| Workers from local power company Pepco repair power lines in the Woodley Park neighborhood in the wake of Hurricane Sandy Tuesday in Washington, D.C. The death toll from superstorm Sandy has risen to at least 35 in the United States and Canada, and was expected to climb further as several people remained missing, officials said. Officials in the states of Connecticut, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia all reported deaths from the massive storm system, while Toronto police said a Canadian woman was killed by flying debris. (Mandel Ngan / AFP - Getty Images) Back to slideshow navigation  |
11/01/2012
Interactive slideshow: Before, after on Jersey shore
Lines grow, tempers flare at gas pumps after Sandy
 Justin Lane / EPA A man waits in line on 10th Avenue to get gasoline for his taxi at a gas station on Thursday as New York City tries to recover from the effects of Sandy. By NBC News staff and wire services Updated at 6:48 p.m. ET: Motorists in New York and New Jersey exchanged words – and reportedly even shoves and punches – as they faced a second day of stressful, sometimes miles-long lines Thursday at the gas stations that still had both electricity and supplies after superstorm Sandy. Power outages kept many pumps out of service and tough travel made fuel deliveries difficult. A police officer directed traffic at a Gulf station in Newark, N.J., as a line of vehicles stretched for about two miles. Dozens of people with empty red gas canisters also stood in the line that snaked around the station. Betty Bethea, 59, had been waiting almost three hours as she approached the front of the line of cars, and she brought reinforcements: Her kids were there with gas cans, and her husband was behind her in his truck. "It is crazy out here — people scrambling everywhere, cutting in front of people. I have never seen New Jersey like this," Bethea said. Police in New Jersey said they broke up fights at gas stations all day Wednesday, according to the Wayne Patch. "Everyone's panicking because all their gas tanks are on 'E,'" one officer was quoted as saying. Numerous reports of confrontation at the stations that were still open surfaced on Twiiter and YouTube. A fistfight broke out Wednesday between customers at the Getty station on Route 59 in Monsey, N.J., the only functioning station in the area, Chiam Tzik, the station's manager, told Newsday. On Thursday morning, traffic stretched for at least half a mile on both sides of the road. In New York state, Yonkers Mayor Michael Spano signed an executive order rationing gas to 10 gallons per customer effective immediately. Related: Northeast may see long gas lines for a week New York taxi and car service companies started pulling vehicles off the road as service stations are now out of gasoline or power to run pumps. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy authorized the Metropolitan Transit Authority to waive fares Thursday and Friday as an inducement to get people to take mass transit instead of driving. In another move to reduce congestion, New York City's Taxi and Limousine Commission announced Thursday that HOV restrictions on bridges have been lifted for liveries, "black cars" and taxis. NBC's Kerry Sanders reports from Yonkers, N.Y,, where an aerial view of the New York City region shows a traffic nightmare as officials set up checkpoints to make sure every vehicle has at least three passengers before they are allowed into the city. Taxi drivers are accepting normal metered fares but are also permitted to accept additional passengers during a trip, according to The Wall Street Journal. The Taxi and Limousine Commission suggests $10 per additional passenger, but it's up to drivers and passengers to negotiate the final amount, the Journal reported. For millions of Americans, Thursday morning marks day three of no electricity, and many will be without power for days to come. NBC's Harry Smith investigates why Sandy is the third storm in only a year to cripple the Northeast power system and whether it's simply part of a new normal. Zipcar Inc, a car-sharing company that rents out vehicles at an hourly or daily rate, said members late in returning cars in New York because of traffic or fuel shortages would not face the usual charges. "Any members who are willing to wait in line for fuel, we're willing to waive any late fees," said Dan Curtin, Zipcar's vice president of fleet operations in Boston. The firm is offering members in New York and New Jersey discounts until Friday. At the heart of the fuel supply crunch is the fact that Sandy has devastated the energy industry's ability to move fuel into and around the New York City region, particularly the harbor, by any of the three means that normally supply the area: tanker imports from abroad; pipeline shipments from the U.S. Gulf Coast; or refinery production from the mid-New Jersey area. The good news is none of these issues appears to be long-lasting. Power is gradually being restored in New Jersey, where much of the key infrastructure is located and New York Harbor barge traffic is expected to resume later Thursday. A key pipeline should resume limited deliveries on Friday. Even flooded refineries should eventually resume production. The bad news is that the supply crunch may get worse before it gets better. Supplies at gas stations that remained open are running out, and it may be several more days before wholesale fuel supplies get where they need to go. Public Service Enterprise Group Inc, the biggest utility in New Jersey, said it may be up to 10 days to fully restore power. Oil tank trucks are driving three hours to Delaware City to get fuel, but they can only carry up to 9,000 gallons each. Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this story. More Sandy stories from NBCNews.com:
