Lawd! I have NEVER seen this from the NWS before:

[kentauros]

103. Not "prolonged storm surges",

but prolonged rain/snow.

Here's a personal account from 1979 when former Tropical Storm Claudette devolved into a tropical depression and then stalled over the upper Texas Gulf Coast.

We had three days straight of steady rain. Not a hard rain, but it never let up that entire time. Oh but it gets worse! On the fourth day, it turned into a hard downpour, lasting another full day. The little town of Alvin, about thirty miles south of Houston, reported 45 inches of rainfall during Claudette, forty-three of which was from that heavy downpour.

If Sandy stalls, heavy rains leading to major floods will be what causes the most damage (unless it all turns to snow, and then causes structural failure of roofs from all the snow buildup.) However, if the storm surge floods the NY subway system, it's been estimated to upwards of $55 Billion in damages.