A year after Sandy, areas hit by storm are still recovering
Residents of a dozen New Jersey shore cities plan to light up the coast with flashlights to mark Superstorm Sandy's one-year anniversary on Tuesday, while still recovering from the hurricane that ravaged the East Coast and left 159 people dead.
Many shore residents in storm-hit states, including New York and Connecticut, are still coping with damaged homes and waiting for $48 billion in federal aid pledged for rebuilding. The rare, late-season tropical storm damaged more than 650,000 homes, prompting evacuations and closing businesses for weeks.
Sandy hit with almost hurricane-strength winds and extended over a 1,600 km, causing a storm surge that flooded downtown Manhattan and long stretches of the New Jersey shore, leaving millions in the dark, some for weeks.
The floodwaters breached New York City's subway system, which was partially out of commission for much of the following week, and left many area residents struggling for weeks to find adequate supplies of gasoline, as power outages left homes dark and cold and filling stations closed.
Officials unveiled plans on Monday to release a second $5 billion round of funding from the Sandy relief fund, for New York state and city, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maryland and Rhode Island. The money is aimed at rebuilding and repairing homes damaged by the storm.
US Senator Chuck Schumer said the relief money has been slow to come so far - less than a quarter of the $48 billion authorized had been allocated by the end of August - but said the flow of funds will pick up.
"The spigot is now open," Schume said on Monday.
Congress initially authorized $50 billion for Sandy recovery, but the automatic spending cuts that kicked in earlier this year reduced that target to about $47.9 billion.
Private money has also flowed into communities. The New York City Mayor's Fund for emergency response said on Monday it had received more than $60 million in contributions to a fund to help cover restoration.
(China Daily 10/30/2013 page11)
