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Fractured Recovery Divides the Region Fractured Recovery Divides the Region
(about 3 hours later)
The patchy recovery from Hurricane Sandy exposed a fractured region on Saturday. The lights flickered on in Manhattan neighborhoods that had been dark for days, and New York’s subways rumbled and screeched through East River tunnels again.The patchy recovery from Hurricane Sandy exposed a fractured region on Saturday. The lights flickered on in Manhattan neighborhoods that had been dark for days, and New York’s subways rumbled and screeched through East River tunnels again.
But in shorefront stretches of Staten Island and Queens that were all but demolished, and in broad sections of New Jersey and Long Island, gasoline was almost impossible to come by, electricity was still lacking and worried homeowners wondered when help would finally arrive. But in shorefront stretches of Staten Island and Queens that were all but demolished, and in broad sections of New Jersey and Long Island, gasoline was still almost impossible to come by, electricity was still lacking, temperatures were dropping and worried homeowners wondered when help would finally arrive.
Drivers in New Jersey faced 1970s-style gasoline rationing imposed by Gov. Chris Christie, while in New York, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said 8 million gallons had been unloaded from commercial tankers and another 28 million gallons would go into distribution terminals over the weekend. He also said the Defense Department was sending in 12 million gallons of fuel to be pumped from five mobile stations. Drivers in New Jersey faced 1970s-style gasoline rationing imposed by Gov. Chris Christie, while in New York, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said that the Defense Department would distribute free fuel from five mobile stations. But that effort backfired when too many people showed up.
“They’ll have a 10-gallon limit,” the governor said. “The good news is, it’s going to be free.” It was a weekend of contrasts. Crowds streamed into city parks that reopened on a blindingly bright Saturday morning, while people who had been displaced by the storm said help was not coming fast enough and the desperation was growing.
Only about 5,800 people in Manhattan awoke to find that they still lacked power, and crowds streamed into parks that reopened on a blindingly bright Saturday morning. Horse-drawn carriages were circling the roadways in Central Park again, and the grandstands were still in place for the New York City Marathon, though Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg on Friday had canceled it for the first time in its 42-year history. David O’Connor, 44, had begun to use his living room chairs as firewood in Long Beach, N.Y., where the storm sent water surging down streets. A neighbor, Gina Braddish, a 27-year-old newlywed, was planning to siphon gas from a boat that washed into her front yard. Older people on darkened streets have been shouting for help from second-floor windows, at eye level with the buoys still trapped in trees.
But in many places that the storm pounded in its relentless push into the Northeast, there was a profound sense of isolation, with whole towns cut off from basic information, supplies and electricity. People in washed-out neighborhoods said they felt increasingly desperate. “I just keep waiting for someone with a megaphone and a car to just tell us what to do,” said Vikki Quinn, standing amid a pile of ruined belongings strewed in front of her flooded house in Long Beach on Long Island. “I’m lost.” “I’m looking around seeing people really down,” said Joann Bush, a social worker who lives in Coney Island. “They don’t know what tomorrow’s going to bring.”
Hundreds of thousands of homes on Long Island were still without power Saturday, with temperatures expected to get down into the 30s overnight, and frustration with the utilities, particularly Long Island Power Authority, continued to rise. There were other contrasts: The grandstands were still in place for the New York City Marathon, even though Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg had canceled the race on Friday for the first time in its 42-year history. But instead of promoting a race, Mr. Bloomberg visited the devastated neighborhoods in the Rockaway section of Queens, where he voiced concern about chilly temperatures and hypothermia. “It’s cold, and it really is critical that people stay warm, especially the elderly,” he said at a City Hall briefing, urging people to go to shelters if they did not have heat. He added, “We are committed to making sure that everybody can have a roof over their head and food in their stomachs and deal with the cold safely.”
“LIPA, get your act together,” Edward P. Mangano, the Nassau County executive, posted on his Facebook page Saturday. “This response and lack of communication with customers is shameful.” In many places that the storm pounded in its relentless push into the Northeast, there was a profound sense of isolation, with whole towns on Long Island still cut off from basic information, supplies and electricity. People in washed-out neighborhoods said they felt increasingly desperate. “Everything involving our lives is a matter of exhaustion,” said Nancy Reardon, 45, who waited for gas for five hours on Saturday in Massapequa, on Long Island’s South Shore.
