The lights of New York’s Lower East Side and Chinatown neighborhoods are framed by the Manhattan Bridge in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, late Friday. Select neighborhoods of Manhattan are beginning to recover power as Con Edison repairs damage done by Superstorm Sandy. — AFP

NEW YORK — Fuel flowed toward disaster victims on Saturday and the lower Manhattan skyline lit up for the first time since Superstorm Sandy slammed into the US Northeast, while people in devastated coastal areas endured more hardship.



The power restorations allowed 80 percent of the New York City subway service to resume, and 8 million gallons of fuel have been delivered since the New York Harbor reopened on Friday, Governor Andrew Cuomo said.



Another 28 million gallons would be delivered this weekend, he said, restoring supplies to a region experiencing rationing and long lines at gas stations reminiscent of the energy shortage of the 1970s.



Cuomo also announced five mobile gas station would be set up in the metropolitan area, providing people with up to 10 gallons of free gas.



Even so, the long, arduous recovery was taxing disaster victims and first responders strained by a week of emergency services, while a heating oil shortage and widespread power outages meant some homes could go cold as wintry weather sets in.



The 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 down by one to 40.



Sandy killed 69 in the Caribbean before turning north and hammering the US northeast coast on Monday with 80 mile-per-hour (130-kph) winds and a record surge of seawater that swamped homes in New Jersey and New York, and flooded streets and subway tunnels in New York City.



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



“How long can the NYPD go at full throttle like this is the big question,” said Gene O’Donnell, a former New York Police Department officer and professor of policing studies at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. “The longer it goes, the more they get stretched.”



In a sign of security worries a hard-hit Queens neighborhood, one garage full of debris stood open with a sign next to it reading: “LOOTERS WILL BE CRUCIFIED – GOD HELP YOU.”



Gasoline rationing has tested the patience of drivers - fist fights have broken out in mile-long lines of cars - and the National Guard has been called out to prevent looting.



“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.



Music stars offered a diversion from the disaster with a televised benefit concert on Friday night featuring New Jersey natives Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi and Staten Island-born Christina Aguilera.



“We will not leave anyone behind,” said Aguilera, whose native borough accounted for 22 of New York City’s 40 deaths from the storm. — AFP