[h=3]By BEN CASSELMAN[/h]
European Pressphoto Agency Commuters wait in line to board buses to Manhattan outside the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Nov. 1.
Tens of millions of people in the Northeast U.S. confronted traffic, gas lines and patchy public transit Thursday after Sandy's destructive passage, while many others sought only to create a semblance of modern life without electricity, running water and hot showers.
The number of deaths attributed to Sandy rose late Wednesday to at least 72, nearly half in New York City, as authorities identified new victims in flooded homes and vehicles. Millions of households and businesses remained without power Thursday, and authorities warned it could take a week or more to restore service for many.
[h=3]Latest Updates on Sandy[/h]
Get real-time updates on flooding, forecasts, closures and more as Sandy closes in on the U.S. East Coast. Go to the Live Stream. .
Floodwaters lingered in coastal communities from southern New Jersey to eastern Connecticut. In Hoboken, N.J., a city of about 50,000 across the Hudson River from Manhattan, thousands of residents were stranded in apartment buildings cut off from help by streets waist-high in contaminated water.
However, across the battered regions, states and communities notched progress on the slow path back to normal life.
All three major New York airports opened again after closing for the storm.
WSJ reporters captured scenes of destruction from around the East Coast of the U.S. on Wednesday in the wake of superstorm Sandy. Via #WorldStream.
[h=3]See Related Video on #WorldStream[/h]
However, the crowds awaiting transportation spurred some residents to opt instead for their own steam. Teresa Barrow decided to walk to her first day back since Sandy hit. Ms. Barrow, 38 years old, has been working from home at her job as an information-technology specialist in Manhattan.
"I'd rather walk than deal with this," she said as she headed toward the Brooklyn Bridge. "The lines are wrapped around. It is going to take two hours just to get in."
In midtown, the city's Grand Central Terminal and Pennsylvania Station were unusually quiet as some commuter train lines bringing passengers from Long Island, Connecticut, New Jersey and elsewhere struggled to resume parts of service.
In Penn Station, New Jersey Transit's waiting concourse was sealed off behind a metal grate and Amtrak facilities were roped off with plastic tape. The subway turnstiles and gates that ordinarily disgorge thousands of passengers into the station from the 1, 2, and 3 lines on the Seventh Avenue subway were quiet. Those subways have resumed only as far as Times Square.
Long Island Rail Road riders described different train conditions depending on where they boarded. The train was "packed" when Peter Pergolis boarded in Mineola, he said. Chris Robinson, 41 years old, a paralegal from Kew Gardens, said his train was only lightly filled, though tightly jammed trains from Jamaica passed by as he waited.
The fare holiday improved travelers' moods, Mr. Robinson said — that and resuming something like a normal routine after the disruption of Sandy.
The train engineer smiled and waved pulling into the station, Mr. Robinson said. Passengers weren't griping about the limited service, he said. "Everyone's kind of stunned still," he said. "Just happy to be out of the house."
Nancy Garfinkel, arriving minutes later on a Port Washington branch train, said she felt "grateful," when her train, which was crowded with passengers, crossed over the traffic-jammed Long Island Expressway. "We saw it looked like a parking lot, and I said to myself, 'I'm very happy,'" she said.
Passengers were still cutting the MTA some slack because of the devastation of the storm. "There was no complaining," Ms. Garfinkel said. "Like they say, when New York gets in a tough situation, everyone gets really pleasant and understanding."
Tens of millions of people in the Northeast U.S. confronted traffic, gas lines and patchy public transit Thursday after Sandy's destructive passage, while many others sought only to create a semblance of modern life without electricity, running water and hot showers.
The number of deaths attributed to Sandy rose late Wednesday to at least 72, nearly half in New York City, as authorities identified new victims in flooded homes and vehicles. Millions of households and businesses remained without power Thursday, and authorities warned it could take a week or more to restore service for many.
[h=3]Latest Updates on Sandy[/h]
Get real-time updates on flooding, forecasts, closures and more as Sandy closes in on the U.S. East Coast. Go to the Live Stream. .
Floodwaters lingered in coastal communities from southern New Jersey to eastern Connecticut. In Hoboken, N.J., a city of about 50,000 across the Hudson River from Manhattan, thousands of residents were stranded in apartment buildings cut off from help by streets waist-high in contaminated water.
However, across the battered regions, states and communities notched progress on the slow path back to normal life.
All three major New York airports opened again after closing for the storm.
WSJ reporters captured scenes of destruction from around the East Coast of the U.S. on Wednesday in the wake of superstorm Sandy. Via #WorldStream.[h=3]See Related Video on #WorldStream[/h]
However, the crowds awaiting transportation spurred some residents to opt instead for their own steam. Teresa Barrow decided to walk to her first day back since Sandy hit. Ms. Barrow, 38 years old, has been working from home at her job as an information-technology specialist in Manhattan.
"I'd rather walk than deal with this," she said as she headed toward the Brooklyn Bridge. "The lines are wrapped around. It is going to take two hours just to get in."
In midtown, the city's Grand Central Terminal and Pennsylvania Station were unusually quiet as some commuter train lines bringing passengers from Long Island, Connecticut, New Jersey and elsewhere struggled to resume parts of service.
In Penn Station, New Jersey Transit's waiting concourse was sealed off behind a metal grate and Amtrak facilities were roped off with plastic tape. The subway turnstiles and gates that ordinarily disgorge thousands of passengers into the station from the 1, 2, and 3 lines on the Seventh Avenue subway were quiet. Those subways have resumed only as far as Times Square.
Long Island Rail Road riders described different train conditions depending on where they boarded. The train was "packed" when Peter Pergolis boarded in Mineola, he said. Chris Robinson, 41 years old, a paralegal from Kew Gardens, said his train was only lightly filled, though tightly jammed trains from Jamaica passed by as he waited.
The fare holiday improved travelers' moods, Mr. Robinson said — that and resuming something like a normal routine after the disruption of Sandy.
The train engineer smiled and waved pulling into the station, Mr. Robinson said. Passengers weren't griping about the limited service, he said. "Everyone's kind of stunned still," he said. "Just happy to be out of the house."
Nancy Garfinkel, arriving minutes later on a Port Washington branch train, said she felt "grateful," when her train, which was crowded with passengers, crossed over the traffic-jammed Long Island Expressway. "We saw it looked like a parking lot, and I said to myself, 'I'm very happy,'" she said.
Passengers were still cutting the MTA some slack because of the devastation of the storm. "There was no complaining," Ms. Garfinkel said. "Like they say, when New York gets in a tough situation, everyone gets really pleasant and understanding."