President Barack Obama promised help for storm victims on the East Coast
of the United States assistance ahead of a visit to New Jersey on
Wednesday. New Jersey beach communities were among the hardest hit by
super storm Sandy - which killed at least 43 people - as she came ashore
Monday night. New York City was also dealing with continued power
outages and mass transit stoppages, but is slowly trying to restart
business in the country's financial capital.
Wednesday morning the New York Stock Exchange is due to reopen. Mayor
Michael Bloomberg said the trading floor did not sustain any damage and
is fully operational.
The city is also working to get its mass transit system back on track.
Some 8.5 million people use public transport daily. As of Tuesday
evening, limited bus service was beginning in the five boroughs, but
subway service remained halted, because flooded tunnels still need to be
pumped of millions of gallons of water.
Sandy Recovery
Progress as of October 31, 2012
Death toll rises to 45
in North America
Millions of people
still without power
New York City subway
remains closed due to massive flooding; D.C.
mass transit resumes service
Some New York airports
expected to reopen Wednesday; Washington, D.C.
airports resume flights
New York Stock
Exchange will open for trading Wednesday
United Nations remains
closed due to flooding
Children returning to
school in some East Coast states
U.S. President Barack
Obama to tour flood-ravaged New Jersey, which
has been declared a disaster area
Republican
presidential candidate Mitt Romney set to travel
Thursday to battleground state of Virginia
Brooklyn Heights
resident Conor O'Shea said he was grateful that his neighborhood near
the East River escaped the high waters that swept through lower
Manhattan, but admitted that dealing with little public transport for
the coming days would be a challenge.
“Yeah, it is going to be an issue, so we will see how that goes.
Hopefully they will get it back up sooner rather than later,” he said.
Kevin Burke, the head of the city's power company, Con Edison, said
Sandy was the worst storm the utility has ever had to deal with,
knocking out power to some 750,000 customers.
“It was an extraordinary event, it has devastated our system and
resulted in significant outages to our customers. But we have already
begun to restore customers,” said Burke.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he hoped power would be
restored in the next day or two.
Residents of New Jersey state's beachfront communities bore the brunt of
Sandy's wrath. Some 2.6 million households are without power and many
homes were badly damaged or destroyed by flooding and winds.
Governor
Chris Christie, a lifelong resident of the state, toured affected areas
by helicopter Tuesday. He appeared emotionally moved when he told
reporters afterwards about the devastation he witnessed. President Obama
will visit New Jersey on Wednesday and Governor Christie said he would
discuss the rebuilding process with him.
“One of the things that I'm going to talk to the president about
tomorrow is getting the Army Corps of Engineers in here as quickly as
possible for us to begin the planning of the rebuilding of the beach --
and what's the best way to do that to try to protect the beach and towns
that lie right next to these beaches,” said Christie.
Several coastal communities in the state of Connecticut were also
pounded by the storm. Severe flooding and downed trees have left nearly
600,000 residents there without electricity.
