(Reuters) – Frustration with continuing power outages, travel chaos, and long lines for gasoline grew on Saturday as residents of Long Island, hit hard by Superstorm Sandy, planned to a protest outside the headquarters of the local utility company.
Residents said they would take to the streets for a second day outside the Long Island Power Authority in Hickville. There are still over 400,000 customers without power nearly two weeks after the storm, and more than 170,000 are on Long Island.
Meanwhile, New Yorkers faced their second day of gasoline rationing. Under the system, which was introduced in New Jersey last week, cars with odd- and even-numbered license plates can fill up only on alternate days.
In Far Rockaway on Saturday morning, more than 500 people lined up with empty fuel cans. Word had spread through the hard-hit seaside community Friday night that a tanker truck carrying 8,000 gallons of free gas was to arrive around 10 a.m., thanks to an anonymous wealthy donor.
A New York Police Department captain, who declined to give his name because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the mystery donor had arranged to have the gas sent.
“The guy didn’t want his name used, but he wanted to get gas to these people,” the captain said. “Pretty decent thing to do … these people need it bad.”
More than a quarter of gas stations in the New York metropolitan area did not have fuel available for sale on Friday, the same number as on Thursday, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said.
Millions still face difficulty commuting with large crowds waiting for trains that are still running on reduced service after transport networks sustained major damage.
Authorities warned that for coastal communities where thousands of homes were washed away, flooded, or burned to the ground, full recovery would take a long time.
“This is not going to be a short journey,” New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said at a news conference on Friday.
Thousands were in temporary shelters, and in New Jersey a tent city on the edge of Monmouth Park racetrack was home to hundreds. Authorities in the region said they did not have access to enough alternative housing or hotel rooms for all those who have been displaced.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who toured the Jersey Shore on Friday, said many popular vacation spots will not be fully rebuilt by next summer.
“This is our Katrina,” he declared, referring to the hurricane that washed out New Orleans in 2005.
