Post-Sandy,Indians in US say never saw such devastation before

New York, Nov 4: A week after superstorm

battered the

East Coast, a large number of Indians residing in New York and New Jersey, the two worst-hit states, continue to struggle to get back on their feet, with several of them saying they had never experienced such devastation before.

Like the millions of other residents in the region, recovery from the destruction caused by Sandy has been painfully slow for the Indians, who make up a chunk of the New York and New Jersey population.

Several of them live in areas where power has not yet been restored and there appears to be little hope for any relief soon.

New Jersey resident Mansi Agarwal, who works as a software engineer at Google's Manhattan office, has been without power since the storm made landfall in New Jersey last Monday.

Mother of seven-month old twin daughters, Agarwal said she moved to a friend's place after waiting in vain for a couple of days for power to be restored in her building.

Agarwal said she had not expected such severe damage from Sandy as last year's storm Irene, which had also threatened to cause major destruction, had eventually not had much impact in the New York region.

"I had not expected the power outage to last this long. No one had thought Sandy would cause destruction of such magnitude. It has been a terrible and frustrating experience. A feeling of desperation is now setting in among people who want to return to their normal lives," she told PTI.

Like thousands of other New Jersey residents, Agarwal has not been able to go to work in New York for about a week since the public transport system that connects New Jersey to Manhattan has remained suspended in the aftermath of the storm. Indians living in New Jersey use the PATH commuter trains to get to work in New York.

PTI