Relief effort continues as Superstorm Sandy retreats

A day after Superstorm Sandy crashed into the American east coast, the extent of the devastation became clear.

Homes were found washed off their foundations; power outages disrupted lives in all corners of the state; and landmarks such as the Star Jet roller coaster in Seaside Heights were plunged into the Atlantic Ocean.

But millions across the east coast will on Wednesday attempt to resume their day-to-day lives, as companies, markets and airports attempt to reopen, despite grim projections of power and mass transit outages around New York for several more days.

Sandy, which killed 40 people in the US, pushed inland later on Tuesday and caused several feet of snow to fall in the Appalachian Mountains, It left more than 8.2 million homes and businesses without electricity across several states as trees toppled by fierce winds tore down power lines.

New Jersey devastated

With six days to go before the presidential elections, President Barack Obama will visit flood-ravaged areas of the New Jersey shore. He will tour the area with New Jersey’s Republican Governor Chris Christie, a vocal backer of presidential challenger Mitt Romney who has nevertheless praised Obama and the federal response to the storm.

Governor Christie warned on Tuesday that the recovery would be long for his state, and said he had never seen destruction on this scale in his lifetime. “There are homes in the middle of Route 35, off of their foundations,” he said. “The amusement pier at Seaside Park, the log flume and the roller coaster are in the ocean. No, I’ve never seen anything like this in my life.”

The number of British nationals stranded on the east coast of America by superstorm Sandy should become clearer on Wednesday, according to a senior UK diplomat.

Danny Lopez, the British consul-general to New York, said that despite the impact on a large area of New York, consular staff in the US had only been contacted by 14 UK nationals over the past two days.

The Google map below plots videos of the storm that were submitted by US residents and curated by Storyful.

Stock exchange to reopen

Late into the night on Tuesday, search teams were rescuing people stranded by floodwaters across New Jersey. There was no word on when Atlantic City’s shuttered casinos would be allowed to reopen.

Assessing the damage, officials with New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority said they would release a timetable of their recovery plans sometime on Wednesday.

Despite much of the city’s financial district being damaged by flooding, officials planned to reopen financial markets on Wednesday as well. How much activity could take place remained to be seen, however, as many workers may be unlikely to get to work without subways and commuter railroads from the suburbs.

Sandy slows pace

The remains of Hurricane Sandy slowed to 8 mph (13 kph) over Pennsylvania, with maximum sustained winds of 40 mph (64 kph) and was expected to continue north toward western New York and Canada, the National Weather Service said.

The slowed pace meant it was dumping a lot of snow on the Appalachian Mountains, with nearly 30 inches recorded in Red House, Maryland.

The storm killed 22 people in New York City, among 27 total in New York state, while six died in New Jersey. Seven other states reported fatalities. One disaster insurance company said Sandy may have caused up to $15bn in insured losses.