New York Scraps Marathon Amid Sandy Clear-Up

Energy companies have been working day and night to restore power to parts of New York devastated by the powerful Sandy storm.

In the last 24 hours, engineers in Manhattan have managed to repair 11 power grids damaged by the high winds and storm surge.

Around 5,800 homes were still without electricity in Manattan as of Saturday morning.

The worst-hit area of New York remains Queens - with 81,000 people still without power. Brooklyn and Staten Island both have 31,000 and the Bronx has 25,000 without electricity.

Runners make their way through Queens during the 2011 race

A statement from energy firm Con Edison said it had now restored power to 70% of customers - around 645,000 homes.

It said: "The hurricane is the worst natural disaster to strike Con Edison's customers in the company's history.

"Crews are facing thousands of downed wires in New York City and Westchester County.

"Some cannot be re-energized since they are in flood zones with damage that bars the safe re-introduction of electricity."

A man shovels away sand swept in by the storm surge generated by Sandy

But a lot of repair and clean-up work remains on the US East Coast, with parts of New Jersey also badly hit by the storm on Monday night and facing being cut off from electricity until the middle of November.

Motorists in 12 New Jersey counties will only be allowed to buy petrol every other day under order of Governor Chris Christie.

Petrol stations have seen long queues and angry scenes as people attempt to fill up after the storm.

The official death toll for those in the US now stands at 109 people, on top of at least 69 people killed when Sandy tore through the Caribbean.

A woman looks through the wreckage of her home in Staten Island

Estimates put the total damage up to $50bn, according to forecasting firm Eqecat - making it the second costliest after Hurricane Katrina.

It comes after Mayor Michael Bloomberg finally agreed to cancel the New York Marathon after outrage from residents left homeless or beset by power cuts.

The U-turn came just three hours after he defended the decision to hold it.

Concerns were raised that the city's already stretched police force would be redeployed to patrol the race from carrying out relief work and storm victims could be evicted from hotels to make room for people taking part.

A fallen tree on top of a parked car in the borough of Queens in New York

There had been growing anger too at the thought of big generators being brought in to power equipment at the finish-line tents in Central Park, while vast swathes of the city's population were still struggling without electricity.

Mr Bloomberg said: "It is clear that it has become the source of controversy and division.

"The marathon has always brought our city together and inspired us with stories of courage and determination.

"We would not want a cloud to hang over the race or its participants, and so we have decided to cancel it.

"We cannot allow a controversy over an athletic event - even one as meaningful as this - to distract attention away from all the critically important work that is being done to recover from the storm and get our city back on track."

An estimated 40,000 runners from around the world had been expected to take part in the 26.2-mile event.

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