In Long Beach, David O’Connor, 44, had begun to use his living room chairs as firewood. A neighbor, Gina Braddish, a 27-year-old newlywed, was planning to siphon gas from a boat that washed into her front yard. Older people on darkened streets have been shouting for help from second-floor windows, at eye-level with the buoys still trapped in trees. Vikki Quinn, standing amid ruined belongings in front of her flooded house in Long Beach, said she felt lost. “I just keep waiting for someone with a megaphone and a car to just tell us what to do,” she said.
“I am screaming mad because this is an inhumane way to live in the highest property-taxed area of the entire state,” said Hank Arkin, 60, a photographer in Merrick. “They had days of notice before the storm and nothing was done.” Hank Arkin, 60, a photographer in Merrick, wondered how much of the damage could have been avoided. “I am screaming mad because this is an inhumane way to live in the highest property-taxed area of the entire state,” he said. “They had days of notice before the storm and nothing was done.”
President Obama held a briefing at the headquarters of the Federal Emergency Management Agency that included a conference call with Mr. Cuomo and Mr. Christie, along with Gov. Dannel P. Malloy of Connecticut. Mr. Cuomo said later that the president gave cabinet secretaries assignments to see that federal resources reached hard-hit states. And Mr. Cuomo, at a briefing in Lower Manhattan, said the city was moving forward. Officials said they were trying to get help where it was needed. “One of the problems is that when you have lots of different agencies, it takes a while for them to get coordinated,” Mr. Bloomberg said at his briefing, adding that he understood how high the tensions were in the Rockaways. “Somebody this morning screamed at me that they could not get coffee,” he said. “Someone else screamed at me that there is nothing there, but one block away, there was a service.”
“We are getting through it,” he said. “The worst is behind us.” But he also cautioned, “This entire situation is going to go on for a while.” Hundreds of thousands of homes on Long Island were still without power Saturday, and frustration with the utilities, particularly Long Island Power Authority, continued to rise. “LIPA, get your act together,” Edward P. Mangano, the Nassau County executive, wrote on his Facebook page Saturday. “This response and lack of communication with customers is shameful.”
Mr. Cuomo said four subway lines that tie Manhattan to Brooklyn, the Bronx and Queens — the 4, 5, 6 and 7 lines — returned to life on Saturday morning, with four others — the D, F, J and M lines — set to begin running by nightfall. The Q train was also expected back by the end of the day on Saturday, and the 2 and 3 trains on Sunday. Mr. Bloomberg, too, attacked the power authority, which provides electricity to the Rockaways. “LIPA in our view has not acted aggressively enough,” the mayor said. He said the power authority had “no clear timetable” for restoring the power and that it had indicated that some homes and businesses might have to wait two weeks before the lights went back on.
But the L line remained flooded on Saturday — “wall to wall, ceiling to ceiling,” according to the chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Joseph J. Lhota. A tunnel for the G line was also flooded; G trains were not expected to go back in service for several more days. “That is certainly not acceptable,” he said. “When it comes to prioritizing resources,” he said, the Rockaways “should be first in line” because the storm did so much damage there. But so far, he said, “that does not appear to be the case.” Mr. Cuomo also criticized the power authority on Saturday, as he has almost daily since the storm hit.
Utility crews from across the country struggled with a power network that had been battered. As they went from town to town and block to block, they trimmed trees and freed cables that had toppled in winds that approached 80 miles an hour. Despite nonstop work, the numbers were daunting. In New Jersey, Public Service Electric and Gas still had more than 600,000 customers without power on Saturday. Hoboken remained the biggest challenge because of extensive water damage, officials said. Mr. Cuomo said there were signs of progress. He said four subway lines that tie Manhattan to Brooklyn, the Bronx and Queens — the Nos. 4, 5, 6 and 7 lines — returned to life completely on Saturday morning, with four others — the D, F, J and M lines — were set to begin running between Manhattan and Brooklyn by nightfall. The Q train was also expected back by the end of the day on Saturday, and the Nos. 2 and 3 trains on Sunday. But the L line remained flooded on Saturday — “wall to wall, ceiling to ceiling,” the chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Joseph J. Lhota, said.
