Snowy post-Sandy storm pulls away from east coast

Utility workers check the power lines as snow covered debris from Superstorm
 Sandy lay on the side of a street following a nor'easter storm in New Jersey. (AP)

The nor'easter that stymied recovery efforts after Superstorm Sandy pulled away from New York and New Jersey, leaving hundreds of thousands of new people in darkness after a blanket of thick, wet snow snapped storm-weakened trees and downed power lines. Meanwhile, New York imposed a gas rationing plan Friday that allows motorists to fill up every other day.

Sandy slammed the coast and inflicted tens of billions of dollars in damage, and hundreds of thousands of customers in New York and New Jersey were still waiting for the electricity to come back on, with lots of cold and tired people are losing patience.

If that wasn't enough, the nor'easter then brought gusting winds, rain and snow on Wednesday, though not the flooding that was anticipated. Snow blanketed several states and stymied recovery efforts spawned by Sandy as storm-weakened trees snapped and power lines came down before the nor'easter pulled away.

A new petrol rationing plan was put in place starting Friday that lets motorists fill up every other day. Police will be at gas stations to enforce the new system in New York City and on Long Island.


"This is designed to let everybody have a fair chance, so the lines aren't too oppressive and that we can get through this," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.

Bloomberg said the system worked well in New Jersey, where lines went from a two-hour wait to 45 minutes after Gov. Chris Christie announced a similar rationing plan.

Meanwhile, some who have been without power are demanding investigations of utilities they say aren't working fast enough. An angry New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo joined the calls for an investigation, ripping the utilities as unprepared and badly managed.

"Privately I have used language my daughters couldn't hear," he fumed. He added: "It's unacceptable the longer it goes on because the longer it goes on, people's suffering is worse."

The power companies have said they are dealing with damage unprecedented in its scope and doing the best they can. And there is no denying the magnitude of what they have done: At the peak, more than 8.5 million homes and businesses across 21 states lost power. As of Thursday, that was down to about 750,000, almost entirely in New York and New Jersey.

- AP