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NYC Air, Rail Services Slowly Being Restored


The red arc in this infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope is a giant shock wave, created by a speeding star known as Kappa Cassiopeiae. It is a massive, hot supergiant moving at around 2.5 million mph relative to its neighbors (1,100 kilometers per second). But what really makes the star stand out is the surrounding, streaky red glow of material called a bow shock, in its path. (Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
The red arc in this infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope is a giant shock wave, created by a speeding star known as Kappa Cassiopeiae. It is a massive, hot supergiant moving at around 2.5 million mph relative to its neighbors (1,100 kilometers per second). But what really makes the star stand out is the surrounding, streaky red glow of material called a bow shock, in its path. (Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
Partial service is being restored to New York City's extensive subway system, which was inundated by floodwaters triggered by Sandy, the deadly Atlantic "superstorm" that devastated the city and neighboring New Jersey.

Authorities say 14 of the city's 23 subway lines will reopen as a transportation emergency takes effect. New York state Governor Andrew Cuomo declared the emergency in response to the massive traffic gridlock Wednesday as more commuters drove into the city than usual. The order suspends all fares on the New York transit authority's commuter trains, subways and buses Thursday and Friday.

Meanwhile, limited service is being restored at LaGuardia Airport, one of three major airports in the New York area that suffered flood damage. The other airports, John F. Kennedy and Newark, resumed limited service Wednesday.

East Coast Struggles to Restore Normalcy

East Coast Struggles to Restore Normalcy
  • Death toll rises to more than 60 in North America; Another 65 people died in the storm in the Caribbean
  • At least five million people across the northeastern United States still have no electricity
  • National Guard Troops are working to rescue thousands of residents of Hoboken, New Jersey trapped by toxic floodwaters
  • New York City transit authorities say 14 of the city's 23 subway lines will reopen as a transportation emergency takes effect
  • The emergency order suspends all fares
  • Many other people are attempting to walk or bike to work in New York
  • United Nations scheduled to reopen for business
  • Democratic incumbent President Barack Obama resumes campaigning, visiting swing states of Colorado, Ohio, and Nevada
  • Republican challenger Mitt Romney travels to the battleground state of Virginia
At least five-million people across the northeastern United States, most of them in the New York metropolitan area, remain without electricity in the wake of Sandy, which made landfall along the New Jersey shore late Monday, causing unprecedented mass devastation.

Several-hundred patients at New York's Bellevue Hospital Center were evacuated Wednesday due to the facility's unstable emergency power. New York University's Langone Medical Center also evacuated their patients when backup generators at that facility failed as well.

Nearby, National Guard troops moved to rescue thousands of residents of Hoboken, New Jersey trapped by toxic floodwaters in the city, located on the Hudson River.

U.S. President Barack Obama toured the storm-battered New Jersey coast Wednesday with Governor Chris Christie. Obama pledged that the federal government will support the area's efforts to rebuild and recover from the disaster "for the long haul."

Sandy has killed more than 60 people in North America, and another 65 people in the Caribbean last week before targeting the United States.

Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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