First metro trains run in storm stricken New York

NEW YORK - Agence France-Presse

REUTERS photo

Subway trains resumed service in New York today as the city struggled back to life after superstorm Sandy, AFP reported. A skeleton service started before dawn and trains were soon packed as desperate commuters sought ways to get to stricken Manhattan.

The subway and limited buses running were to be free of charge on Thursday and Friday. But in a bid to ease crippling traffic jams, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has ordered that all cars entering Manhattan must have at least three people in them.

Police monitored bridges into Manhattan and turned away cars that sought to breach the order. There were no trains in the lower half of Manhattan, which has been without power since Monday's storm. More than one million people were believed to be without power across New York City.

The number of deaths in New York City from superstorm Sandy has risen again, from 24 to 34, city police told AFP today. The increase raises the national toll to 82 across 15 US states hit by the storm, according to US media reports.

Sandy hit the east coast on Monday night, with violent winds that carried unprecedented amounts of water into parts of New York City. The storm caused massive power outages, plunging much of lower Manhattan into darkness.

The overall toll from the storm thus went up to 154, including fatalities in Canada and the Caribbean, where Haiti and Cuba were hit particularly hard.