More New Yorkers awoke Saturday to power
being restored for the first time since Superstorm Sandy pummeled the region,
but patience wore thin among those in the region who have been without power
for most of the week.
From storm-scarred New Jersey to parts of
Connecticut, a widespread lack of gasoline added to the frustration.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the
Defense Department will set up emergency mobile gas stations at five locations
around the New York City metropolitan area to distribute free fuel with a limit
of 10 gallons per person. Cars and emergency service vehicles will be able to fill
up directly from the 5,000-gallon trucks.
“Fuel is on the way,” Cuomo said. “Do not
panic. I know there is anxiety about fuel.”
Gas rationing was starting at noon
Saturday in northern New Jersey, where drivers will be allowed to buy it only
every other day.
In Washington, President Barack Obama
visited the headquarters of the Federal Emergency Management Agency for an
update on superstorm recovery efforts and said “there’s nothing more important
than us getting this right.”
“Obviously we’ve now seen that after the
initial search and rescue, the recovery process is difficult and it’s painful,”
Obama said. “But I’m confident that we will continue to make progress as long
as state and local and federal officials stay focused.”
Obama cited the need to restore power;
pump out water, particularly from electric substations; ensure that basic needs
are addressed; remove debris; and get federal resources in place to help
transportation systems come back on line.
Power has been restored to about 60
percent of the New York metropolitan area, with about 900,000 still without
electricity, including about 550,000 on Long Island, Cuomo said.
About 80 percent of New York City’s
subway service has been restored, he added.
The storm forced cancellation of Sunday’s
New York City Marathon. Mayor Michael Bloomberg reversed himself Friday and
yielded to mounting criticism about running the race, which starts on hard-hit
Staten Island and wends through all five of the city’s boroughs.
Bloomberg, who as late as Friday
afternoon insisted the world’s largest marathon should go on as scheduled,
changed course shortly afterward amid intensifying opposition from the city
comptroller, the Manhattan borough president and sanitation workers unhappy
they had volunteered to help storm victims but were assigned to the race
instead. The mayor said he would not want “a cloud to hang over the race or its
participants.”
Many runners understood the rationale
behind the decision. The overall death toll was 105, including 41 in New York
City. The widespread power outages made many New Yorkers recoil at the idea of
police officers protecting a foot race and evicting storm victims from hotels
to make way for runners.
Still, the cancellation forced runners to
deal with what to do with no race.
More than half of the 40,000 athletes
were from out of town. Their entry fees were paid. Their airline tickets were
purchased. Their friends and family had hotel rooms. And all week the race was
a go, even after Sandy came ashore Monday.
“I understand why it cannot be held under
the current circumstances,” Meb Keflezighi, the 2009 men’s champion and 2004
Olympic silver medalist, said in a statement. “Any inconveniences the
cancellation causes me or the thousands of runners who trained and traveled for
this race pales in comparison to the challenges faced by people in NYC and its
vicinity.”
ING, the financial company that is the
title sponsor of the marathon, said it supported the decision to cancel. The
firm’s charitable giving arm has made a $500,000 contribution to help with
relief and recovery efforts and is matching employee donations. Sponsor Poland
Spring said it would donate the bottled water earmarked for the marathon to
relief agencies, more than 200,000 bottles.
“When you have a significant amount of
people voicing real pain and unhappiness over its running, you have to hear
that. You have to take that into consideration,” said Howard Wolfson, deputy
mayor for government affairs and communications.
“Something that is such a celebration of
the best of New York can’t become divisive,” he said. “That is not good for the
city now as we try to complete our recovery effort, and it is not good for the
marathon in the long run.”
Each day has brought signs of recovery.
Aida Padilla, 75, was thrilled that the
power at her large housing authority complex in New York City’s Chelsea section
had returned late Friday.
“Thank God,” said Padilla, 75. “I
screamed and I put the lights on. Everybody was screaming. It was better than
New Year’s.”
Asked about whether she had heat, she
replied, “hot and cold water and heat! Thank God, Jesus!”
But on Staten Island, there was grumbling
that the borough was a lower priority to get its services restored.
“You know it’s true,” said Tony
Carmelengo, who lives in the St. George section of Staten Island and still does
not have electricity.
Added his neighbor, Anthony Como: “It’s
economics. Manhattan gets everything, let’s face it.”
The governor said the New York area had a
strong sense of community, “but until you have your lights on you’re not happy.”
“We’re not going to stop until we have
every house and every home restored. … This was truly a crisis, but it requires
patience,” Cuomo said.
NYU Langone Medical Center, one of two
New York hospitals that had to evacuate patients at the height of the storm,
said it would reopen Monday, although some doctors would see patients at
alternate sites.
Seven backup generators at the hospital
failed Monday night, forcing the evacuation of 300 patients.
At Bellevue Hospital Center, some 700
patients had to be evacuated after the power failed. An official there said the
hospital could be out of commission at least two more weeks.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said he
would make public a list of when New Jersey utility companies intend to restore
power to each community. Even if they end up working faster or slower, he said,
residents will have a sense of when power will be restored so they can plan
their lives a bit better.
Commuter rail operator
NJ Transit said it would have more service restored in time for the workweek to
start Monday, most of Atlantic City’s casinos reopened, and many school
districts decided to hold classes on Thursday and Friday – days previously
reserved for the New Jersey Education Association’s annual conference, which
has been canceled.
Isa 28:2 Behold, the Lord hath a mighty
and strong one, [which] as a tempest of hail [and] a destroying storm, as a
flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand.
Isa 47:3 Thy nakedness shall be
uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not
meet [thee as] a man.
Isa 47:8 Therefore hear now this, [thou
that art] given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine
heart, I [am], and none else beside me; I shall not sit [as] a widow, neither
shall I know the loss of children:
Isa 47:9 But these two [things] shall
come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood:
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