Disaster relief races against cold

Power slowly being restored in New York and New Jersey; efforts being made to supply gasoline and heating oil

NEW YORK — Fuel supplies headed toward disaster zones in the Northeast on Saturday and a million customers regained electricity ahead of a coming cold snap that threatened to add to the misery of coastal communities devastated by Sandy.

The power restorations relit the skyline in Lower Manhattan for the first time in nearly aweek and allowed80percent of the New York City subway service to resume, but 2.5 million homes and businesses still lackedpower, downfrom3.5 million Friday.

The power outages combined with a heating oil shortage meant some homes could go cold as wintry weather sets in. Forecasters predicted temperatures dipping into the upper 30s Saturday night.

Similarly low temperatures were expected for the comingweek.

“There’s no heating oil around,” said Vincent Savino, president of Statewide Oil and Heating, which usually supplies some 2,000 buildings across New York City. “I don’t know how much fuel we have left: maybe a day or two.”

The long, arduous recovery was taxing disaster victims and first responders strained by aweek of emergency services.

The storm’s death toll rose to at least 110, with nine more deaths reported in New Jersey on Saturday, raising the total in that state to 22. New York revised its total downward by one to 40.

Sandy killed 69 in the Caribbean before turning north and hammering the U.S. coast Monday with 80 mph winds and a record surge of seawater that swallowed oceanside communities in New Jersey and New York, and flooded streets and subway tunnels inNewYork City.

“It’s just breathtaking,” said New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who ordered rationing that allows only half the state’s cars to buy gasoline each day.

“I was there [at the Jersey Shore] yesterday, and I will tell you, it looked like we had been bombed. There are homes in Bay Head on the beach that had been driven by the storm surge into the houses across the street.”

Tight gasoline supplies have tested the patience of drivers— fistfights have broken out in milelong lines of cars — but fuel was making its way to terminals after the Coast Guard reopened New York Harbor to tanker traffic Friday.

Alleviating one of the country’s worst fuel chain disruptions since the energy shortage in the 1970s, some 8 million gallons of gasoline and other petroleum products have been delivered since Friday and another 28 million gallons were to be delivered this weekend, New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said at a news conference.

Cuomo also announced that the Defense Department would set up five mobile gas stations in the metropolitan area, providing people with up to 10 gallons of free gas.

At least 1,000 drivers queued up at the Freeport Armory in Long Island, only to be told the gasoline would not arrive for at least eight hours, one driver said.

“There’s just somany people getting very frustrated. People don’t know what to do,” said Lauren Popkoff, 49, a history teacher who had been in line for four hours.

New York City gave its overstretched police a break by abruptly reversing course on Friday and canceling today’s marathon, a beloved annual race that had become a lightning rod for critics concerned that it would be a diversion of resources.

In one hard-hit Queens neighborhood, a garage full of debris stood open with a sign next to it reading: “Looters will be crucified — God help you.”

“Hurricanes can be the stress equivalent of cancer,” said David Yusko, assistant clinical director at the Center for the Treatment and Study of Anxiety at the University of Pennsylvania.

Moving to ease fuel shortages, the Obama administration directed the purchase of up to12 million gallons of unleaded fuel and 10 million gallons of diesel, to be trucked to New York and New Jersey for distribution.

The federal government announced that it would tap strategic reserves for diesel for emergency responders and waived rules that barred foreign-flagged ships from taking gasoline, diesel and other products fromthe Gulf ofMexico toNortheast ports.

Power utility Consolidated Edison, battling what it called the worst natural disaster in the company’s 180-year history, restored electricity to Manhattan neighborhoods such as Wall Street, Chinatown and Greenwich Village in the pre-dawn hours, leaving 11,000 customers inManhattan without service.

Con Ed said it had restored electricity to 70 percent of the 916,000 customers in the New York City area who lost power because of the storm.