Power cuts continue two weeks after Sandy hit US

Hundreds of thousands of people are left without electricity in northeastern states of New York and New Jersey almost two weeks after hurricane Sandy slammed into the US East Coast.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said at a news briefing on Friday that about 100,000 homes and businesses in New York City and Long Island, which has the biggest share of affected customers, were so devastated by superstorm Sandy that restoring power to some of them could take months.

“You have some people who have buildings and have homes that you cannot turn on the power until that building or home is repaired or replaced,” Cuomo said, adding, “Those are going to be the most difficult situations.”

While utility authorities have come under harsh criticism for the continuing power cuts, in some storm-battered areas people have been without power in temperatures near freezing, some living for days in the dark.

This comes as a second storm hit the country’s East Coast with snow on Wednesday, creating wind gusts at 62 miles per hour (100 km/hr) and high waters. In New Jersey over a foot (about 30 cm) of snow covered the grounds.

Before the storm struck, tens of thousands were still homeless and hundreds of thousands were without power in the storm-struck area.

Meanwhile, the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the US has announced that a total of 95,000 people in New York and New Jersey are in need of emergency housing assistance.

Superstorm Sandy hit the East Coast on October 29, killing over 100 people in the United States.