Mr. Bloomberg said most public schools would reopen on Monday, only to close again on Tuesday for Election Day. He said some 65 schools would not open on Monday, some because they were being used as shelters, some because they had sustained damage in the storm. He said officials hoped that most of those schools could open Wednesday.
He said that building inspectors still had to check some 55,000 buildings in the low-lying areas that he ordered evacuated before the storm struck. He said that 8,500 buildings have been inspected and that more than 7,200 were “safe to inhabit.”
Utility crews from across the country struggled with a power network that had been battered. As they went from town to town and block to block, they trimmed trees and freed cables that had toppled in winds that approached 80 miles an hour.
Despite nonstop work, the numbers were daunting. In New Jersey, Public Service Electric and Gas still had more than 600,000 customers without power on Saturday. Hoboken remained the biggest challenge because of water damage, officials said.
Mr. Cuomo said that in New York, 60 percent of those who lost power in the storm had had it restored, but that 900,000 were still in the dark. On Long Island, where 1.2 million people lost power, about 550,000 had their power back by Saturday morning.Mr. Cuomo said that in New York, 60 percent of those who lost power in the storm had had it restored, but that 900,000 were still in the dark. On Long Island, where 1.2 million people lost power, about 550,000 had their power back by Saturday morning.
In Midtown Manhattan, riggers went to work high above West 57th Street, near Carnegie Hall, where the storm broke the boom on a construction crane and left it dangling 74 stories up. They hand-cranked the boom closer to the partially completed building, a condominium and hotel complex, and planned to strap the boom to the structure. Once that process was completed, the surrounding streets, which had been closed since the boom snapped in punishing winds on Monday afternoon, could reopen. In Midtown Manhattan, riggers went to work high above West 57th Street, near Carnegie Hall, where the storm broke the boom on a construction crane and left it dangling 74 stories up. They hand-cranked the boom closer to the partially completed building, a condominium and hotel complex, and planned to strap the boom to the structure. Once that was done, the surrounding streets, which had been closed since the boom snapped, could reopen — perhaps by Sunday, the mayor said.
In the crane’s shadow in Central Park, the finish line for the canceled marathon was still in place, and the park and the side streets nearby were teeming with runners from all over the world. Some, like Gabriela Rose and Katharina Dawes of Hanover, Germany, said they had managed to continue their training during the week even though the park had been closed. Relief agencies poured into beleaguered neighborhoods, but so did hundreds of volunteers on their own. The narrow lanes of Midland Beach on Staten Island, which the storm slammed with particular fury, was busy. Groups of volunteers carrying brooms, rakes and shovels went from door to door, offering to pitch in with the cleanup. Others circled the blocks in pickup trucks full of food, blankets, clothes and cleaning supplies. Impromptu distribution centers piled high with food and secondhand clothes sprang up on every other corner.
But outside the city, suburban residents still faced daunting challenges. Mr. Christie’s plan for odd-even rationing left some motorists confused. In Massapequa, on Long Island, drivers lined up at gas stations well before dawn, some leaving their cars as placeholders in the hours-long lines. By Saturday, some Suffolk County residents had given up and were traveling to Westport and Fairfield, Conn., to fill extra gas cans. “Anybody need anything?” a man shouted from a truck to a group cleaning out a house on Olympia Boulevard. A few minutes later, two women pulling rolling suitcases paused in front of the house and asked the same question. There appeared to be more volunteers offering help than residents in need.
The authorities estimated that as many as 100,000 homes and businesses on Long Island had been destroyed or badly damaged in the storm, from bedroom communities in Nassau County to the towns of the South Shore to Long Island’s notable summer refuges — Fire Island, the Hamptons, Jones Beach — which were ravaged by the storm. Sand dunes were flattened and whole rows of beach houses crushed. The storm’s furious flood tide created new inlets that could become permanent parts of the topography. The storm’s toll in the city rose to 41, according to the police, when a 90-year-old man was found dead in his basement in Rockaway Park. He was identified as George Stathis. The police said his body was found when a cousin went to check on him.
