The sun shone again over New York, as the city and much of the US East Coast took the first steps back to normality after being battered by superstorm Sandy. It was a striking sight after days of grey skies, driving rain and fierce winds that killed 61 people across the region. Two major airports reopened and the New York Stock Exchange came back to life, but the National Guard was still searching wrecked buildings in New Jersey for more survivors, or victims. At the stock exchange, running on generator power, mayor Michael Bloomberg gave a thumbs-up and rang the opening bell to cheers from traders on the floor. Trading resumed after the first two-day weather shutdown since the Blizzard of 1888. Kennedy and Newark airports reopened with limited service morning. 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 4 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 in New Jersey, where National Guard troops arrived in the heavily flooded city of Hoboken to help evacuate thousands still stuck in their homes and deliver ready-to-eat meals. Live wires dangled in floodwaters that Mayor Dawn Zimmer said were rapidly mixing with sewage. Thousands of people were still holed up in their homes in the city across the Hudson River from New York. And new problems arose when firefighters were unable to reach blazes rekindled by natural gas leaks in the heavily hit shore town of Mantoloking. More than a dozen homes were destroyed. President Barack Obama was due to visit New Jersey, which was directly in the storm's path on Monday night and where part of the historic boardwalk washed away. As New York began its second day after the storm, morning rush-hour traffic was heavy as people started returning to work. There was even a sign of normality: commuters waiting at bus stops. On the Brooklyn Bridge, closed earlier because of high winds, joggers and bikers made their way across the span before sunrise. Car traffic on the bridge was busy, and slowed as it neared Manhattan. A huge queue formed at the Empire State Building as the observation deck opened for the first time since the storm. Power companies said it be the weekend before electricity is restored to Manhattan and Brooklyn, perhaps longer for other New York boroughs and the New York suburbs. There were still only hints of the economic impact of the storm. Forecasting firm IHS Global Insight predicted it would cause 20 billion dollars in damage and up to 30 billion dollars in lost business. | 
