(A group of guys dance in the streets of Atlantic City behind a CNN reporter during a live brodcast)

New York and the surrounding areas have been pretty much paralyzed by Hurricane Sandy and the combo nor’easter that’s hitting the East Coast tonight. The subways and trains have been halted, bridges and tunnels closed, evacuations mandated…
If you know anyone who needs help or info: check Ready.Gov or call the Hurricane Sandy helpline 1–888-769-7243.

There’s real danger, real warnings, and real things at stake, but stress, carb-loading, and cabin fever is a perfect storm for foolery, parody, and snark too.

UPDATE: 5 people have been killed in New York, including a man hit by tree while inside his Queens home. Serious flooding reported all across New York City: CNN Breaking News

So we’ve collected some of the scary, the hilarious, and the absurd….to help you wait out the storm.

Yup, that’s a man, in a horse mask, jogging outside during Hurricane Sandy.

See what havoc Hurricane Sandy is wrecking….
How it’s affecting everything from the NBA season to the presidential election…
And how folks are reacting….
After the jump

At the corner of Crazytown Blvd and Idiot Ave: That’s a submerged scuba diver, a man on a bike, and a man in a kayak. (via NYT’s David Carr)

Hurricane Sandy…Mother Nature’s wig-snatcher (via Buzzfeed)

Interesting Links:

How Hurricane Sandy might affect the upcoming presidential election: New York Times.
How Hurricane Sandy might disrupt the opening of the NBA season: NBC Sports
Hurricane Sandy has already pushed the NFL trade deadline: Sporting News
Media Decoder: How TV news shows milk the weather hysteria: New York Times blog
Egotripland collects some funny Hurricane Sandy memes: Egotripland

Warning! There are asshats on the internets (nothing new, lol) who are posting fake or old storm pictures and claiming they are current Hurricane Sandy images. Don’t be a sucker. In fact…you can factcheck your retweets on this genius tumblr: IsTwitterWrong

This photo is not Hurricane Sandy. It’s a computer-manipulated picture of the Statue of Liberty and the sky during a 2004 storm.

LOL: we prefer Jsmooth’s version. (peep Wyclef panty-rider in the cut)

And here is a collection of very real Hurricane Sandy damage scenes, as well as very funny Hurricane Sandy parodies:

Mayor Bloomberg’s sign interpreter was sign-yelling at you (via BBC’s L.V.)

(Sean Price hits the streets of New York City to report on Hurricane Sandy. Guaranteed laughs!)