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NYC taxis running out of fuel as gas lines grow
| Justin Lane / EPA A man waits in line on 10th Avenue to get gasoline for his taxi at a gas station on Thursday as New York City tries to recover from the effects of Sandy. By NBC News staff and news services New York taxi and car service companies started pulling vehicles off the road Thursday as the post-Sandy fuel crunch deepened, with the vast majority of storm-hit service stations in the greater New York area now out of gasoline or power to run pumps. Power outages and fuel shortages have forced many gasoline stations to shut, and now threaten efforts in New York and New Jersey to get back to business after the superstorm. Many homes and businesses that have lost power are also reliant on gasoline and diesel run generators, including many of the Wall Street banks in lower Manhattan. "We've had to cancel a lot of cars today because there's not enough gas," said Joue Balulu, a partner at Fone-A-Car in Brooklyn. "It's affecting everybody. Our drivers have to go out to try and find gas." "In New York City, over 50 percent of service stations are not able to sell gasoline, and it could be up to 75 percent," said Ralph Bombardiere, executive director of the New York State Association of Service Stations and Repair Shops. "New York City (gasoline delivery) terminals have power problems. For the individual stations, if they have product they don't have power and many, if they have power, don't have any product." NBC's Kerry Sanders reports from Yonkers, N.Y,, where an aerial view of the New York City region shows a traffic nightmare as officials set up checkpoints to make sure every vehicle has at least three passengers before they are allowed into the city. The gas crunch caused frayed nerves in some areas. State troopers were deployed at gas stations along the NJ Turnpike and Garden State Parkway, FoxNews.com reported. On Route 17 in south Bergen County, N.J., just west of the Meadowlands -- about 7 miles outside Manhattan -- the line for gas stretched across three towns, from Hasbrouck Heights through Wood-Ridge, and into Carlstadt, according to witness reports. A fistfight broke out Wednesday between customers at the Getty station on Route 59 in Monsey, N.J., the only functioning station in the area, Chiam Tzik, the station's manager, told Newsday. On Thursday morning, traffic stretched for at least half a mile on both sides of the road. For millions of Americans, Thursday morning marks day three of no electricity, and many will be without power for days to come. NBC's Harry Smith investigates why Sandy is the third storm in only a year to cripple the Northeast power system and whether it's simply part of a new normal. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy authorized the Metropolitan Transit Authority to waive fares Thursday and Friday as an inducement to get people to take mass transit instead of driving. In another move to reduce congestion, New York City's Taxi and Limousine Commission announced Thursday that HOV restrictions on bridges have been lifted for liveries, "black cars" and taxis. Taxi drivers are accepting normal metered fares but are also permitted to accept additional passengers during a trip, according to The Wall Street Journal. The Taxi and Limousine Commission suggests $10 per additional passenger, but it's up to drivers and passengers to negotiate the final amount, the Journal reported. Zipcar Inc, a car-sharing company that rents out vehicles at an hourly or daily rate, said members late in returning cars in New York because of traffic or fuel shortages would not face the usual charges. "Any members who are willing to wait in line for fuel, we're willing to waive any late fees," said Dan Curtin, Zipcar's vice president of fleet operations in Boston. The firm is offering members in New York and New Jersey discounts until Friday. Fuel supplies into New York and New Jersey area are being choked off in several ways: Two refineries that make up a quarter of the region's gasoline and diesel capacity are still idle because of power failures or flooding; the New York Harbor waterway through which a fifth of the area's fuel arrives is still closed to traffic; and major import terminals are damaged and powerless. The main pipeline bringing gasoline and diesel from the U.S. Gulf Coast refining hub, which pumps 15 percent of the East Coast's fuel, also remains shut. The gasoline shortage in the New York metropolitan area may not be cleared up for at least a week, industry experts tell CNBC. "What I'm seeing is here's a combination of problems. Power is at the root of it. That means gasoline that is already in inventory, already refined in those big tanks you see along the side of the turnpike, they can't get that gasoline into the delivery trucks without power," Sal Risalvalto, executive director of the N.J. Gasoline, Convenience, Automotive Association, told CNBC. Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this story. More Sandy stories from NBCNews.com:
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Staten Island reels from devastation, deaths
