Scope of storm’s devastation widens
Staten Island residents desperate
— From New York City’s Staten Island to the popular beach towns of the Jersey Shore, rescuers and officials on Friday faced growing evidence of widespread destruction wrought by superstorm Sandy, mounting anger over delayed relief and a rising death toll.
The total killed in one of the biggest storms to hit the United States jumped-by-one-third onThursday alone, to 98. In New York City, 40 people have been found dead, half of them in Staten Island, which was overrun by a wall of water on Monday.
Among the dead in Staten Island were two brothers, aged 2 and 4, who were swept from their mother’s arms after her car stalled in rising flood waters. Their bodies were found near each other in a marshy area on Thursday.
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and Federal Emergency Management Agency Deputy Administrator Richard Serino planned to visit Staten Island on Friday amid angry claims by some survivors that the borough had been ignored.
Scenes of angry storm victims could complicate matters for politicians, from President Barack Obama just four days before the general election, to governors and mayors in the most heavily populated region in the United States. Obama visited New Jersey on Wednesday and has received praise for his handling of Sandy.
“They forgot about us,” said Theresa Connor, 42, describing her Staten Island neighbourhood as having been “annihilated.” “And (Mayor Michael) Bloomberg said New York is fine. The marathon is on!”
Staten Island, which lies across New York Harbor from Lower Manhattan, is home to about 500,000 residents, many blue-collar workers whose families have lived there for generations.
In New Jersey, entire neighbourhoods in oceanside towns were swallowed by sea water and the Atlantic City boardwalk was destroyed. At least 13 people were killed in New Jersey and the toll was not only financial, but heavily emotional as well.
“There’s nothing more precious to people than their homes. Those are where their families are, their memories and possessions of their lives, and there’s also a sense of safety to home,” New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said late on Thursday.
The financial cost of the storm promised to be staggering. Disaster modelling company Eqecat estimated Sandy caused up to $20 billion in insured losses and $50 billion in economic losses, double its previous forecast.
At the high end of the range, Sandy would rank as the fourth costliest U.S. catastrophe, according to the Insurance Information Institute, behind hurricane Katrina in 2005, the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and hurricane Andrew in 1992.
About 4.5 million homes and businesses in 15 U.S. states were still without power, down from a record high of nearly 8.5 million.
In blacked-out New York City neighbourhoods, some residents complained about a lack of police and expressed fears about an increase in crime. Some were also concerned about traffic safety. Ne w York police officials were not immediately available to comment.
“People feel safe during the day but as soon as the sun sets, people are extremely scared. The fact that Guardian Angels are on the streets trying to restore law just shows how out of control the situation is in Lower Manhattan,” said Wolfgang Ban, a restaurant owner in Manhattan’s Alphabet City neighbourhood.
The Guardian Angels are a group of anti-crime volunteers.
Flooded streets, power outages and subway shutdowns drove New York java junkies to great lengths this week to get a cup of coffee — good or otherwise — as the city struggles to recover from historic storm Sandy.
Jonathan Truppman’s search brought him from his West Village home in Lower Manhattan to Times Square, a district in midtown Manhattan are normally shunned by natives.
With power off in many Manhattan neighbourhoods, New Yorkers were being forced far from their normal haunts to get their caffeine fix, as chains like Starbucks Corp., Dunkin’ Donuts and Tim Hortons scrambled to reopen outlets in the world’s financial capital on Wednesday.
“I had to drive up here from the West Village to get my coffee,” said Truppman, 27, at Oren’s Daily Roastin Times Square. The lawyer was unable to get coffee in Lower Manhattan where he lives and works because of a power blackout.
Underscoring how much life has been disrupted, as well as how deeply addicted to caffeine many New Yorkers appear to be, dozens of people said they struggled to find their favourite cup of Joe on Tuesday and Wednesday as the massive storm forced many coffee shops to close.
Many stores in midtown Manhattan opened two or three hours later than usual on Wednesday, and most in Lower Manhattan didn’t open at all.
“Everybody’s going around asking, ‘Do you sell coffee?’ Nobody can find coffee (downtown),” said Patty Lui, 55, a Tribeca resident who works as a technical designer for a garment company in midtown Manhattan.
Vera Leung, 25, an architecture student who lives in the Financial District, was one of the few lucky enough to find a cup of coffee in downtown Manhattan, but she wasn’t happy.
“Food trucks. That’s where I got mine,” Leung said of her caffeine fix. “It wasn’t good at all. I usually get mine from Joe’s. It is not open.”
“This is day three (without power). I can’t imagine what people will be doing day four and five,” said Mark Hernandez, 45, who owns Berkli Parc Cafe in the hard-hit Lower East Side and doesn’t yet know when his business will be able to reopen.
New Yorkers were not the only ones craving caffeine.
In Fairfield, Conn., a coastal commuter town with widespread power outages, the most popular spot on Tuesday was a Mobil gas station near the edge of town with power and, more importantly, two working coffee pots on overdrive.