“Fire Island is changed forever,” Steve Bellone, the Suffolk County executive, said at a news conference. Two patients remained in the evacuated Bellevue Hospital Center on the East Side of Manhattan on Saturday because they were too sick to be carried down the stairs, according to several people familiar with the situation. One of the patients was a 500- to 600-pound woman, and the other a man who was scheduled to have heart surgery powered by an emergency generator after the hospital lost power in the storm, according to these people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because Bellevue employees had received an e-mail threatening them with dismissal if they spoke to reporters.
As Hurricane Sandy approached, Long Island appeared to be well out of its path. But the storm’s incredibly wide, counterclockwise swirl of damaging winds and rain, combined with an unusually high tide, sent a huge storm surge along its top like a right hook, slamming both the north and south shores of the island. Ian Michaels, a spokesman for Bellevue, said power had been restored on Saturday. He said officials hoped to transfer out the last two patients as soon as the elevators were back in service.
Many communities along the coast felt as if they were marooned, with cellphone reception spotty and power showing no signs of returning. Floods washed out roads, and the winds scattered cars across the beach, foiling the owners’ hopes of leaving. The authorities estimated that as many as 100,000 homes and businesses on Long Island had been destroyed or badly damaged in the storm, from bedroom communities in Nassau County to the towns of the South Shore to Long Island’s notable summer refuges — Fire Island, the Hamptons, Jones Beach — which were ravaged by the storm. Sand dunes were flattened and rows of beach houses crushed. The storm’s furious flood tide created new inlets that could become permanent parts of the topography.
Neighbors have been left to trade rumors about which hospitals were accepting patients, which streets had been hit by looters and whether the water was safe to drink. Redrawing the maps will take time. The cleanup is immediate, and grim. In a grocery on Mermaid Avenue in Coney Island, men tried to slop out foul-smelling muck as thousands of dollars worth of food and produce lay rotting on the floor.
An outsider who stopped to visit a darkened house in Long Beach was peppered with questions about the outside world. “The lines of communication have been very bad,” said Lincoln Jawahir, 49, who was among a group of neighborhood men who stayed behind to repair their homes by day and guard them by night. “Everything is damaged, everything is garbage,” said Boris Yakubov, who said he was the store owner’s brother. He was pushing a mop, trying to help clear out the mess.
And for those who made it out in search of supplies or news, confusion reigned. “People are on line but they don’t even know what they’re on line for,” said Lou Safonte, an information-technology engineer in Melville, where gas station lines stretched for blocks. Down the street, the pharmacy in the back of a store was open, but the customers had to wade through a tide of mud that remained in the front. Irina Vovnoby got her white tennis shoes dirty and wet dropping off a prescription for her mother-in-law.
By the weekend, much of the shock and fear of the first few days had given way to anger. “I never saw a situation like this,” she said. “This is a disaster.”
Officials there said Friday night that power had been restored to 619,000 customers, but that it would take more than a week to restore service to hundreds of thousands of others. Senators Charles E. Schumer and Kirsten E. Gillibrand visited Long Island on Friday to survey the area and said the Army Corps of Engineers would be helping with the cleanup. The tour helped ease concerns that Long Island was being overshadowed.

Reporting was contributed by Taylor Adams, Charles V. Bagli, Ruth Bashinsky, Matt Flegenheimer, Elizabeth A. Harris, Angela Macropoulos, Ray Rivera, Liz Robbins, Marc Santora, Nate Schweber, Stacey Stowe and Bernard Vaughan.

“I’ve never seen such damage like this,” Mr. Schumer said after surveying Lindenhurst, one of the hardest-hit towns. “Never.”
Local officials have been struggling to help, but without better coordination with county and state authorities, Martin Oliner, the mayor of the village of Lawrence, said there was little he could do. “I can’t understand why in the last four days, until today, I have been having conversations that haven’t been meaningful,” Mayor Oliner said.

Reporting was contributed by Taylor Adams, Ruth Bashinsky, Matt Flegenheimer, Elizabeth A. Harris, Angela Macropoulos, Ray Rivera, Liz Robbins, Marc Santora, Nate Schweber, Stacey Stowe and Bernard Vaughan.