East Coast is expected to draw big audiences during one of the most critical ratings periods of the year.

The network is planning to live-stream its television coverage online so people in the eastern United States who lose power can keep up with the news on their mobile devices. The storm is expected to affect some 50 million people.