Storm leaves US wet and dark

Utility crews pushed through fallen trees and windblown debris to reach downed power lines in the Northeast United States on Sunday (local time), working to restore electricity to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses as strong winds and heavy rain wreaked havoc.

The storm, which battered parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Connecticut on Saturday with gusts of up to 110kmh, struck about two weeks after heavy snow and hurricane-force winds left more than a million customers in the Northeast in the dark. More than a half-million customers in the region lost electricity at the peak of Saturday's storm, and roughly 500,000 were waiting for power to be restored on Sunday morning.

In Manhattan, Broadway's sidewalks and trash cans were littered with hundreds of shattered umbrellas.

In Jackson Township, New Jersey, Dave Thomas still had electricity, even though the storm brought down two large trees and several smaller ones in his yard Saturday night.

"We were sitting at home, hearing the rain, then all of a sudden there was heavy rain, heavy winds storming in," Thomas, 42, said. "It just seemed to come out of nowhere."

Travelling was problematic on the rails and in the air. More than 500 passengers on a New Jersey Transit train were stranded for six to seven hours because of power supply problems, spokesman Dan Stessel said Sunday. Amtrak service between Philadelphia and New York was suspended for hours before limited service was restored, spokesman Cliff Cole said.

Lois Glassman, 62, of Manhattan boarded an Amtrak Acela train in Washington D.C. at around 4 p.m. Saturday. The train travelled seamlessly through Philadelphia but slowed outside a station in Edison, N.J., at about 6:30 p.m. Then the waiting began.

The conductor on the train kept the passengers updated, Glassman said, first blaming switching problem and power issues. The train didn't begin making its way toward New York until after 11 p.m., Glassman said.

"I've had a weary day," Glassman said.

Flights at Newark Liberty International Airport were delayed by as many as four hours Saturday, and some flights bound for New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport had to be redirected to Boston's Logan International Airport.

At the storm's peak, more than 265,000 customers in the New York City area and 235,000 customers in New Jersey were without power. The Philadelphia area reported 70,000 customers without electricity, while more than 80,000 customers in Connecticut sat in the dark.

PECO, an electric company serving the Philadelphia area, had assistance from crews from western Pennsylvania and Michigan, but the wait could last until Monday for some customers, spokesman Fred Maher said.