TWO major airports have reopened and the floor of the New York Stock Exchange has come back to life, while across the river in New Jersey, National Guardsmen rush to rescue flood victims and fires still rage two days after superstorm Sandy. ?
For the first time since the storm battered the Northeast, killing at least 57 people and doing billions of dollars in damage, brilliant sunshine washed over the nation's largest city - a striking sight after days of grey skies, rain and wind.
At the stock exchange, running on generator power, Mayor Michael Bloomberg gave a thumbs-up and rang the opening bell to whoops from traders on the floor. Trading resumed after the first two-day weather shutdown since the blizzard of 1888.
Kennedy and Newark Liberty airports reopened with limited service just after 7.00am at New York's LaGuardia Airport, which suffered far worse damage and where water covered parts of runways, remained closed.
It was clear that restoring the region to its ordinarily frenetic pace could take days - and that rebuilding the hardest-hit communities and the transportation networks that link them together could take considerably longer.
About 6.5 million homes and businesses were still without power, including four million in New York and New Jersey. Electricity was out as far west as Wisconsin and as far south as the Carolinas.
The scale of the challenge could be seen across the Hudson River in New Jersey, where National Guard troops arrived in the heavily flooded city of Hoboken to help evacuate thousands still stuck in their homes.
Live wires dangled in floodwaters that Mayor Dawn Zimmer said were rapidly mixing with sewage.
And new problems arose when firefighters were unable to reach blazes rekindled by natural gas leaks in the heavily hit shore town of Mantoloking.
President Barack Obama planned to visit Atlantic City, NJ, which was directly in the storm's path on Monday night and where part of the historic boardwalk washed away.
Governor Chris Christie said he plans to ask the president to assign the Army Corps of Engineers to work on how to rebuild beaches and find "the best way to rebuild the beach to protect these towns."
Outages in the state's two largest cities, Newark and Jersey City, left traffic signals dark, resulting in fender-benders at intersections where police were not directing traffic. At one Jersey City supermarket, there were long lines to get bread and use an electrical outlet to charge mobilephones.
As New York began its second day after the megastorm, morning rush-hour traffic was heavy as people started returning to work. There was even a sign of normality: commuters waiting at bus stops. School was out for a third day.
The Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, connecting Brooklyn to Manhattan, and the Holland Tunnel, between New York and New Jersey, remained closed. But bridges into the city were open, and city buses were running, free of charge.
On the Brooklyn Bridge, closed earlier because of high winds, joggers and bikers made their way across before sunrise. One cyclist carried a flashlight. Car traffic on the bridge was busy.
Bloomberg said it could be the weekend before the subway, which suffered the worst damage in its 108-year history, is running again. High water prevented inspectors from immediately assessing damage to key equipment.
Amtrak laid out plans to resume runs in the Northeast on Wednesday, with modified service between Newark, NJ, and points south. But flooding continued to prevent service to and from New York's Penn Station. Amtrak said the water in train tunnels under the Hudson and East rivers was unprecedented.
"The uncertainty is the worst," said Jessica Levitt, who was told it could be a week before she can enter her house. "Even if we had damage, you just want to be able to do something. We can't even get started."
And in New York, residents of the flooded beachfront neighbourhood of Breezy Point in returned home to find fire had taken everything the water had not. A huge blaze destroyed perhaps 100 homes in the close-knit community where many had stayed behind despite being told to evacuate.
There were still only hints of the economic impact of the storm.
Forecasting firm IHS Global Insight predicted it would cause $US20 billion ($A19.38 billion) in damage and $10 billion to $30 billion in lost business. Another firm, AIR Worldwide, estimated losses up to $15 billion.
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