NEW YORK: Yesterday was the new Monday for thousands of workers and schoolchildren as the East Coast begins coming back to life after superstorm Sandy.
New York is still largely paralyzed, but Mayor Michael Bloomberg planned to ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange.
Residents noticed an uptick in traffic and people waiting at bus stops.
The Brooklyn Bridge was closed a day earlier because of high winds. But yesterday, joggers and bikers made their way across before sunrise. One cyclist carried a flashlight. Car traffic was brisk but slowed going into Manhattan.
In Pennsylvania, Gov. Tom Corbett cited reports that Amtrak and Philadelphia’s mass transit system were slowly coming back.
In Washington, the Smithsonian Institution’s museums and National Zoo are reopening after shutting for two days.
Sandy shuts down 18,000 flights
Superstorm Sandy grounded more than 18,000 flights across the Northeast and the globe, and it will take days before travel gets back to normal.
According to the flight-tracking service FlightAware, more than 7,000 flights were canceled on Tuesday alone, with traffic resuming slowly yesterday. Delays rippled across the US, affecting travelers in cities from San Francisco to Atlanta. Some passengers attempting to fly out of Europe and Asia also were stuck.
Authorities closed the three big New York airports because of the storm. New York has the nation’s busiest airspace, so cancellations there can dramatically affect travel in other cities.
It was possible that John F. Kennedy airport would re-open for flights yesterday, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. It wasn’t known when the LaGuardia and Newark, N.J. airports would reopen.
Flying began to resume at other airports. Delta restarted flying from Boston and Washington Dulles and Reagan on Tuesday. Airline spokesman Morgan Durrant said it is resuming domestic flights from JFK yesterday. Service was slowly returning to Philadelphia International Airport on Tuesday afternoon.
Traffic from Europe and Asia to the East Coast was beginning to resume.
East Coast limps back to life as Sandy settles down