 John Makely / NBC News Little remains of a home on Yetman Avenue in Staten Island where a homeowner and his 13-year-old daughter perished in Hurricane Sandy. By Jeff Black, NBC News Staten Island, just a ferry ride from Manhattan but often seen as the poor stepchild of the New York metropolis, apparently was the deadliest zone in Superstorm Sandy – accounting for half the human toll in the city. On Thursday the bodies of two young boys who were swept away from their mother's grasp during the storm surge were recovered, NBC News reported. A missing husband and wife were also found dead Thursday, NBCNewYork.com reported. That brought the toll on the island to 19, NBCNewYork.com reported. On Thursday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Superstorm Sandy is responsible for the deaths of at least 37 New Yorkers. At a news briefing Thursday morning, elected officials pleaded for help for Staten Island, a former garbage-dumping site for New York and often the butt of jokes, even for even people who live in New Jersey. Borough President James Molinaro blasted the Red Cross as an "absolute disgrace" and urged the public to stop giving to the venerable institution. Asked by NBC News to explain his comment, Molinari said, "because the devastation in Staten Island, the lack of a response." "You know, I went to a shelter Monday night after the storm. People were coming in with no socks, with no shoes," Molinaro said. "They were in desperate need. Their housing was destroyed. They were crying. Where was the Red Cross? Isn't that their function?" Indeed, Staten Island, which took a direct blow from Sandy, is a scene of immeasurable misery and utter devastation, with homes obliterated, others off their foundations in addition to widespread flooding. While looking over the wreckage of his cousin's house on Thursday, Tom Monigan talked about his cousin George Dresch, who died in the surge of water with his daughter Angela on Staten Island. "Not in a million years, did I expect to see this," Monigan told NBC News. "This is unbelievable, I mean for George to lose his life and his daughter and his wife to be in the condition she's in its a sin, it's unreal, I can't believe I'm looking at this. Terrible." "You can replace this stuff, but it's what happens to people," Monigan said, "it changes their life foreverand it's terrible. People are worried because they don;t have electricity, Jesus, this is the real deal right here." Rescue workers who are part of a task force of searchers gathered on Staten Island on Thursday have fanned out with maps to search the hardest hit areas in the city. Large trucks and other equipment with Homeland Security decals began arriving late in the day on Sunday. The New York Police Department officials said the boys -- 2 and 4 -- were carried away by floodwaters Monday night on Father Capodanno Boulevard. Their mother had spent the night trying to get help, The New York Daily News reported, to no avail. The mother managed to free the boys from their car seats and tried to hold onto the boys, but the force of the water ripped them from her grasp. She had to swim for her life. Read more on this story at NBCNewYork.com "She was holding onto them, and the waves just kept coming and crashing and they were under," the boys' aunt, who was not named, told the Daily News. "It went over their heads … she had them in her arms, and a wave came and swept them out of her arms." According to the mother's sister, the mother had pounded on doors for help during the height of the storm, but no one was willing to help her. About two dozen NYPD officers had been searching for the boys. Their bodies were discovered in a marsh early Thursday, NBCNewYork.com reported, about 15 yards from each other up against debris and a tree in a marsh near where the SUV was overturned from the storm surge. NBC News producer Craig Melvin, NBCNewYork.com investigative producer Shimon Prokupecz and NBCNews.com multimedia producer John Makely contributed to this report. An incredible time-lapse video from the 51st floor of the New York Times building in midtown shows the progression of the storm as Sandy slammed New York City. More content from NBCNews.com:
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Nor'easter possible along East Coast next week
| By Miguel Llanos, NBC News A nor'easter winter storm could hit the Mid-Atlantic and New England next week, the National Weather Service warned, but said the impact would be nowhere near as devastating as Superstorm Sandy. The storm may affect the regions anywhere between "Election Day (Tuesday) into next Thursday," the service's prediction center stated. Increasing winds along coastal New England Tuesday onward "may lead to some coastal flooding and beach erosion," it added. Mid-Atlantic states could also see some damage if the system becomes more westerly. "It should be noted that this system is expected to be much weaker than Hurricane Sandy and produce impacts much less extreme and mainly away from the region most strongly impacted by Sandy," the center stated. The Weather Channel echoed that scenario. "At this time it looks as though coastal impacts would be farther north along the New England coast than we saw with Sandy," wrote weather.com winter weather expert Tom Niziol. "Snowfall would be confined to northern New England. Also, this system will not be anywhere as impactful as Sandy. That being said, it is much too early to discuss details and we will need to keep a close eye on future forecasts to fine tune the evolution of this system." More content from NBCNews.com:
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War veterans hit Sandy's front lines for rescues, cleanup
 Courtesy Mike Lee Team Rubicon's "DC Response Team" clears a tree in the Capitol Hill nieghborhood. Left to right: Lourdes Tiglao, Neil Landsberg, Kiara Baginski, Dan Pick. By Bill Briggs, NBC News contributor Up to his armpits in flood water, flanked by darkened buildings and submerged vehicles, Iraq veteran Peter Meijer felt oddly at home Monday night as he trudged through the streets of Brooklyn at the height of Sandy's fury: "The right place at the right time with the right mission." With a fellow veteran at his side, Meijer had driven a van from a Brooklyn high school-turned-evacuation shelter to the Gerritsen Beach neighborhood, stopping only when the van's tires met the storm surge. From there, the pair went on foot. With 911 phone lines down, the Army reservist was trying to reach and rescue a man who had climbed into his attic with his dog to escape the rising tide. Back