Bermudians in the Big Apple yesterday found themselves in the familiar position of preparing for a hurricane.Hurricane Sandy, dubbed “Frankenstorm” by the US media, is expected to make landfall in New England on Tuesday morning as a Category 1 storm.Laura Gorham, who flew to New York to participate in a Museum Director’s Conference, said she was yesterday making preparations for the storm.“My hosts are out of the area. They are supposed to be flying in tonight,” she said. “I’ve been running around, doing the prep work for them.”She said she left the Island for London in the lead-up to Hurricane Rafael earlier this month, and was surprised to find herself in the same position.“It’s all starting to sound familiar,” she joked.She said that her conference has largely been cancelled due to the storm. While it was business as usual in the city for most of yesterday, retailers began to close their doors at 4pm and public transportation stopped at 7pm.Several flights between Bermuda and the east coast have been grounded as a result of the storm.American Airlines flights scheduled to arrive in Bermuda last night were cancelled, as were the return flights scheduled for this morning.As of last night, United Airlines flights to and from Newark were cancelled, as were JetBlue flights to and from New York JFK.The storm last night passed more than 300 nautical miles to Bermuda’s west-northwest, making it’s closest point of approach at around 10pm.Clouds and showers are expected to continue today, with strong southwesterly gusts reaching storm force, but easing through the day.Seas inside the reef are forecast to reach three to five feet, but 15ft to 25ft outside the reef, easing late in the day into Tuesday.