Sandy churns up east coast; TS warnings canceled for Fla.

Airlines have canceled more than 3,000 flights as Hurricane Sandy continues to make its way up the east coast Sunday afternoon.

As Sandy continues to churn northward, all tropical storm watches and warnings have been canceled for Florida as the storm instead brought steady rains, whipped by gusting winds to North Carolina on Sunday.

According to one flight-tracking service, 707 flights have been canceled Sunday, with more than 265 cancellations at Newark Airport alone. Some airlines are adding Sunday flights out of New York City and Washington in preparation for more flight cancellations Monday.

Channel 9's Jorge Estevez is in New York to cover the storm. Refresh this page throughout the day to view Jorge's video blogs!

5 Day Forecast Path: TS Sandy

Computer Models: TS Sandy

Special Section: Hurricane Season 2012

So far 2,499 flights are canceled on Monday, with more than 750 cancellations being in Newark, followed by 428 in Washington D.C.

Hurricane Sandy was headed north from the Caribbean, where it left nearly five dozen people dead, and was expected to hook left toward the mid-Atlantic coast and come ashore late Monday or early Tuesday, most likely in New Jersey.

On Friday, there were reports of some damage along the coast in Melbourne and Satellite Beach. In addition, hundreds were without power in some parts of Brevard County on Friday and Saturday.

"Close to 12,000 power outages but as of noon Saturday all but about 300 of those have been restored," said Don Walker with Brevard County.

Despite dangerous conditions on central Florida beaches and warnings to stay out of the water, many locals took advantage of the high surf along the coast Saturday and Sunday.

Surfer Joey Lento said he didn't mind the lashing he took in the water.

"When you go under it's like a washing machine. You tumble around and when you come up there's another one to seal you off and turn you around," said Lento.

Fun for him, but the storm proved otherwise for some businesses. Captain J's Ocean Deck Restaurant on Cocoa Beach was just one of the businesses that closed as the storm passed.

As of Sunday afternoon, Sandy was at Category 1 strength, packing 75 mph winds, about 270 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras, N.C., and moving northeast at 14 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.

The storm was about 575 miles south of New York City. But the system is so big that forecasters can not say with any certainty which areas would get the worst of it.

WFTV