at the shelter, the man's wife — who had been on the phone with him — pleaded Meijer to try to save him. "She said the water was up to his knees, then it was up to his waist. Nobody could reach the police. We were 15 minutes away. I peer-pressured my partner, Marvin Avilez, into going out there," said Meijer, 24, who served in Iraq during 2010 and 2011. "When the road ended, we hopped out. On the way, we found a dude wading in the water, pulling a row boat. He was a former Marine recon guy, going house to house to rescue folks. "It was during the brunt of the storm. There were eerie moments when the wind was blowing 70 miles per hour, then where it went down to nothing, then back to 70. Water up to my chest. Cars under water. It was like 'End of Days' stuff out there." Meijer is one of 50 veterans dispatched this week into storm-battered areas from Team Rubicon — a nonprofit, 4,000-member, all-volunteer army composed almost entirely of former military members who served after 9/11, many of them in combat. They typically join forces with federal and local authorities to help during natural catastrophes such as the April 2011 outbreak of tornadoes in Tuscaloosa, Ala., that killed more than 340 people.  David Friedman / NBC News Superstorm Sandy made landfall Monday evening on a destructive and deadly path across the Northeast. Loosely formed in 2010 to aid earthquake victims in Haiti, Team Rubicon quickly melded into a tightly run disaster-relief machine with a military style and sharp focus, said Matt Pelak, the organization's director of strategic partnerships. He was deployed to Iraq in 2004 with the U.S. Army. "In Haiti, they realized they were onto something," said Pelak, now a full-time firefighter and paramedic in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. "They were realizing: We're home from war and we have these skills and we're good in that environment. "In Tuscaloosa, a ton more veterans showed up than we expected. At end of day, we got around the campfire and talked about our deployment experiences. We realized we're not just helping other Americans, we're also helping each other, giving each other self confidence, giving direction." In the wake of the superstorm, people are banding together across New York City and New Jersey, offering power, food and even Halloween fun to their neighbors who have been devastated by wind and floods. NBC's Jenna Bush Hager reports. Team Rubicon has engaged in roughly 50 more missions since the tornadoes. The group says it has "a good relationship" with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and with local authorities, emphasizing that it "doesn't freelance." "We have our little niche and that's what we stick to," Pelak said. "We utilize military-style plans and military-style leaderships to be more effective with less overhead and less bureaucracy, to be fast. Our teams are good at improvising and adapting. That's what veterans do best." Team Rubicon had a pre-existing relationship with the New York City Office of Emergency Management, which asked the veterans to help staff the city's command center and to problem-solve issues at some rescue shelters: lack of food, no power, people not getting along, Pelak said. Team Rubicon members arrived from Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia and Connecticut to help storm victims access their homes, help towns do damage assessment, and help clear debris from roadways and yards — in New York, Washington, D.C., and other eastern towns. NBC's Katy Tur reports from Hoboken, N.J., where water is covering much of the city. Meijer, who lives in Manhattan, joined his Team Rubicon colleagues on Saturday in New York. By Wednesday, he estimates that he'd since had about eight total hours of sleep. While helping smooth out operations at a Brooklyn shelter, Meijer met the frantic woman who told him about her trapped husband — a man in his 60s who has hip trouble. "The whole reason you get involved in an organization like this is to not sit on the sidelines," Meijer said. Drenched and peering through the darkness, they eventually found the couple's house in Brooklyn. Once inside, they saw that the flowing water already had topped the kitchen chairs. The man was indeed tucked into a crawlspace but debris from the storm surge was blocking the attic door. The veterans yanked the door open and freed the man and his dog. They eventually put him into the Marine's row boat and pulled him back to drier streets where he stepped into the van. "We were able to bring him to the hurricane shelter to be with his wife and puppy," Meijer said. "It was cute." More content from NBCNews.com:
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Woman shot in car? No, just a Halloween zombie
 Carol Robinson / al.com Birmingham police on Thursday arrested a costumed woman on a DUI charge after responding to a report that she was shot. A passerby called 911 after seeing the woman unresponsive at a traffic light. By NBC News staff Birmingham, Ala., police got a Halloween surprise when they responded to a concerned citizen's 911 call of a woman shot in her SUV at a city intersection. Officers found a woman bloodied and slumped over the wheel of her car at a traffic light Thursday morning, al.com reports. But the blood wasn't real, and she hadn't been shot. Instead, police told al.com, she was just drunk and still dressed in her Halloween costume, which appeared to resemble something like a blood-splattered, pregnant zombie. Police said the woman was covered in fake blood and her face was painted white. "You can see why someone thought she had been shot,'' one officer on the scene said, according to al.com. Officers roused the woman and took her to the city jail on a DUI charge, al.com reported. More content from NBCNews.com:
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