NEW YORK- People in the heavily populated U.S. East Coast corridor battered by superstorm Sandy took the first cautious steps to reclaim their upended daily routines, even as rescuers combed neighbourhoods strewn with debris and scarred by floods and fire.

Sandy’s aftermath: photos

But while New York City buses returned to darkened streets eerily free of traffic and the New York Stock Exchange was set to reopen its storied trading floor Wednesday, it became clear that restoring the region to its ordinarily frenetic pace could take days — and that rebuilding the hardest-hit communities and the transportation networks that link them together could take considerably longer.

Sandy: did climate change play a part?

“We will get through the days ahead by doing what we always do in tough times — by standing together, shoulder to shoulder, ready to help a neighbour, comfort a stranger and get the city we love back on its feet,” New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.

Why Sandy knocked out power for so many

The scale of the challenge was clear across the Hudson River in New Jersey, where National Guard troops arrived in the heavily flooded city of Hoboken to help evacuate thousands still stuck in their homes. And new problems arose when firefighters were unable to reach blazes rekindled by natural gas leaks in the heavily hit shore town of Mantoloking.

What food should you toss in a power failure?

As New York began its second day after the megastorm, morning rush-hour traffic was heavy as people started returning to work. There was even a sign of normalcy: commuters waiting at bus stops.

On the Brooklyn Bridge, closed earlier because of high winds, joggers and bikers made their way across the span before sunrise. One cyclist carried a flashlight. Car traffic on the bridge was busy, and slowed as it neared Manhattan.

President Barack Obama was planning to visit New Jersey on Wednesda... see the area near Atlantic City where the violent storm made landfall two days before. With the presidential election just six days away, Obama was cancelling campaign events for the third straight day to focus on co-ordinating the response to the superstorm. His Republican rival Mitt Romney planned to resume full-scale campaigning in Florida on Wednesday.

By late Tuesday, the winds and flooding inflicted by the fast-weakening Sandy had subsided, leaving at least 55 people dead along the Atlantic Coast and splintering beachfront homes and boardwalks from the mid-Atlantic states to southern New England.

The storm later moved across Pennsylvania on a predicted path toward western New York State and Canada.

Moe here- http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1280151--hurricane-sandy-...

• Share
• Tweet
• 4272

Sandy From Space: Birth to Landfall

• http://wxch.nl/T4jtum";, "thumbURL":"http://i.imwx.com/web/multimedia/images/miscellaneous/649486_122.jpg";, "smallThumbURL":"http://i.imwx.com/web/multimedia/images/miscellaneous/649486.jpg";, "subcatid":"169", "title":"Sandy From Space: Birth to Landfall", "description":"As Sandy grew into a hurricane and eventually made landfall NASA scientists were monitoring the storm's every step. This video shows how Sandy grew into one of the most devastating storms on record.", "moreUrl1":"/weather/hurricanecentral", "moreUrl2":"http://www.weather.com/news/weather-hurricanes/hurricane-sandy-supe...;, "moreUrl3":"http://www.weather.com/news/weather-hurricanes/depression-storm-eig...;, "moreText1":"Hurricane Central", "moreText2":"5 Reasons Sandy Will Be Epic", "moreText3":"Sandy Status and Maps", "duration":""}">

Below are some of the latest developments as we continue to track Superstorm Sandy.

1: Millions Still Without Power

• As of 7:30 a.m. Eastern time Wednesday, just under 6.1 million customers were without power due to Sandy.
• On Tuesday morning, a peak total of over 8 million customers were in the dark. Obviously the Northeast was hardest hit, but significant outages occurred in northern Ohio, and sporadic outages occurred as far away as northwest Indiana and northern Georgia.
• In some regions, power failures were nearly total. Governor Andrew Cuomo said 90% of Long Island families were without power Tuesday. One of New Jersey's utilities reported 86% of its 1.1 million customers were without power Tuesday morning, and that figure was still 86% early Wednesday.

(LATEST NEWS: NY, NJ and CT | Mid-Atlantic | New England)

2: Numerous Fatalities Reported

• As of late Tuesday evening, the total number of fatalities blamed on Sandy is 45 in the mainland United States plus one in Puerto Rico.
• Many of the victims were killed by falling trees.
• Sandy also killed 69 people in the Caribbean. Click here for a complete roundup of Sandy's aftermath in the Caribbean.

3: Staggering Damage

• Very early damage estimates suggest Sandy caused at least $10 billion in damage, and possiblyas much as $50 billion in total damage and lost business. The higher number would make Sandy the second-costliest storm in U.S. history, behind Katrina.
• Damage ranged from storm surge flooding to direct wind damage to devastating fires fueled by high winds and the difficulties fire departments faced in navigating flooded or blocked roads. We have more than 200 images of the devastation at this link.
• For video of the damage and aftermath, check out our video player at the top of this page.
• We also have a by-the-numbers breakdown of Sandy's top winds, worst surge and heaviest snow
• More here- http://www.weather.com/news/weather-hurricanes/sandy-top-five-20121028

Did The HAARP Project Cause Hurricane Sandy? (Weather Modification)