A quick search of the phrase “Netflix” last night yielded endless people in Hurricane Sandy’s path opting to curl up at home and load up the instant streaming service.

The company has revealed stats indicating that the storm wasn’t the only thing surging last night.

A representative told The Los Angeles Times that usage of the instant streaming service up-ticked 20% on Sunday and Monday in the New York, Boston, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C. areas. All of those areas were directly affected by Hurricane Sandy.

In other Hurricane Sandy news of interest to Hypable readers, Sesame Street character Elmo took to the New York public radio airwaves this morning to comfort kids who were concerned about the storm. You can listen to the interview in our previous story.

In light of special coverage about the storm’s destruction, numerous new episodes of various television shows were canceled last night. No programming has been canceled tonight – for now. New York-based late night talk shows David Letterman and Jimmy Fallon recorded last night’s new episodes without an audience – see their respective, eerie opening monologues here and here. Other networks canceled programming last night, but there have been no further announcements about postponements this evening. We’ll keep you updated!

Also, be sure to check out our 10 Netflix Instant movies that you should check out this Halloween.