New York reopens subways as hurricane death toll reaches 70 in U.S.

PanARMENIAN.Net - New York City has moved closer to resuming its frenetic pace by getting back its vital subways, three days after a superstorm left neighbouring New Jersey stunned by miles of coastal devastation. Thousands of people in one city were still stranded by flood waters, Belfast Telegraph said.

The decision to reopen undamaged parts of the United States' largest transit system came as the death toll reached more than 70 in the US and left more than five million without power. Hurricane Sandy earlier left another at least 69 people dead as it swept through the Caribbean.

In New York, people streamed into the city as service began to resume on commuter train and subway. The three major airports resumed at least limited service, and the New York Stock Exchange was open again.

But hundreds of thousands in New York City alone were still without power, especially in Lower Manhattan, which remained in the dark roughly south of the Empire State Building after floodwaters had knocked out power.

Concerns rose over the elderly and poor all but trapped on upper floors of housing complexes in the powerless area, who faced pitch-black hallways, lifts and dwindling food. New York's governor ordered food deliveries to help them.

In New Jersey, the once-pristine Atlantic coastline famous for the TV show Jersey Shore was shattered.

Across the Hudson River from New York City, the floodwaters remained in the city of Hoboken, where an estimated 20,000 people remained in their homes amid accusations that officials were slow to deliver food and water.

The superstorm's effects, though much weakened, continued on November 1. Snow drifts as high as five feet (1.5 metres) piled up in West Virginia, where the former hurricane merged with two winter weather systems as it went inland.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg also ordered residents to share cars. Television footage showed heavy traffic crawling into Manhattan as police turned away cars that carried fewer than three people - a rule meant to ease the congestion that paralysed the city earlier in the week. Central Manhattan, which includes the city's financial district, September 11 memorial and other tourist sites, was still mostly an urban landscape of shuttered shops and boarded-up restaurants, where people roamed in search of food, power and a hot shower.