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Washington/New York: More than 3.75 million people up
and down US East Coast were still without power as cities and
towns started recovering from the wrath of Hurricane Sandy that
left New York and New Jersey devastated.
Death toll from the disaster rose to 70 deaths in the United
States, including 24 in New York City, 8 in New Jersey and 4 in
Connecticut as rescue workers pulled bodies from wreckage across
the region, according to the New York Times.
New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo said initial damage estimates
"project up to $6 billion in lost economic revenue" in the State.
A wide stretch of Lower Manhattan remained dark, as did the Jersey
Shore, waterfront neighbourhoods in Brooklyn and Queens, and most
of Long Island.
Touring battered New Jersey with the state's Republican governor
Chris Christie, who has been all praise for President Barack
Obama's handling of the situation, Obama promised the federal
government "will not quit" until communities are cleaned up,
according to CNN.
"We are not going to tolerate red tape, we are not going to
tolerate bureaucracy," Obama said. "And I've instituted a
15-minute rule, essentially, on my team. You return everybody's
phone calls in 15 minutes, whether it's the mayors, the governors,
county officials.
"If they need something, we figure out a way to say yes."
Some 10,000 Army and Air National Guard forces were on duty in the
13 states affected by the storm.
Mass transit was still in disarray. Most buses were running in New
York City, and some subway lines were due to open Thursday. Most
of New Jersey's statewide bus service will be restored Thursday,
Christie's office announced, though most rail lines will still be
closed.
Two New York-area airports-John F. Kennedy and Newark
Liberty-reopened Wednesday with limited service. LaGuardia
Airport, where floodwaters had covered runways and taxiways, will
reopen with limited service Thursday morning, the Port Authority
of New York and New Jersey said.
The Lincoln Tunnel was open, but the Holland Tunnel, the other
tunnel connecting New York and New Jersey, was still full of
water. The Port Authority said it can't start pumping out the
water until power is restored.
About 2.2 million homes and businesses in New Jersey are still
without power tonight, utility officials said. Jersey Central
Power & Light reports 940,000 outages and Atlantic City Electric
was down to 107,000, according to New Jersey Star Ledger.
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)
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