Metro

Laid to waste by Sandy blast: Local death toll climbs to 35; more than a year to recover; Buses run but rails remain shut

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Large swaths of the New York area looked like a post-apocalyptic wasteland yesterday in the aftermath of a colossal hurricane that killed at least 35 people and crippled transit and power networks.

It will take a year or more to fully recover from the assault of Hurricane Sandy — the most devastating storm to ever strike the Big Apple.

“I don’t think words like catastrophic or historic are too strong to explain the impact,” Gov. Cuomo said as battered area residents found themselves faced with an epic cleanup and rebuilding task.

“I’ve seen all kinds of disasters,” Cuomo said. “I have to tell you, what I saw in downtown Manhattan, what went on the South Shore of Long Island were the worst conditions that I had seen.”

PHOTOS: SANDY SOCKS NY & NJ

Among the awful effects of Sandy:

* All New York City subways will remain closed today, with officials hoping to resume service in sections in the coming days. But it could take up to five days to resume full service.

All city buses are running today on a regular schedule with no fare collection. JFK and Newark airports are scheduled to reopen today with limited service, while La Guardia remains closed with no announced reopening date.

* A total of 660,000 Big Apple Con Ed customers remained without power — 22.2 percent of the entire city. Another 183,000 customers were without electricity in Westchester County.

It will take about three more days to restore power to customers with underground electrical cables and up to 10 days for those with overhead lines.

A stunning 90 percent of Long Island was without power.

“I can’t tell you how long it’s going to take” to resume power there, Cuomo said.

* There were at least 22 deaths in New York City, including a cop who tried to save his family and a teen girl who was killed when a wave crashed into her family’s Staten Island home.

* The damage could cost up to $20 billion to repair. Cuomo, Mayor Bloomberg and Sen. Charles Schumer vowed to lobby for maximum reimbursement from the federal government.

“The president’s given aggressive orders to give New York whatever it needs from the federal end,” Schumer said.

* City schools remained closed today for the third straight day, with no decision yet on whether to reopen tomorrow.

* At least 111 homes were destroyed and 20 seriously damaged in Breezy Point, on the western tip of the Rockaways, in a hellish fire that jumped from house to house while fueled by gusting winds. It could take years to rebuild all the houses.

* Nearly 5,800 trees were reported toppled citywide, and city parks remain closed because of the danger of more trees and limbs toppling.

* The New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq are resuming trading after being closed by the storm for two days.

* Staten Island residents were reeling from widespread flooding and wind damage all across the borough — including large tracts of leveled homes.

The storm surge ran a tanker ship aground, and sailboats were tossed around like toys, landing in back yards.

* Gas stations began running out of fuel, and other stations were limited to selling higher-octane fuel.

* The nationwide price of gasoline actually fell a penny to an average of $3.53 per gallon. Demand on the East Coast plummeted because many people were staying home as schools and businesses remained shut and roads remained impassable.

* Residents in part of Nassau County were told limit water usage because the Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant isn’t working.

* Food-supply distribution experienced only minimal disruptions in the region. The Hunts Point Cooperative was up and running yesterday.

* Greedy looters swiped clothes, food and other goods from stores and restaurants in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens.

Fiendish thugs posing as Con Ed workers robbed residents of Brooklyn’s devastated Gerritsen Beach section.

* In New Jersey, entire towns remained flooded, 2.5 million customers were without power, and six people were killed. The Ferris wheel and roller coaster at the iconic Seaside Heights amusement park were in the Atlantic Ocean.

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“I think it’s fair to say the path of destruction that she left in her wake is going to be felt for a long time,” Bloomberg said.

“Make no mistake about it — this was a devastating storm, the worst that we have ever experienced.”

Bloomberg said he had been in frequent contact with President Obama.

The mayor told the president he appreciated all the assistance from the federal government — but asked Obama not to visit the Big Apple because “we’ve got lots of things to do.”

Obama singled out New York and its residents for their heroic reaction to the storm.

“During the darkness in the storm, I think we also saw what’s brightest in America,” Obama said.

“We’ve also seen nurses at NYU Hospital carrying fragile newborns to safety,” he added, referring to Monday night’s evacuation of the medical center.

“We’ve seen incredibly brave firefighters in Queens waist deep in water, battling infernos and rescuing people in boats.”

In Red Hook, Brooklyn, the Fairway supermarket’s first floor was destroyed by more than four feet of water that came pouring in during the storm.

“It looks like someone threw a bomb in it,” said an employee at the store, which sits on the waterfront.

“We are hoping to open as soon as we can because 80 percent of our 300 workers are from Red Hook and the neighborhood really depends on us,” said manager Andy Zuleta.

On Staten Island, Denise Foran returned to the town house she recently began renting on Father Capodanno Boulevard to find it destroyed.

“I just moved here three weeks ago,” she said, but added, “I’m safe, and my family’s safe, and that’s all that counts.”

Additional reporting by Doug Auer, Rich Calder, Kevin Sheehan,Kieran Crowley and Chuck Bennett