Superstorm Sandy | featured news

Nearly every office dweller fantasizes about the joys of working from home: Dressing in PJs instead of suits. Eating from the fridge and not the vending machine. Listening to birds chirp instead of the boss bark.

The massive storm that started out as Hurricane Sandy slammed into the East Coast and morphed into a huge and problematic system, killing at least 94 people in the United States. Power outages now stand at more than 3.6 million homes and businesses, down from a peak of 8.5 million. Here's a snapshot of what is happening, state by state....

Following Hurricane Katrina seven years ago, FEMA became a national punching bag, ridiculed for its slow and cumbersome response to the disaster along the Gulf Coast. In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy this week, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and its administrator W. Craig Fugate are garnering more positive reviews from public officials in northeastern states hit by the superstorm, as well as from disaster-management experts.

With the traffic nightmare causing frustration for Tri-State area drivers Thursday morning, the lines at the gas pump aren’t making the commute any easier. Filling up the tank has been a nightmare for area drivers since the storm hit. Overnight and into Thursday morning, drivers looking for fuel were met with incredibly long lines at the gas pump.

GeoEye images show a section of beach in Seaside Heights, New Jersey before Hurricane Sandy, and the damage after.

The federal government will cover 100 percent of emergency power and public transportation costs through November 9 in eight New Jersey counties that were hit hard by Hurricane Sandy, according to the two U.S. senators representing the state.

The Pentagon is airlifting power restoration experts and trucks cross-country, from California to New York, to bolster efforts to assist the millions of people still living in darkness days after superstorm Sandy hit the U.S. Northeast.

After the storm comes the rebuilding, and the scammers capitalizing on fear and need. With $20 billion estimated in property damage, demand for clean-up and repair is high, putting anxious homeowners at risk for hard-sell fly-by-night contractors.

New York tried to resume its normal frenetic pace Thursday, getting back much of its vital subway system after a crippling storm, but was l slowed by gridlocked traffic....

Flights resumed, but slowly. The New York Stock Exchange got back to business, but on generator power. And with the subways still down, great numbers of people walked across the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan in a reverse of the exodus of 9/11....