US East Coast struggles to get back to normal
NEW YORK ( AP) Ñ People along the battered US East Coast slowly began reclaiming their daily routines yesterday, even as crews searched for victims and tens of thousands remained without power after superstorm Sandy claimed more than 70 lives.
The New York Stock Exchange came back to life, and two major New York airports reopened to begin the long process of moving stranded travelers around the world.
New YorkÕs three major airports were expected to be open yesterday morning with limited ßights. Limited service on the subway, which suffered the worst damage in its 108year history, has resumed.
US President Barack Obama landed in New Jersey on Wednesday, which was hardest hit by MondayÕs hurricane-driven storm, and he took a helicopter tour of the devastation with Gov. Chris Christie. ÒWeÕre going to be here for the long haul,Ó Obama told people at one emergency shelter.
For the Þrst time since the storm pummeled the heavily populated Northeast, doing billions of dollars in damage, brilliant sunshine washed over New York City, for a while.
At the stock exchange, running on generator power, Mayor Michael Bloomberg gave a thumbs-up and rang the opening bell to whoops from traders. Trading resumed after the Þrst two-day weather shutdown since a blizzard in 1888.
It was clear that restoring the region to its ordinarily frenetic pace could take days Ñ and that rebuilding the hardest-hit communities and the transportation networks could take considerably longer.
There were still only hints of the economic impact of the storm.
Forecasting Þrm IHS Global Insight predicted it would cause $20 billion in damage and $10 billion to $30 billion in lost business. Another Þrm, AIR Worldwide, estimated losses up to $15 billion.
About six million homes and businesses were still without power, mostly in New York and New Jersey. Electricity was out as far west as Wisconsin in the Midwest and as far south as the Carolinas.
In New Jersey, National Guard troops arrived in the heavily ßooded city of Hoboken, just across the river from New York City, to help evacuate about 20,000 people still stuck in their homes and deliver ready-to-eat meals. Live wires dangled in ßoodwaters that Mayor Dawn Zimmer said were rapidly mixing with sewage.