NEW YORK : Severe fuel shortages on Sunday threatened New York's attempt to recover from superstorm Sandy as cold temperatures added to almost a week of misery exacerbated by flooded homes, limited public transportation and fraying tempers.
But on the bright side, power was restored to nearly all of Manhattan Saturday after flooding plunged the lower half of New York's most densely populated borough and famous skyline into darkness.
Manhattan will no longer resemble "some sort of ghost town or horror movie," said Bob McGee, a spokesman for utility company Con Edison.
Crews were also working to restore supplies to schools, set to reopen Monday, and to polling places for Tuesday's presidential election.
However, 40 per cent of those who lost power, or somewhere under 900,000 people, continued to experience widespread outages that could last for as long as another week, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo told reporters.
For many, that meant no heating just as temperatures are dropping in the New York area, with a windy, rainy autumn storm forecast for Wednesday.
On Long Island, 550,000 people are without power, down from 1.2 million people initially, Cuomo said.
Overall, 2.5 million customers remain without power across seven states that were in Sandy's path, the US Department of Energy said.
As New Jersey police raised the state's death toll to 22, increasing the overall US total to at least 109, the biggest hurdle to recovery continued to be a severe lack of gasoline.
Huge lines of cars and people on foot clutching canisters snaked back from gas stations, and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie announced rationing.
Starting Saturday, drivers with licence plates ending in an even number were only allowed to fill up on even-numbered dates, while those whose plates end in odd numbers had to wait for odd-numbered dates.
Meanwhile, New York officials announced the deployment of military fuel trucks offering 10 gallons (38 litres) of gasoline to drivers free of charge.
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Writer: AFP News agencyPosition: Agence France-Presse
Article source: http://www.thethailandlinks.com/2012/11/04/new-york-cold-short-of-petrol/
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